The Cream 10 - 24 - 05, The concert I'd never thought I would see...
They started with I'm So Glad... then Spoonful, Pressed Rat, Sleepy Time Time, like the Royal Albert Hall sho s yet added Tales of Brave Ulysses and ended with Toad... Sunshine of Your Love as a encore. I think Ginger Baker shows the world how to make drums sound HUGE! Toad stole the show. It was so f*****g great! Our seats were straight back, on risers toward the back of the floor. We had straight view of Clapton and Baker. Ginger Baker's snare sounded like a cannon... He is the man, without any doubt. Jack Bruce voice sounded amazingly strong and nearly stole the show. His Warwick bass sounded better than the old EBO. Clapton wasn't as transcendental but exploded with his solo during Stormy Monday. He seemed more measured and less apt to dominate the stage. Yet, it was great Clapton - sound, technique and everything, but we all hold dear that 'woman tone' from Crossroads on Wheels of Fire. The whole two hours just rocked. There was a false start... just Ginger hammering out 2 bars and they stop! It is on the start of White Room. Made it even more real and not processed. Someone also put one of those mini Marshall stacks atop Bruce's Hartke Amps and Clapton's tweed '57 Twin Reverbs.'
I was shouting and hollering with Toad . The recording clips off at the beginning of applause after Toad, but I was like a fog-horn yelling, "GINGER BAKER - GINGER BAKER - GINGER BAKER !!!"
Clapton and bruce didn't really trade solos but supported each other. It wasn't the kind of risky fencing manuvers circling each other to new heights. I think Clapton's best solo might have been in Sleepy Time Time or Stormy Monday. His long breaks before the solos in Badge and then later in White Room (with wah-wah) drove the crowd crazy!
It was two f*****g hours of Cream!
