The May 11 1968, Rolling Stone contained an extended
interview with Eric Clapton. It
also contained a concert review of Cream by Jon Landau. The review was critical and included a critique of Clapton as
a guitarist. When Clapton read it,
he fainted. It was to have a
profound effect on him and it accelerated the demise of Cream.
Ginger
Baker…”Eric took it too fuckin’seriously”
Jack
Bruce …”In hindsight there was some truth in it but it really hurt at the
time.”
Thanks
to some research by Greg Renoff of Waltham Massachusetts. The concert that
Landau reviewed has been tracked down. What
is most interesting is that:
1.
Another
review of the concert exists
2.
Landau’s
Rolling Stone review is an edit/variation of a longer review.
3.
A bootleg
recording of the concert exists.
A
very long standing gig date for Cream was Brandeis University, Saturday 10th
September 1967. It was always
reported as starting at 2.15a.m on the Sunday.
One of Cream’s best bootlegs was also purported to emanate from this
gig.
Greg
Renoff has found that Brandeis was on vacation at this date.
Fall term started on the 17th September 1967.
Further
research revealed that Cream were booked for Saturday 23rd March
1968. They arrived late as they had
to fly in from Indiana – great scheduling that also resulted in the cancelling
of another gig. The show was
organised by The Student Service Bureau -
they were really needing to make a profit as the previous major gig of The Four
Tops lost $2,400 (“The Justice”, March 12 1968).
The
late arrival of Cream caused some palpitations as the Student Service Bureau
would have lost another $2,451. The
late arrival caused additional costs of overtime and a fill-in band.
However they made a profit $1,154 from a gross of $8,994, with
2,800-2,900 attending ("The Justice" April 2, 1968, P1.).
Cream’s fee must have been about $5,000.
