The Music Of Cream, a tribute band comprised of relatives of the original members of Cream, is heading out on a North American tour honoring the seminal album Disraeli Gears.
The group is a tribute band as close to the original as there ever was, with Kofi Baker (Ginger Baker’s son), Malcolm Bruce (Jack Bruce’s son) and Will Johns (Eric Clapton’s nephew). Each night on the tour will feature Disraeli Gears performed in its entirety, followed by a set of additional hits and rarities from Cream, Clapton, Blind Faith, and more, including personal stories with footage of their fathers and mentors.
The Music Of Cream first launched a celebratory 50th Anniversary World Tour in 2017 and have since performed over 100 shows together. “To follow our 50th Anniversary Tour, it was a no-brainer to go out and celebrate Disraeli Gears in its entirety,” says Baker, whose father passed away earlier this month. “There are songs that are quite different, they wanted to challenge everything! And from a personal point of view, it gives me the opportunity to perform another song my dad wrote, called ‘Blue Condition,’ that I really like. I also loved the artwork for the album; my sister and I used to laugh because we said you could see up my dad’s nose. Happy memories that we can bring to the stage.”
With primal riffs, soaring operatic choruses, poetry, fashion and theatre rolled into one, Disraeli Gears defined the era in which it was written. The supergroup’s second studio album, released November 1967, is often considered Cream’s crowning achievement. The singles “Sunshine of Your Love” and “Strange Brew” helped propel it to #4 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart, and it ultimately became a platinum-seller in the US. The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999
“Why Disraeli Gears? Well, that’s easy for me,” says Johns. “It was the birth of the wah-wah pedal and you gotta love the wah-wah! That we can interpret such groundbreaking music and continue to tell Cream’s story is as exciting for us as we know it was for the band when they recorded it all those years ago. Like my Uncle, I am a blues man through and through and on this record, there’s some fantastic interpretations of this genre, the likes of ‘Lawdy Mama’ and ‘Outside Woman Blues,’ so it doesn’t get better than that!”
Bruce says there are many reasons he loves the idea of performing Disraeli Gears. “Many of Cream’s best-known songs are on the record, including ‘Sunshine of Your Love,’ ‘Strange Brew,’ and ‘SWLABR,’” he says. “But importantly to me, perhaps my favorite Cream song, and I think my Dad’s too, ‘We’re Going Wrong,’ is on there as well. It has always been such a special song to perform, so open in its possibilities for improvisation, and lyrically, the song works on a number of levels, both personal and universal. I also love some of the less well-known songs on the album like ‘World of Pain’ and ‘Dance the Night Away.’ It even contains comedy elements in ‘Mother’s Lament.’ Overall, it is a very cohesive set to perform. We are looking forward to it!”
Cream was an explosive musical cocktail that provided a supergroup blueprint for others to follow. Their third album, Wheels of Fire (1968), was the world’s first platinum-selling double album, and collectively Cream sold more than 15 million copies of their albums worldwide. The trio said farewell on a 1968 US tour, with a brief reunion in 2005 at London’s Royal Albert Hall and New York’s Madison Square Garden. Cream retained an almost mythological status in the music world, right up until the passing of Jack Bruce in 2014.
https://drummagazine.com/lesson-play-the-tribal-rhythms-of-sunshine-of-your-love/
Ticket sales begin the morning of Friday, October 18 at www.musicofcream.com.
THE MUSIC OF CREAM – DISRAELI GEARS TOUR DATES
| Friday, February 28 | Victoria, BC @ McPherson Playhouse | |
| Saturday, February 29 | Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre | |
| Sunday, March 1 | Bellingham, WA @ Wild Buffalo House of Music | |
| Tuesday, March 3 | Seattle, WA @ Triple Door | |
| Wednesday, March 4 | Spokane, WA @ Bing Crosby Theater | |
| Thursday, March 5 | Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theatre | |
| Friday, March 6 | Mill Valley, CA @ Sweetwater Music Hall | |
| Saturday, March 7 | Santa Barbara, CA @ Soho Restaurant and Music Club | |
| Sunday, March 8 | San Diego, CA @ Balboa Theatre | |
| Tuesday, March 10 | Folsom, CA @ Harris Center for the Arts | |
| Wednesday, March 11 | San Juan Capistrano, CA @ The Coach House | |
| Saturday, March 14 | Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom | |
| Sunday, March 15 | Tucson, AZ @ Fox Tucson Theatre | |
| Tuesday, March 17 | Beaver Creek, CO @ Vilar Performing Arts Center | |
| Thursday, March 19 | Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theatre | |
| Saturday, March 21 | Greenville, TX @ Texan Theater | |
| Sunday, March 22 | Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon | |
| Tuesday, Mach 24 | Ponte Vedra, FL @ Ponte Vedra Concert Hall | |
| Wednesday, March 25 | Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ The Parker Playhouse | |
| Thursday, March 26 | Lakeland, FL @ Youkey Theatre | |
| Friday, March 27 | Bonita Springs, FL @ Southwest Florida Event Center | |
| March 28-31 | Miami, FL @ Flower Power Cruise | |
| Thursday, April 2 | Birmingham, AL @ Workplay | |
| Friday, April 3 | Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage | |
| Monday, April 6 | Greensboro, NC @ Carolina Theatre | |
| Tuesday, April 7 | Annapolis, MD @ Rams Head On Stage | |
| Thursday, April 9 | Alexandria, VA @ The Birchmere | |
| Friday, April 10 | Glenside, PA @ Keswick Theatre | |
| Tuesday, April 14 | Ridgefield, CT @ The Ridgefield Playhouse | |
| Thursday, April 16 | Huntington, NY @ The Paramount | |
| Friday, April 17 | Montclair, NJ @ The Wellmont Theater | |
| Saturday, April 18 | Derry, NH @ Tupelo Music Hall | |
| Sunday, April 19 | Boston, MA @ The Wilbur | |
| Tuesday, April 21 | Pittsburgh, PA @ Jergel’s Rhythm Grille | |
| Friday, April 24 | Toronto, ON @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre | |
| Sunday, April 26 | Chicago, IL @ Park West | |
| Tuesday, April 28 | Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater | |
| Wednesday, April 29 | Omaha, NE @ Slowdown | |
| Friday, May 1 | Jackson, MS @ Duling Hall | |
| Sunday, May 3 | Austin, TX @ 3Ten ACL Live |