Eric Clapton's MTV Unplugged performance is heading back to theaters

Eric Clapton and Paramount+ seem to be taking some inspiration from the success of A24’s revival of The Talking Heads’ seminal concert film, Stop Making Sense. They’re staging their own updated restoration with Eric Clapton Unplugged… Over 30 Years Later, an expanded re-release of the “Layla” singer’s famous 1992 performance. 

Clapton’s original MTV Unplugged performance aired in 1992 and spawned an album, Unplugged, that went on to sell over 26 million copies worldwide. (Clapton was also nominated for nine Grammy Awards that year.) The remastered version includes original acoustic performances of songs like “Layla” and “Tears In Heaven” and tributes to Clapton’s inspirations through songs like Bo Diddley’s “Before You Accuse Me” and Bessie Smith’s “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out.” The new special will also expand on the original with bonus content like previously unaired performances and an interview with the artist where he discussed some of his inspirations before taking the stage. The special will play in select theaters in the U.S. and U.K. January 27 and 28, before streaming on Paramount+ February 12. 

Unfortunately for Paramount, Clapton’s special might not go over quite as well as The Talking Heads’. Even though the artist did release a new album, Meanwhile, this past October, he’s also spent the past few years spewing as much anti-lockdown and antivaxxer vitriol as he has music. (He was also on record with hateful rhetoric like “Keep Britain white” well before the original special aired, by the way.) At least now he’ll get his wish from 2021 than an un-“discriminated” audience—i.e. one that doesn’t have to provide proof of vaccination—can watch this if they choose.