John Mayer Guests With Eric Clapton In Tokyo

On Saturday, Eric Clapton played his first concert since October of 2018 as he kicked off a five-night run in Japan at Tokyo’s iconic Budokan. The legendary guitarist worked in a number of bust outs and welcomed old friend John Mayer during his encore for a take on the J.J. Cale classic “Cocaine.”

Clapton switched up a portion of the setlist that he had recently been utilizing. Slowhand swapped in a handful of songs that had been sitting untouched for years. The guitarist got the night going by busting out “Pretending,” dusting off the Journeyman cut for the first time since 2015. Two songs later, Clapton offered the second surprise of the night as he unearthed “Wanna Make Love To You” for the first time in 30 years. The tune that was penned by Jerry Lynn Williams, who also wrote a number of hits for Clapton in the late-1980s, was originally intended for Eric’s 1986 LP August but left off, later appearing as part of his 1988 box set Crossroads.

Towards the midway point of the 15-song main set, Clapton once again revisited Journeyman as he led his band through “Running On Faith.” Clapton last performed the tune way back in March of 2010. Additional setlist surprises included a take on Cream’s “Badge” and a set-closing version of Bo Diddley’s “Before You Accuse Me,” which were both delivered for just the second time in two years.

Mayer emerged with Clapton and the rest of his band for their one-song encore. The Dead & Company guitarist was still in town having just played a pair of shows at the same venue. Mayer had last performed with Clapton during his 70th birthday show at Madison Square Garden in 2015. The ad-hoc ensemble dug in on a nearly eight-minute version of “Cocaine” that featured an impressive solo from Mayer. Watch fan-shot video of the collaboration below:

Cocaine w. John Mayer Captured by andkartjp

Setlist