In Austria, the release peaked at number two on the official Ö3 Austria Top 10 and SNEP music DVD chart in Austria and France. In Belgium, the DVD reached position nine in Flanders and ten in Wallonia, making it one of the rare Eric Clapton DVDs to chart on Ultratop in the country. In the Netherlands and Italy, Crossroads Guitar Festival peaked at number three, where as in Finland and Switzerland the video release peaked at number four on the music charts. In Portugal and Spain, the release was a little less successful, reaching only eleven and thirdteen on the nation's DVD chart. In the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan, the concert movie ranked at the lowest places, charting at number 20, 25 and 30. However, the release topped the music charts in the United States, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. The release was also listed on three end of the year charts, indicating outstanding sales and shipment figures while on chart. Crossroads Guitar Festival 2010 reached the positions 33, 37 and 38 in the Netherlands, Portugal and Australia. The concert DVD was awarded several Gold discs to commemorate special sales and shipment figures in Portugal, Spain and Poland. In addition, it was awarded five Platinum certifications for outstanding sales in the territories Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany and Sweden. In the United States, the release was certified four-times Platinum for shipments over 400,000 copies alone. In total, the release has sold more than 570,000 copies. The 29,000 concert tickets for the show were sold out in five minutes. The average ticket price was $67 US Dollar. The created a grossing of $1,943,000. The release on video format is estimated to have grossed a total of 12,000,000 US-Dollar. The budget is unknown.
Reception
Shortly after the festival was over, Clapton called the event "a great success", noting the reason being "good weather, great crowd, and the fact, that has done it previously made it a familliar venue for everybody. It was like everyone came back, knowing what they were getting into. It is kinda like the usual suspects now. There is a core group of players and people, that want to do it". Being asked about the success of his "Crossroads"-releases, Clapton recalled the key players of the event that lead to the success of the concert film releases: "Vince Gill, ZZ Top, Sonny Landreth, Jimmie Vaughan, Buddy Guy, the list goes on now". Clapton also noted in the interview, that he did not like the last jam at the end of the concert, because it featured over 25 guitar players. The British rock musician noted, that he wanted to play with Pino Daniele and Johnny Lang, but did not get a chance to jam with them on stage, because it is very difficult to marshall the guitar festival properly. Talking about his performance at 8 o'clock in the evening, Clapton recalled that he "conserves some energy, but paced himself all wrong this time" and was "shattered nothing to give", but also notes that he was "match fit" for the concert and "very happy".
Critical
Music journalist Jon Pareles form the New York Times calls the release atmosphere "decidedly old-fashioned" and liked the fact that, "every note, give or take an echo effect, was played by hand". Pareles likes the release and notes the "excellent performances" on the concert DVD. All·About·Jazz reporter Doug Collette finds, "this double DVD, reaffirms Eric Clapton's serious intent to showcase the art of the guitar and his own devotion to the blues". Music critic Jeffrey Kauffman from the Blu-ray Disc Association awarded the release four and a half points out of five. Swiss music critic Michael Herb from String Works calls the release "a great investment" and especially likes the way the artists are presented on the video footage. He also noted that the production is "perfect". He awarded the release seven out of a possible ten stars. Rick Moore from the American Songwriter awards the release four out of five possible stars, noting: "The direction by veteran music video and documentary director Martyn Atkins is top-notch, as is the editing, with appropriate amounts of time spent on close-ups, wide shots and backstage footage. Sometimes the narration by the artists talking about each other is a little hard to follow, and the DVD’s climax with B.B. King is almost a little anti-climactic. But that’s definitely splitting hairs. Guitar players, and fans of guitar players – especially blues-influenced ones – should love this DVD. It’s also available in blu-ray, and a great idea for Christmas".
