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TimmyB

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  7. Cream @ Madison Square Gardens Monday October 24, 2005.

    in Show Reviews

    Posted

    Cream Prove they are just that the Cream...

    Cream - New York, NY, Madison Square Gardens

    Monday October 24, 2005.

    Show Review

    By Timothy Batke

    cream.jpg

    Cream

    The career of Cream was like a missile. They came in hard and fast and after Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton exploded onto the music scene in the summer of 1966 they changed the terrain of popular music forever. But much like a missile after Cream detonated on the world of music, they left their mark and then they were done a little over two years after they started in the fall of 1968. So it is only fitting that when Clapton approached Bruce and Baker for a reunion of Cream in early 2005 that the reunion would be short lived as well.

    Initially the three men now all in their sixties, planned to do a run of four shows at the Royal Albert Hall on May 2,3,5,6, 2005. A fitting venue to perform a run of shows since their last gig as Cream was at the same venue on November 26, 1968. After the run of May shows that could have very well been it, if it were not for the abundance of promoters from the United States of America pushing the three men for more shows on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

    Madison Square Garden promoter Ron Delsener won out over all other promoters and found three nights in a row in October at the very busy Gardens to stage Cream’s return to North America since November 4, 1968 (Not including Cream’s performance to their induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 12, 1993 at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles). So the dates were set for October 24, 25, 26, 2005 and the anticipation of the event was like that of a Superbowl in America, as this was not a tour but just three gigs in one venue to see a historically significant band most thought they would never get a chance to witness live.

    Over sixty percent of the 55,000 tickets sold for the three shows were from residence outside of the New York City area. The tickets prices ranged from $60-350 and a great effort was made by Delsener and ticketmaster to have the tickets end up in the hands of fans. Ticketmaster made sure that if multiple orders from the same address were used, even if a different credit card was used that those orders would be cancelled. This resulted in more 7,000 tickets being thrown back into the system. Even with the effort put forth some tickets were being resold for $4,500 plus on ebay and by ticket brokers.

    For those who paid those astronomical ticket prices to see Cream at their first show on Monday night, likely walked away saying it was money well spent. I myself sat rear stage with my $60 ticket, so I felt like I had the bargain of the century. Though no one usually wants to be behind the band, I enjoyed the perspective it gave me of the three men on stage throughout the night, which I will go into in this review.

    The Garden crowd filled in to the point of capacity and then Eric, Jack and Ginger took the stage a little after half past eight. After seeing two of other of the greatest English Invasion acts earlier this year, the Rolling Stones and former Beatle Paul McCartney, I must say it was refreshing to see Cream take the stage without any video montage or pyrotechnics. Yes Cream had three video screens, one thankfully for the rear stage, but that was just so you can see the musicians play. As it always was with Cream, Monday night was entirely about the music.

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    Fittingly the show opened the gig with “I’m So Glad,†which I am sure the entire audience was glad to see the band on stage again after all this time. Cream was one of the first groups in the sixties to seriously delve into the treasure trove of American blues artists, and the Skip James number “I’m So Glad†found on Cream’s debut album ‘Fresh Cream’ was one of many blues numbers through out the night.

    The concert had Cream performing their interpretation of the aforementioned Skip James as well as Willie Dixon, Arthur Reynolds, Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker, Booker T. Jones with William Bell, Robert Johnson and Chester Burnett. Cream were one of the first bands to take from the blues masters and make the songs all their own and they also did it better than most.

    After seeing Eric Clapton on stage several times over the past decade plus, it was great to see him on stage as the only guitarist with the rhythm section that propelled him into another stratosphere of popularity that helped to create the living legend that he is today. Add in the fact that Jack Bruce had most of the lead vocal duties, Clapton was there to focus on mainly one thing, and that was to play Fender Stratocaster guitar. Back in the days of Cream he played several different types of Les Paul’s, but those days are gone and his signature “Blackie†was on stage with him all night long. It was not the original “Blackie†that guitar was retired from the stage long ago, though it was the model that Fender made to his favorite guitars specifications.

    I knew Clapton would put on an impressive performance, he has consistently done so over the time that I have seen him live. The big question mark for me was to see how Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce performed on stage? Ginger Baker basically came out of retirement from his South African ranch to play these gigs. And at sixty-six with degenerative osteoarthritis which affects his spine and makes it difficult for him to sit for a whole set he was the biggest question mark. Yet watching Baker all night long, a senior citizen with arthritis he was not, he seemed like he was a drummer one third his age out there. Baker proved to everyone at MSG that night why he is one of the first legendary drummers in rock and roll and still should be regarded in that manner of respect. Especially during his signature song “Toad†where Baker went into a brilliant nearly nine minute drum solo.

