Eric Clapton is going deaf, struggling with nerve damage
Eric Clapton is worried about his Hyde Park show in London this summer because he’s battling crippling hearing issues.
The 72-year-old guitar great will headline the British Summer Time festival in July, and he admits he has never been more nervous about a concert.
As well as battling tinnitus, he’s struggling with painful nerve issues in his hands, which have forced him to play the guitar differently.
“I am still going to work…,” her tells BBC radio host Steve Wright. “The only thing I am concerned with now is I am going deaf. I’ve got tinnitus, my hands just about work. I mean, I am hoping people will come along and see me, me more than I am a curiosity. I know that is part of it, because it’s amazing to myself that I am still here.”
Clapton has been battling the pain of nerve damage for the past year, and admits performing has become a challenge.
“It started with lower back pain, and turned into what they call peripheral neuropathy,” the Layla hitmaker explains. “(It’s) hard work to play the guitar and I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that it will not improve.”
He now picks and chooses his concerts carefully, adding, “What I’ll allow myself to do, within reason, is carry on recording in the studio. I don’t want to go off the boil to the point where I’m embarrassing myself.”