Eric Clapton has used his recent performance in London to pay tribute to the late rock icon Prince, covering ‘Purple Rain’ during his retrospective set.
Having kicked off his 2019 world tour last month, fans have been eager to see rock legend Eric Clapton play some of his trademark sets full of iconic originals, blues classics, and famed covers.
However, Eric Clapton’s Monday night performance in England featured a rather special cover version, closing out his set with a tribute to Prince, performing ‘Purple Rain’.
As Rolling Stone notes, the 74-year-old topped off his 17-song performance at the Royal Albert Hall by delivering a rendition of Prince’s 1984 tune, marking the first time Clapton had ever tackled a song by the Purple One.
Check out Eric Clapton covering ‘Purple Rain’:
Although there’s no obvious reason as to why Eric Clapton decided to cover the song (although it did fall one day short of the 17th anniversary of Prince’s One Nite Alone…), Slowhand had previously issued a moving tribute to the late icon following his passing back in 2016.
“I’m so sad about the death of Prince, he was a true genius, and a huge inspiration for me, in a very real way,” Clapton wrote at the time.
“In the the eighties, I was out on the road in a massive downward spiral with drink and drugs, I saw Purple Rain in a cinema in Canada, I had no idea who he was, it was like a bolt of lightning!”
“In the middle of my depression, and the dreadful state of the music culture at that time it gave me hope, he was like a light in the darkness,” he continued.
“I went back to my hotel, and surrounded by empty beer cans, wrote ‘Holy Mother’. I can’t believe he’s gone.”
In related news, Prince’s estate recently announced the release of the late rocker’s long-awaited memoirs. Titled The Beautiful Ones, the artist had been working on this project with Dan Piepenbring prior to his untimely passing, and will finally see the light of day in October.
Check out ‘Purple Rain’ by Prince:
