I went to see Eric Clapton last night at the BOK Center. It was a good show but not great. I figured he’d at least TRY to make it a bit special or personal since he did spend a fair amount of time here in the ’70s and the Tulsa musicians he hired during the 461 Ocean Boulevard days heavily influenced his sound. But there was nothing. Yeah, he “dedicated” the show to Tommy Tripplehorn and David Teegarden Sr. But you couldn’t re-learn “Tulsa Time” for this one show? I know Tulsa (and Oklahoma) has a semi-embarrassing habit of “adopting” famous musicians (i.e. David Cook. Yes, ok, he did live here, but he’s not FROM here.) AND, judging from the fabled stories and his autobiography, I’d guess that Clapton doesn’t remember much about the time he spent here, but a little something special would’ve been nice. A guest musician. A special song. A little anecdote like the time you played guitar to get out of the Tulsa jail.

But damn, I lost myself. I’m not intending to review the show. I had a good time. Musically it didn’t compare to seeing him play with Steve Winwood last summer, but my seat at last night’s show was impeccable and being able to see his hands with my own eyes and not on the video monitors was really amazing.

This post’s intention is to make a few observations about big concerts like this.

1. The best place to sit is not on the floor, but on the lower level in the 1st or 2nd section away from the stage. In the case of Eric Clapton I preferred my floor seat because I wanted to see his hands play, but in almost all cases, the floor sucks. If you’re not in the front section AND on the aisle, you can’t see, it’s hot and it’s crowded. But then again, I don’t like people in my bubble.

2. Going to the bar 27 times during a 90-minute set. For the price of those four floor seats you could buy the live DVD, a case of beer, and a starter surround sound system and just stay at home. Everyone in your row and behind you would appreciate it.

3. People who walk up the aisles to take pictures. Look, I’m a photographer and a lot of the time I have to actively fight with myself to stop shooting and just enjoy the show. So I get it. But, while you might think “it’s just one shot and i’ll be out of the way” you have to realize that you’re one of many (it was AT LEAST 100 people last night) and that constant stream of people walking in front of you and blocking your view is REALLY frustrating to the people sitting in those seats. Look, we all got raped for the ticket prices & fees, so I don’t want to cry “we paid for these seats and you’re in our way” but, well, you’re in our way. I feel like a bit of a hypocrite saying it, but stay in your seat and just enjoy the show.

4. While I empathize with the people I mentioned in #3, people who walk in front of me to take a picture with a camera phone? Fuck. Off. You’re distracting me and blocking my view of a guitar solo so you can take a picture with your Razr that will turn out to be a burry, blown-out blob of colors? Go away before I smack you.

4b. Specifically the “Jersey Shore” wannabe couple who spent half a song taking pictures (with the flash!) of each other with Eric Clapton in the background… DIE.

5. General Admission floor seating? Disregard everything I said (except maybe the camera phone thing). It’s survival of the fittest. Don’t bitch. To be honest, just be nice and remember you’re all there to see the same show.

6. “Woooooo”-ing & yelling “ILOVEYOUIWANTTOHAVEYOURBABIES!” Unless it’s between songs, don’t do it. Just. Don’t. I was once at a show next to a guy who yelped like a dog every minute or so. Whatever frequency (or whatever the correct audio-type word is) he barked at had the weirdest effect on me. It fucked with my equilibrium and I felt dizzy every time he did it. Of course, the faint-ness is probably my own problem, but I bet it was still annoying to everyone else in the area. So just don’t do it.

That’s all.

I know I bitch a lot but at least I make you laugh. Right? Right.