{"id":538605,"date":"2026-07-13T03:24:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T03:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/538605\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T03:24:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T03:24:27","slug":"get-that-guy-who-looks-like-cleopatra-backstage-when-ron-wood-first-met-eric-clapton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/538605\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cGet that guy who looks like Cleopatra backstage!\u201d When Ron Wood first met Eric Clapton"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the British blues scene bloomed in the 1960s, with the Yardbirds and John Mayall\u2019s Bluesbreakers at the forefront, Ronnie Wood often found himself at the heart of it all. He enjoyed enduring friendships with Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, played with Jeff Beck, and later lived with Jimi Hendrix. He watched it unfold and played a key part.<\/p>\n

At the start of his career, he was simply a budding guitarist with lofty ambitions, holding the work of Yardbirds \u2013 at the point with Eric Clapton \u2013 in high regard. Then, one night, he found himself pulled out of the crowd to perform with them. It\u2019s here, he says, that his friendship with Clapton began.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI used to gauge my music by seeing the Yardbirds at the Crawdaddy,\u201d Wood said at a Q&A to promote his autobiography in 2015. \u201cThey were a big influence on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, Surrey, was one of the Yardbirds\u2019 usual haunts throughout their various eras, with their tri-fecta of guitar greats: Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck. It was one of the shows with the latter that saw Wood plant the seeds for him playing in Beck\u2019s<\/a> solo project after the Yardbirds broke up, first as a guitarist, then relegated to bass<\/a>. But he\u2019d found himself part of Yardbirds folklore long before that.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne night, Keith Relf, the singer and harmonica player, was ill, and Chris Dreja [guitar], Jim McCarty [drums], Paul Samwell-Smith [bass], and Eric Clapton said, \u2018Does anybody in the audience play harmonica?\u2019 and all my friends pushed me up, and he said, \u2018He does!\u2019 Suddenly I\u2019m on stage with the Yardbirds; I did \u2018I\u2019m a Man\u2019 and a few [other] songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It would have been a night to savor for this moment alone. But there was more to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey sent for me afterward,\u201d he remembers. \u201cThey said, \u2018Get that guy backstage who looks like Cleopatra.\u2019 Eric and I stayed close after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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‘How Can it Be?’ Ronnie Wood on Clapton, Beck & Page – YouTube
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Wood would, in fact, steal a bass<\/a> to play with Jeff Beck several years later, and at the Q&A, he was asked to break down why the Yardbirds and John Mayall\u2019s band proved to be, in his own words, a \u201cbreeding ground\u201d for incredible guitar players.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of ambition within guitar players to spread the word,\u201d he believes. \u201cThey were sort of like, \u2018Have you heard this lick?\u2019 Jeff Beck is still like that to this day. He\u2019s like a kid in a toy shop with his guitar and his riffs; \u2018Can you do this?\u2019 \u2018No, but I\u2019ll give it a damn good try.\u2019 There was a camaraderie.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"English\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Wood\u2019s story intertwines with that of Pete Townshend, with the loudness wars<\/a> that would redefine the future of amplifiers, and an argument<\/a> over a particular innovation at the core of their relationship.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s just released his latest album with the Rolling Stones, which Mick Jagger says was created with a \u201cbulldozer approach.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the British blues scene bloomed in the 1960s, with the Yardbirds and John Mayall\u2019s Bluesbreakers at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-538605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}