    During Baker’s drum solo you could see Clapton on the side of the stage the entire time sitting there with his guitar strapped on watching his old band mate pounding the drums. It was great to see how Clapton wanted to stay on the side of the stage to watch Baker play his heart out rather than go back stage for a tea or whatever. Halfway through the drum solo Bruce joined Clapton and the two of them stood side by side watching the rest of Baker’s drum solo while having a brief conversation with each other, to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.

    Jack Bruce was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2003 and nearly did not survive liver transplant surgery in the fall of 2003 as his body initially rejected the organ. Now in 2005 was well enough to play this reunion of Cream shows. Bruce also proved to the audience that he still play and maybe even more so that he still has a great voice.

    Whether Baker was belting out the blues classics like Willie Dixon’s “Spoonful†or some of his own classic numbers like “Sleepy Time Time†or “N.S.U.†which has one of my favorite lyrics in the Cream catalogue “the only time I’m happy is when I play my guitar,†the concert went on and Bruce’s voice only seemed to get stronger.

    The volatile relationship between the rhythm players in Cream is one of legend. Personal tensions between band members, mainly between Ginger and Jack is often sited for one of the main reasons the legendary group broke up so soon after they began. And even as Cream was playing their first show in the United States in thirty-seven years the tension between Baker and Bruce has still not gone away.

    During “We’re Going Wrong†a Jack Bruce number from ‘Disraeli Gears,’ a conflict ensued on stage between Baker and Bruce. The song had Baker playing the drums with timpani drum sticks as it is one of Cream’s quieter songs. It became abundantly clear that Bruce felt that Baker was not playing the drum part quietly enough and he turned to the drummer between verses and motioned with his hand to turn down the volume and the said something as well. As Baker was told this from Bruce the drummer was on the screen and I could actually see Baker shake his head no to the request and he immediately played the drums harder with those timpani sticks. The song naturally builds up with Clapton’s guitar playing becoming more prevalent by the end of the song, but it seemed like the crescendo was forced based on the conflict on stage. I have read about the conflict between Ginger and Jack in books and in print over the years, but to actually see in on stage was something to see.

    Clapton as per usual focused mainly on the blues to bring across his emotions. He even pulled out a T-Bone Walker song “Stormy Monday†that was not previously apart of Cream’s catalogue of material performed. During which Slowhand showed everyone that he has become a powerful voice not just with his guitar playing, but his vocals as well. Clapton has been playing “Stormy Monday†since he came out of his heroine induced hiatus in the early seventies, but he sings it better now than he did over thirty years ago. He is more comfortable vocally now and when he said “This is what I say/Lord have mercy/Lord have mercy on me,†it did not feel like he was just singing it, it felt like he was praying it.

    No surprise Cream performed “Crossroads,†the song Clapton adapted from the King of the Delta Blues Robert Johnson and by doing so, helped to bring Johnson to the world. Clapton didn’t play it like a kid in his early twenties, but like a man who just turned sixty this past March 30, it was a less intense rendition of the Johnson classic about selling his soul to the devil at the crossroads. The version was more reminiscent of how Clapton plays it now as a solo artist, though he was still gave us moments of the intensity on his axe that he had back in 1968.

    A song that Cream performed at the Gardens that they did not play in May at the Royal Albert Hall was the Eric Clapton/Martin Sharp number “Tales of Brave Ulysses†from ‘Disreali Gears.’ A song which has Eric Clapton playing a Wah Wah pedal, something of a rarity at Clapton show, much like another old Yardbird Jeff Beck you often do not see them playing around with pedals on stage.

    The majority of the crowd had either already owned either or the new CD/DVD Cream ‘Royal Albert Hall: London May 2-3-5-6-2005’ that was only just released or they at least knew the setlist in London because the crowd went absolutely nuts for “Tales of Brave Ulysses†and there was a feeling of surprise that came from their reaction.

    It was also interesting to see how the performances of Cream’s two biggest hits “White Room†and “Sunshine of Your Love†went down. For the past thirty plus years Clapton had been singing these songs and now Clapton was singing back up to Bruce again.

