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Wednesday, October 26, 2005 (third of three nights)
What was I thinking when I accepted my friend's invitation (he had an extra ticket) to fly to New York from California to see Cream at my own expense (the round trip flight cost only slightly more than the concert ticket)? It turned out to be well worth the time and expense.
The demographic scene was somewhat amusing and sad at the same time;amusing as the entire audience consisted of the affluent (yuppies, if you will) as minimum seat prices were far beyond the means of most; sad because many cannot attend such a concert for financial reasons alone.
Cream was "on" right out of the gate. In my view, Cream was Eric Clapton's artistic peak (when he was 21 years old), with ups (the 'Journeyman" band with Nathan East) and downs (the Robert-Johnson-cover band era) since. It was refreshing to see Eric return to his roots. As the night progressed, he sounded tired at times, but generally stayed
true to the Cream sound.
Jack Bruce has lost nothing (other than his four string bass) - his playing, voice and stage presence were fully intact. I was very pleased to see that Jack did most of the vocal work, as he had in the original band. If I remember the story correctly, Clapton had a crisis confidence during the band's tenure as far his vocal abilities were concerned. In fact, when Eric did sing, I commented that he did not sing like that (as he does now) when he was with Cream, and some of his vocals represented the sole moments this band did not sound like Cream.
Ginger Baker was "in the pocket" from the beginning, but seemed the most laid back of the group, as I remembered Ginger having had more intensity during the Cream days. Later, he stole the show with an incredible extended drum solo during Toad. He added a sort of hip hop flair to 'Pressed Rat' and 'Warthog', making it almost unrecognizable vocally speaking.
'We're Going Wrong' reminded me of how great this band was at songwriting, in addition to their having brought the blues to the masses (along with Led Zeppelin and others). 'Rolling and Tumbling' was so hard driving that I was unable to keep myself from swaying back and forth in my seat.
It felt great to be a part of this historical show. The modern light show was an insult to the great shows of the 60's and 70's, and I thought of recent light shows I have seen (Case in point: Sons of Champlin at the 24h Street Theatre in Sacramento) that would have fit so much better. The sound was actually better than I had anticipated (I generally avoid large venues like the Garden).
Andy Roth
 
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