Eric Clapton opened his U.S. fall tour in Detroit on September 6 by playing “Give Me Strength,” a track off 1974’s 461 Ocean Boulevard that he hadn’t performed live since a 1975 tour stop in Kansas City. Ultimate Classic Rock reports it’s the first time the 81-year-old guitarist has played the song in over five decades, and fans who caught it at Little Caesars Arena are still passing the footage around.

Key Points

• Clapton played “Give Me Strength” during the acoustic set on September 6, 2026, its first live performance since July 10, 1975.
• The Detroit show, part of his U.S. fall tour opener, expanded to 18 songs across 110 minutes rather than his usual tighter set.
• Bassist Nathan East took lead vocals on “Can’t Find My Way Home,” the Blind Faith classic Clapton has folded into his acoustic sets for years.
• The tour leads into Clapton’s appearances at the Crossroads Guitar Festival and Buddy Guy’s 90th birthday celebration later this month.

“Give Me Strength” was originally the B-side to “I Shot the Sheriff,” and Ultimate Classic Rock notes Clapton essentially swapped one for the other in Detroit, dropping his usual reggae cover to make room for the deep cut instead. It’s a small trade that mattered enormously to longtime followers who track his setlists the way other fans track batting averages.

The rest of the acoustic portion leaned deep into his catalog too, with “Kind Hearted Woman Blues,” “Running on Faith,” and “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” rounding out a segment that ran noticeably longer than his typical five-song acoustic block. JamBase’s rundown of the show describes “Running on Faith” as only its second outing all year and notes “Tearing Us Apart” hadn’t been played since May, adding two more rarities to a night already built around them.

Once the band plugged back in, the set moved through the songs that fill arenas: “Badge,” “Wonderful Tonight,” “Tears in Heaven,” “Layla,” and “Cocaine,” with a run through Robert Johnson’s “Cross Roads Blues” and a closing cover of Bo Diddley’s “Before You Accuse Me.” None of that is unusual for a Clapton show. What made Detroit different was the eight extra minutes carved out for a song most fans assumed had been retired for good.

Clapton has spent the better part of six decades revisiting his own back catalog on tour, but a gap of more than 50 years between performances is rare even for an artist known for deep cuts. Whether “Give Me Strength” sticks around for the rest of the run remains to be seen, but for one night in Detroit, a 1974 B-side got its second life.