… with black curtains…Today in rock history, in 1968, Cream begins a farewell tour of the US with a concert at Oakland, CA, and hits the US chart for the third time with “White Room.” I was fortunate to attend one of the dates on this farewell tour, which was in October or November of 1968 (I forget the exact date) at the barn-like Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, IA. While my memory of the concert is a bit hazy (could have been some chemicals involved, I don’t know), I do remember Clapton with his reverse-neck Gibson Firebird and a burned-out looking Ginger Baker launching into a frenzied version of “Toad.” Since my friends and I had tickets to this show, we became minor celebrities at our high school, prompting one girl to ask excitedly, “Are you going to see The Creams?” Yes, we did, and the rest is rock and roll history. Enjoy this tune from the tour, thanks to http://www.bgo-records.com/today/today_in_rock_history.htm for the info, and keep on rockin’!
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3 comments:
You NEVER told me this before!! I know i sound like your H.S. girlfriend, but ... HOLY SHIT!!!
I on the other watched the farewell tour on PBS in (I THINK) '68 or maybe '69, but only because this "weird" kid on my track team kept talking about it & inviting us all over to watch it with him. I ended up being the only kid to actually show up at his house to watch it, and we watched it on a B&W TV with rabbit ears, but I was transfixed and converted to Power Trios, and that was my intro to Cream.
I can't believe you were AT a show on that very concert tour. Is there any great band (besides Dylan, you slacker! :-) ) that you HAVEN'T seen??
I can't believe all these bands came through Iowa!!
OK, let me try this on you: Did you ever see Creedence?
P.S. thanks for posting this track, which (naturally) I had never hear before. On 3rd listening, I think i may like Jack's vocals BETTER on this than on the studio -- more urgent, more immediate as compared to the Masters of the Universe sound of the studio version. Ginger Baker knocks himself out as always, doesn't he?
Well, to be Frank (and I never saw him either) there's lots of bands I never saw, CCR included, but I did see (back in the day): The Allman Bros Band (just after Duane died, dang it!), Grand Funk Railroad, Linda Ronstadt, Jefferson Airplane, Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, and Steppenwolf, and that's the truth...and Ginger Baker seemed pretty wasted when I saw him - but he still pretty on a pretty good show...
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