    During “White Room†the Wah Wah pedal came back out and Bruce and Clapton actually exchanged verses which is not how the original version went down with Bruce singing the whole song. There were moments where it was clear that either Jack or Eric almost did not know when to go up and take a verse, at one point they both went up at the same time.

    For the encore the final number of the night was their signature song the Jack Bruce/Eric Clapton number with Cream’s lyricist Pete Brown “Sunshine of Your Love.†Again it was great to see how Clapton nearly forgot to sing the second line due to the fact that for the past three decades he had been singing Bruce’s first line, while giving the second line to others in his solo band like bassist Nathan East. Luckily Clapton just got to the microphone just in time and while he sang the verse he had a big smile on his face.

    The crowd was all on their feet for “Sunshine of Your Love†and much of the crowd were on their feet all night long, but whether they were sitting at some points, like Bruce was sitting on a stool from time to time during Clapton vocal songs, that did not mean the crowd or Bruce were not giving it their all. And when “Sunshine of Your Love†ended a little over two hours after the show began Ginger, Jack and Eric went to the front of the stage with their arms around each other and bowed and walked off stage the crowd cheered in the Gardens as if the New York Knicks had just won the NBA Championship.

    The reunion might not last beyond these three shows at Madison Square Gardens and the four shows at the Royal Albert Hall, but Cream proved that they still had the chemistry that made them so famous a long time ago. Ginger, Jack and Eric also proved that they can still play with the best of them and that they still are the Cream.

    Setlist:

    Cream

    Madison Square Garden

    Monday October 24, 2005

    Start time 8:32PM

    1. I’m So Glad

    2. Spoonful

    3. Outside Woman Blues

    4. Pressed Rat and Warthog

    5. Sleepy Time Time

    6. Tales of Brave Ulysses

    7. N.S.U.

    8. Badge

    9. Politician

    10. Sweet Wine

    11. Rollin’ and Tumblin’

    12. Stormy Monday

    13. Deserted Cities of the Heart

    14. Born Under a Bad Sign

    15. We’re Going Wrong

    16. Crossroads

    17. Sitting On Top of the World

    18. White Room

    19. Toad

    20. Encore: Sunshine of Your Love

    End time 10:36PM (Total time 2 hours and 4 minutes)

    Thanks to billboard for help on some of the statistics from their October 22, 2995 article ‘Exclusively Cream’ by Chris Norman

  8. Rosa Parks dies at 92

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    As a white male growing up in Burlington, Ottawa, Toronto and Hamilton, I can not even comprehend the courage that Rosa Parks had on that day when she wouldn't go to the back of the bus.

    May she rest in peace in heaven with Martin Luther King Jr. and all of the others that have fought for their rights as human beings.

    After being in New York City this weekend and staying in Harlem, it reminds me that the civil rights movement needs to come back to the forefront of American society.

    Because all people in America are not equal, nor are they in Canada, and until we are all living with the same opportunities as everyone else the dream remains just that, a dream.

    Tim

  9. TimmyB off to NYC for Fresh Cream

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    Today, Monday October 24, 2005, I will see Cream for the first time and likely last time on stage at Madison Square Gardens.

    After Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, I thought there was a glimmer of hope that I would see the innovators of the blues rock power trio on stage live.

    Yet months past and my first Eric Clapton concert was to open his 'Nothing But the Blues Tour' in Montreal in October of 1994.

    After that first Clapton show all hope soon passed and I never thought this day would come. Yet here it is. I have seen Clapton several times since in his subsequent tours, yet today I will see him on stage with no other guitarists, keyboardist, horn section or backing vocalists, nothing but one of the greatest rhythm sections ever seen in Bruce and Baker.

    Slowhand's hands will be busy tonight and the smile is not likely to leave my face for the show and many days to follow.

    Tim

    PS Andrew from Club Q thinks it will be "neat."

  10. 43 years ago today James Brown recorded at the Apollo. Now I'll go see it

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    From www.billboard.com

    THIS DAY IN MUSIC for October 24, 2005.

    1962 - James Brown records the landmark soul album "Live at the Apollo."

    I am here on West 135th Street in Harlem staying at an old high school buddies place who is teaching in Harlem making good coin.

