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#50GreatestConcerts: Cream, 1968

Even as they were breaking up, Cream pushed the boundaries of rock and roll

Published by

June 26, 2017

[L-R]: Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton of Cream. Photo: General Artists Corporation/Atco Records

Eric Clapton ended Cream in 1968 after only two years, burned out and sick of keeping the peace between bandmates Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce. But even as they were breaking up, Cream pushed the boundaries. “It had nothing to do with lyrics or ideas,” said Clapton. “It was much deeper, purely musical.”

At Madison Square Garden, they played a wild, nearly 20-minute “Spoonful.” At San Francisco’s Fillmore, they played under the venue’s psychedelic light shows as Clapton, Baker and Bruce soloed simultaneously. As Roger Waters, who saw them at the time, put it, “It was an astounding sight and an explosive sound.”

Click here to check out the entire story in the digital edition of Rolling Stone India.

Watch Cream’s 1968 Farewell Concert below:

Kory Grow