The 2026 Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival, benefiting the Crossroads Center in Antigua, kicked off its 8th installment. The festival fluctuates in frequency every 3–6 years, returning to Texas for the third time at The Moody Center in Austin, hosted by Bill Murray.
Eric Clapton explained his sobriety and dedication to the Crossroads Center: “My primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety. That’s—believe it or not—that’s above me being a musician or a husband or a father. It’s the number one thing.”
This was my third Crossroads Guitar Festival, having attended the two in Chicago in 2007 and 2010. One of the interesting aspects of CGF is the stage setup, which combines speedy transitions and efficiency between musical acts. The revolving, divided circular platform allows an artist to play a set out front while the stage crew sets up for the next performer in the back. There is literally only a 5-to-7-minute gap between acts while they show highlights from past festivals. Also new this year was the addition of smaller acoustic satellite stages on the right and left, giving a more intimate vibe while providing the stage crew more time to reset the main stage.
The Crossroads Guitar Festival is not just an outlet for the blues/rock genre that Clapton is closely associated with; it brings together a diverse blend of country, South American, bluegrass, jazz, and, of course, blues-influenced guitarists from around the world.
Emcee Bill Murray opened the show with his sharp wit, engaging the audience to scream out “Crossroads” before bringing out the host, Eric Clapton, who ripped a riff from the namesake Robert Johnson song.
Clapton has said in the past that his first phone call when booking the festival is always reserved for Sonny Landreth, who traditionally opens the festival each night with his seamless slide guitar. Landreth paid tribute to Johnny Winter with an intense version of “Firebird Blues” during his opening set.
Following Landreth, Ben Haggard, Merle Haggard’s youngest son, added some Texas twang to the evening.
Eric Clapton’s touring band—Nathan East (bass/vocals), Doyle Bramhall II (guitar/vocals), Chris Stainton (keyboards), and Tim Carmon (Hammond B3 organ/keyboards)—acted as the house band for many of the solo artists.
They started with Will Johns, who was joined by Joe Bonamassa to trade licks on Walter Vinson’s “Sitting on Top of the World.”
Eric Gales completed the guitar trio with his unique style of playing a left-handed guitar flipped upside down. He was joined by Marcus King for Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child.”
Brazilian duo Daniel Santiago and Pedro Martins performed jazz-inspired versions of John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” and Paul McCartney’s “No More Lonely Nights” before ending their set with Clapton’s classic “Layla.”
During Bill Murray’s next introduction, he explained that the following performer had been playing live on stage since he was 6 years old: Julian Lage, who led his jazz-influenced trio alongside Trey Anastasio from Phish on “Northern Exposure.”
One of Eric Clapton’s guitar heroes, John McLaughlin—who originally played on Miles Davis’s 1969 Bitches Brew album—performed Davis’s “Jean-Pierre.”
Appalachian father-and-daughter duo Dirk and Amelia Powell perfectly blended their old-time Appalachian heritage with deep Southern Louisiana Cajun roots, playing fiddle, accordion, banjo, and guitar on “Give Me My Cornbread” and “I’m Hungry.”
This was the perfect lead-in to Brothers of the Heart featuring Bradley Walker on vocals for Vince Gill’s “Liza Jane” and the Doobie Brothers’ “Listen to the Music,” before Eric Clapton made his first guest appearance of the evening for “Lay Down Sally.”
Joe Bonamassa hit the satellite side stage for a solo acoustic tribute to Robert Johnson with “Cross Road Blues,” which held the 15,000-seat Moody Center audience spellbound, followed by a rare, electrified solo rendition of “Woke Up Dreaming.”
Hometown boy Jimmie Vaughan and his Tilt-A-Whirl Band brought the audience to their feet, opening their set with “I Like It Like That,” followed by a tribute to his little brother Stevie Ray Vaughan from their 1990 collaborative album Family Style, performing the hit “TICK TOCK.”
They say everything is bigger in Texas, and it doesn’t get bigger than Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton joining Jimmie Vaughan for some traditional blues standards. Buddy took the lead on his own “Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues,” which segued into a medley of Willie Dixon’s “Hoochie Coochie Man,” “I Got a Big Fat Woman,” and “Love Her with a Feeling.”
During the two previous Chicago Crossroads Guitar Festivals, the evening finale would be reserved for “Sweet Home Chicago,” but since this was Austin, Texas, it came a little earlier in the evening with Guy, Vaughan, and Clapton trading off vocals and guitar solos.
Another titan of the Texas rock/blues genre, Billy F. Gibbons of ZZ Top, brought out his BFG band with Chris Layton on drums and Mike Flanigin on organ/bass as they ripped through ZZ Top classics “Brown Sugar,” “Manic Mechanic,” “Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers,” and “La Grange” in tribute to his fallen brothers.
You couldn’t ask for a more talented duo of young musicians than the pairing of Sierra Hull and Marcus King. They played an insanely haunting acoustic version of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World,” featuring Sierra’s captivating voice, followed by King taking the lead on Derek and the Dominos’ “Bell Bottom Blues.”
Doyle Bramhall II and Charlie Sexton performed Neil Young’s “Cinnamon Girl” and “Living in a Dream” on the acoustic satellite stage while final stage preparations were made for the closing set.
Bill Murray called the final act “the greatest live band in the world” during his introduction of the Tedeschi Trucks Band as they kicked off their set with “Got My Mojo Working,” “Future Soul,” and Dr. John’s “I Walk on Guilded Splinters.” The second half of the set was filled with special guest appearances: Trey Anastasio joined the band for “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” by Bob Dylan (and covered by Emmylou Harris), followed by Trey singing Hendrix’s “Little Wing.”
John Mayer then stepped up to trade licks with Derek Trucks as Susan Tedeschi sang “Keep on Growing,” written by Eric Clapton and Bobby Whitlock.
It was then time for festival organizer and guitar icon Eric Clapton to return to the stage, joined by his longtime guitarist Doyle Bramhall II for “Anyday” and “Layla” from the Derek and the Dominos era.
There was a short pause to roll out extra sound monitors for the much-anticipated, star-studded finale: the appropriate Clapton classic “Got to Get Better in a Little While.” It was a masterclass in cutting heads as the Tedeschi Trucks Band were joined on stage by John Mayer, Trey Anastasio, Billy F. Gibbons, Buddy Guy, Joe Bonamassa, Eric Gales, John McLaughlin, Marcus King, Sonny Landreth, Doyle Bramhall II, Jimmie Vaughan, Charlie Sexton, Brothers of the Heart, Dirk and Amelia Powell, and of course the man of the hour, Eric Clapton.
While a marathon 7-hour Saturday set might overwhelm the casual concertgoer, the 2026 Crossroads Guitar Festival proved once again that its audience isn’t average. From legendary icons to rising stars across many musical genres, Eric Clapton’s multi-generational showcase kept a stadium full of die-hard guitar fanatics captivated until the very last note.
