The Music of Cream
2nd June 2017
ASB Theatre, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Mitchell Thornton. Photography by Mike Thornton.
The moment Baker, Bruce and Johns were comfortably behind their respective instruments – The Music of Cream filled Auckland’s ASB Theatre. The room darkened, and the audience’s anticipation became eager applause as Crossroads opened the evening’s act.
The cool languor of each member – Kofi Baker at the drums, Malcolm Bruce on bass and keys, and Will Johns leading with guitar and mic – enticed the crowd with what was to come. Becoming less and less reserved as songs progressed, the trio took turns supporting one-another with bluesy riffs and bursting out in energetic solos. Be it through Baker’s pounding bursts during Sitting on the Top of the World, Bruce’s jazzy climbs throughout Politician, or the shreds and wails of Johns in Deserted Cities, the group had the audience eating out of the palm of their hands.
Robben Ford joined the group as the first special guest, bringing in a notably changed tone to the evening by altering the sounds of his guitar in Steppin’ Out, reminiscent of Clapton’s effects with a wah-wah pedal. Most performances throughout the night contained free flowing jams (“there’s a lot of ad-lib’ing in there, I hope you like it” Baker remarked following Politician, if not consuming the piece altogether – harking back to the style of their forebears during live performances.
The evening was peppered with anecdotes by different band members. One such anecdote is made by Kofi Baker that alluded to both his upbringing, and the creation of the song Pressed Rat and Warthog, written by his father, Ginger Baker. He recalls that as a young man he believed the obscure title and lyrics must have some hidden meaning. But no, he reports – “it doesn’t mean a thing – dad just got really stoned one day and came up with it”. The brief but entertaining trip down memory lane also has Kofi recounting the efforts of he and his sister trying to find drugs in their hometown as a teen being difficult, as they would often find that his parents had dried up all his sources! He finishes with another drug-related quip – at 16 he was cautioned by police for being in possession of a small amount of hash… “you’re too young to prosecute, but we will have to tell your parents!” Ha-ha, “you can imagine how that went down…” And then we’re into the song – Baker aptly and adeptly taking on vocal duties for the song in question.
Delving further in to the roots of Cream, we are treated to a thumping version of Cream’s cover of Blind Joe Reynold’s Outside Woman Blues. Taunts from the crowd follow, someone from the balcony shouting at Johns to set his guitar on fire – who responded with; “do you have any lighter fluid?”
More crowd banter ensues, and is followed by another glance into the foundations of Cream as the boys belt out Born Under a Bad Sign. Once again it’s Baker’s turn to absorb all focus of the audience, as we are introduced to the famed “this is the song with the drum solo in it”… Toad. Eventually only Kofi is left onstage, the crowd’s enthusiasm palpable as we are subsumed by a ten-minute (shortened from the original thirteen) drum solo – a cacophony of sound moving back and forth between near-chaos and tight, jazz like rhythms under Baker’s absolute control.
After the standing ovation Baker rightfully earned – Johns and Bruce returned, and the crowd was hushed back into their seats as the tone became slow and dolorous. We’re Going Wrong from Disraeli Gears – the group’s first real think piece of the night – groovy, yet foreboding; “I found out today we’re going wrong, we’re going wrong.” The lingering guitar riffs, slow and dreamy drum beat and the chilling chant providing yet further evidence of masterful musicianship, while paving the way into the more psychedelic legacy that Cream developed.
A better introduction to Glenn Hughes could not be asked for, The Tale of Brave Ulysses – song once described by Matt Greenwald (All Music) as “one of the few overtly psychedelic songs to have aged gracefully,” the same could be said about Glenn Hughes. His vocals gave a heavy metal twist to the track, his own lively and uptempo attitude vibe intermingling with the song’s. He remained on stage as a constant power house for the remainder of the concert; absolutely slaying the vocals on some of Cream’s more upbeat songs, his jarring outlandishness bringing a new level of connection with the audience. He got people out of their seats – with each song, more and more people made their way to the foot of the stage to rock out with the band, expressing heartfelt adoration.
To finish, we are treated to a two-song encore – much to everyone’s delight. First – a version of Deep Purple’s Mistreated, performed by the voice of Deep Purple himself – Glenn Hughes – solo and self-accompanied with just an acoustic guitar. This is followed with the show-closer, a truly resounding rendition of none other than White Room.
The crowd would have loved there to have been still more to come, no doubt; but alas that was not to be. Final goodbyes were uttered – reminders from Glenn to stay safe and love each other – bows taken, handshakes proffered from the stage – and then they were gone – leaving the elated fans grinning and with plenty of reminiscing to be done.
Were you there at the ASB Theatre for this brilliant flashback of musical genius? Or have you seen The Music of Cream (or perhaps you even saw the O.G. Cream themselves) live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Crossroads
- Sitting on Top of The World
- Deserted Cities
- Politician
- Steppin’ Out
- Badge
- Pressed Rat & Warthog
- Outside Woman Blues
- Born under a Bad Sign
- Sleepy Time Time
- Toad
- We’re Going Wrong
- Tales of Brave Ulysses
- I’m So Glad
- I Feel Free
- Spoonful
- Sunshine of Your Love
- Mistreated (Encore)
- White Room (Encore)
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