Eric Clapton - 'Key To The Highway (Live at Royal Albert Hall, 1991)'

Today, Eric Clapton’s previously unreleased 1991 performance of the blues classic “Key To The Highway (Live at Royal Albert Hall)” is available digitally via Warner Records (listen to the track and watch the video HERE). Clapton delivers a masterful performance of the song which leads off the Blues set in his upcoming album The Definitive 24 Nights out June 23 (pre-order the album and boxed sets HERE, and watch the album’s short film narrated by David Fricke HERE).

The Definitive 24 Nights 2023 reissue expands the live collection of Clapton’s record-setting 1990-91 run of 24 concerts at London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall with nearly six hours of live music and 36 unreleased performances that were painstakingly restored and upgraded by Clapton’s team of Simon Climie (audio production and mixing), producer Peter Worsley (Slowhand at 70 and The Lady In The Balcony), and director David Barnard (The Lady In The Balcony). Available as limited-edition boxed sets as either 6-CDs or 8-LPs, both versions of The Definitive 24 Nights come with three Blu-ray discs for the video content, a hardbound book, and an individually numbered lithograph featuring a photograph of Clapton by Carl Studna.

During Clapton’s legendary run at the Royal Albert Hall, he performed a career-spanning set with one of three lineups – a rock band, a blues band, or an orchestra. The Definitive 24 Nights collection distills Clapton’s Royal Albert Hall residencies using the best performances from the rock, blues, and orchestral nights to create full concerts for each genre.

With Clapton aided by special guests Buddy Guy, Albert Collins and Robert Cray, the blues concert delivered a master class in the genre with ripping versions of standards like “Key To The Highway,” “Sweet Home Chicago,” “Black Cat Bone,” and “Reconsider Baby.”

For the rock concert, Clapton played many of his classic songs including “Sunshine Of Your Love,” “Can’t Find My Way Home,” “Layla,” and “Wonderful Tonight.” Covers of “Crossroads,” and a reggae version of “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” with Phil Collins on drums are highlights. Clapton also featured several tracks from his most recent studio album (1989’s Journeyman), including the hits “Pretending,” “Running On Faith,” and “Bad Love.”

 The orchestral concert is the most unique of the collection. For those performances, Clapton’s nine-piece band was joined by the National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by legendary composer Michael Kamen. The collaboration resulted in stunning arrangements for “Layla,” “White Room,” “Bell Bottom Blues,” “I Shot The Sheriff,” “Lay Down Sally,” and more.