They will be performing at Grantham Guildhall Arts Centre, St Peter's Hil, Grantham on Friday December 5 at 7.30pm. Tickets priced £12 (concessions £11) are available from the box office - Tel: (01476) 406158 and also on-line at www.guildhallartscentre.com Their previous performance at The Guildhall in 2004 sold out. Fans are advised to book early for this special anniversary concert.


They will perform all of EC's classic songs including Wonderful Tonight, Tears in Heaven, Crossroads, I Shot The Sheriff, Cocaine and of course Layla!


The band played their first ever gig on December 5 1985 in Newcastle upon Tyne long before the term "tribute band" was invented, and named themselves ''After Midnight'' after Eric Clapton's first solo hit. Their ability to re-create Clapton's electrifying stage performances, really caught the audience's imagination. In guitar/vocalist Mike Hall, the band possesses a front man who not only looks like Eric, he sings and plays guitar like him too!


In 1999, Mike won a national look-alike competition held at Madam Tussauds, London. Mike has met Slowhand twice, and even received a message of encouragement from the guitar maestro (written on a Concorde menu). Guitarist Magazine has acknowledged them as The World's No1 Eric Clapton Tribute Band.


In 2001 they embarked on an extensive tour of UK Theatres. They called the tribute show "CLASSIC CLAPTON". Since then, they have continued to perform throughout the UK and Europe including concerts at The Royal Festival Hall, London and a triumphant appearance at Glastonbury Festival in 2002. The band has toured Ireland, Scotland and Wales numerous times. They headlined an international music festival in Estonia in 2004 and were invited back for another successful concert in 2007. They also appeared at the prestigious Sotogrande Blues Festival in Spain in 2007 and were invited back to Spain to perform in Madrid in January 2008.


In May 2008 CLASSIC CLAPTON played at The Acoustic Festival of Britain straight after Fairport Convention and just before Jethro Tull. In the past 23 years CLASSIC CLAPTON have become something of a rock institution.


CLASSIC CLAPTON comprises 4 excellent musicians:- Mike Hall (lead vocals/guitar), Vince Mason (drums), Paul Warren (keyboards/backing vocals) and John Forster (bass guitar/backing vocals). John played in a band with John Miles when they were both up & coming musicians.


The band has released three albums. Firstly "THE MUSIC OF ERIC CLAPTON" contains brilliant cover-versions of 17 Clapton Classics. Their second album is a live double CD ''CLASSIC CLAPTON Unplugged'' recorded at Belfast Waterfront Hall. In 2005 they released their third album "CLASSIC CREAM" – featuring 20 songs by the sixties supergroup.