    I am here in New York City to see Cream at the Gardens tonight. Before I headed down on the B or C trains to 7th and 31st Street, I wanted to take a quick stop at West 125th Street to see the legendary Apollo Theater. Now after reading that it was 43 years ago today that James Brown recorded his first 'Live at the Apollo' I will make sure I make that stop now.

    Tim

  12. Happy Birthday Tom Petty 10/20/1953

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    Happy 52nd Birthday Tom,

    May you have many, many more in health and happiness.

    Tim

    from www.billboard.com

    THIS DAY IN MUSIC

    For October 20, 2005.

    1953 - Tom Petty is born in Gainesville, Fla. He wins a Grammy Award as part of the Traveling Wilburys for the 1989 album "Traveling Wilburys Volume One."

  14. SON VOLT setlist for Opera House 10/17

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    SON VOLT

    OPERA HOUSE

    MON OCT 17 2005

    Start time: 10:38PM

    1. Who

    2. Bandages & Scars

    3. Atmopshere

    4. Gramophone

    5. Medicine Hat

    6. Back Into Your World

    7. Joe Citizen Blues

    8. Damn Shame

    9. Feel Free

    10. Barstow

    11. Loose String

    12. Chaos Streams

    13. Live Free

    14. Picking Up the Signal

    15. Jet Pilot

    16. Endless War

    17. 6 String Belief

    18. Route

    19. Carytide Easy

    20. World Waits for You/World Waits for You (Reprise)

    21. Tear Stained Eye

    22. Driving the View

    23. Medication

    24. Afterglow 61

    Encore:

    25. Windfall

    26. Drown

    27. Chickamauga

    End time: 12:27AM

    Total time: 1 hour and 49 minutes

    Review will come later.

    Tim

  18. New Dylan song - Tell Ol' Bill

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    I think Bob Dylan's rendition of "Tell Ol' Bill" is pretty good. Unfortunately he will not likely to be performing it live on this up coming Europeon tour, as Dylan hasn't performed the last couple of tunes he did for soundtracks.

    "'Cross the Green Mountain" for 'Gods and Generals' and "Waiting for You" from 'Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.'

    I especially love of all three of these songs "'Cross the Green Mountain." It should go down as a great song in the greatest canon of songs ever written by the one and only Dylan. Yet he has yet to ever perform it live.

    In 2002 and 2003 I was so excited to hear Dylan play "'Cross the Green Mountain" like he played "Things Have Changed" from 'Wonderboys' yet it never happened.

    Tim

  19. Neil Young on Conan November 1-4

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    I think I'll be up for those 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien' shows.

    Tim

    From www.billboard.com

    Edited By Jonathan Cohen. October 14, 2005, 3:30 PM ET

    Billboard Bits: Neil Young

    Following U2's recent weeklong takeover of "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," Neil Young has signed on to appear four nights in a row (Nov. 1-4) on the NBC talk show. Young will head to New York to tape the shows immediately after the 19th Bridge School Benefit concerts in Mountain View, Calif., at which he will perform with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

    The artist's latest Reprise album, "Prairie Wind," debuted earlier this month at No. 11 on The Billboard 200. A previously announced documentary recently shot by director Jonathan Demme during two shows in Nashville is scheduled to hit U.S. theaters in February.

    -- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

  21. Roll Call: Son Volt @ Opera House Monday 10/17

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    JEFF COHEN & ATG PRESENT

    SON VOLT

    10:30PM HEADLINE SET

    OPERA HOUSE-735 QUEEN E

    LEGAL AGE 19 YRS

    MON OCT 17/05 DRS 8:30PM

    GENERAL ADMISSION

    CA $22.50

    Jay Farrar, has put a newly formed Son Volt on the road for the first time in years. Their new effort 'Okemah and the Melody of Riot' is a great prostest alt. country rock album.

    I am very much looking forward to seeing this show, anyone else?

    Tim

  23. Amos Lee

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    I saw Amos Lee open for Bob Dylan twice earlier in the spring of this year.

    I enjoyed Lee both times, but I even enjoyed him more the second.

    At the second gig I remember Lee performed one of my all time favorite tunes, Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" and he nailed it.

    He has such a passionate and soulful voice, I look forward to see what he does next.

    Tim

  25. Paul Simon

    in Soundboard

    Posted

    Happy 61st Birthday Paul,

    May you have many, many more in health and happiness.

    Tim

    PS I think I'll first put on the Beatles "When I'm Sixty-Four" and then some nice old Simon & Garfunkel to celebrate Simon's birthday.

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