Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2013.
Holy shit. Just... holy shit. Two absolutely fantastic nights.
Mere words would not do this justice, so I'll just post the performers list and let your imagination do the rest:
Albert Lee
Allan Holdsworth
Allman Brothers Band
Andy Fairweather Low
B.B. King
Blake Mills
Booker T
Brad Paisley
Buddy Guy
Citizen Cope
Dave Biller
Doyle Bramhall II
Earl Klugh
Eric Clapton
Gary Clark Jr.
Jeff Beck
Jimmie Vaughan
John Mayer
John Scofield
Jonny Lang
Keb Mo
Keith Urban
Keith Richards
Kurt Rosenwinkle
Los Lobos
Matt "Guitar" Murphy
Quinn Sullivan
Robbie Robertson
Robert Cray
Robert Randolph
Sonny Landreth
Steve Cropper
Taj Mahal
Vince Gill
To top it all off, Dan Aykroyd introduced all of the sets.
Some stand out moments:
Clapton, Andy Fairweather*, Vince Gill, Doyle Bramhall II doing an acoustic Wonderful Tonight.
*As an aside, I just have to mention that Fairweather awesomely looks like an English professor whilst absolutely shredding the guitar and belting out the Blues like a goddam Delta legend.
Booker T, Keb Mo, Cropper, Mills, and others just jammin' it up playing Green Onions.
Gary Clark Jr. playing Don't Owe You a Thing solo; just him, his guitar, a bass drum, and a high-hat.
Robert Cray doing Great Big Old House (which was beautiful), shortly before being joined by Clapton, Vaughan, and the King himself on stage.
Dan Aykroyd going full Blues Brothers whilst talking between the sets; one minute he's just normal Dan. In the blink of an eye, Keb Mo's out there with him, sunglasses have somehow materialized on his face, and there's a harmonica in his hand, and he starts coverin' Muddy Waters and singing about how he's gonna go down to Louisiana and have sex with anything that has a pulse.
John Mayer and Keith Urban covering Don't Let Me Down. I never really liked those two musicians too much before, but after seeing them here, I have a very deep respect for them both; absolutely masterful guitarists, and their rendition of the song was simply beautiful.
The most surreal moment was when Clapton started up the big finale, with Keith Richards appearing out of nowhere (hadn't been on the lineup), backed up by a drummer who looked like a cross between Idris Elba and Paul Winfield, and a pianist who unfortunately had the distinct honour of appearing the result of a wild love affair between Eric Idle and Sméagol.
Also, absolutely everything that Buddy Guy did or was remotely involved in. I am of the opinion he's the greatest guitarist I've ever seen, and those are big words considering the company he kept over the weekend.
There's tonnes of other moments, but way to many to list them all. I know there's at least a dozen other things that I just can't think of right now. It was a wonderful two evenings of Rock 'n' Roll, Blues, Jazz, and even a little bit of Funk (courtesy of the Slow Hand himself).
"See you in three years," were Eric's closing words.
Oh God, I hope so, was all I thought in reply.