Ranking Every Eric Clapton Live Album

Eric Clapton has been comparatively prolific in the 21st Century, releasing a handful of concert recordings beginning with 2002’s One More Car, One More Rider. He returned to his favorite venue for 2015’s Slowhand at 70: Live at the Royal Albert Hall and busied himself during the pandemic with 2021’s The Lady in the Balcony: Lockdown Sessions.

So it might surprise some fans to know how infrequent these releases used to be. Clapton initially issued three live albums in seven years, beginning with 1973’s Eric Clapton’s Rainbow Concert – but then went silent for more than a decade after 1980’s Just One Night. He only issued two concert recordings in the ’90s, 24 Nights and Unplugged. (2022’s Nothing But the Blues was also recorded during this period.)

Still, these albums offer key glimpses into every era of his solo career – from his struggles with addiction early on, through successes and challenges in the ’70s and ’80s, and into an exciting comeback that he sustained until retiring from world tours at age 70.

READ MORE: Top 10 Eric Clapton Guitar Solos

Five Clapton live albums reached the Top 20, highlighted by the Top 5 smashes Just One Night and Unplugged. These concert recordings even provided a few hit singles with 1980’s “Tulsa Time/Cocaine,” 1991’s “Wonderful Tonight” (in the U.K.) and 1992’s “Layla.”

Along the way, Clapton was also part of several collaborative live recordings, including 1964’s Five Live Yardbirds and 1966’s Sonny Boy Williamson and the Yardbirds, several Cream concert recordings including 1970’s Live Cream and and Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6, 2005, 1973’s In Concert with Derek and the Dominos and 2009’s Live From Madison Square Garden with Steve Winwood, among others. But the focus for this ranked list was on solo live albums.

Here’s a look back: