Cream - "NSU" Madison Square Garden Oct 26th 2005

[DaDa2Phlux]

Pretty funny reading posts about slowing pace .It was Cream that broke the mold.The metal,punk,thrasher and their variants that came after they had l thought they would bury Cream's legacy by speed alone.Listen to the famous Winterland(Live at "the Fillmore") version of Spoonful.It's like an Indian raga in it's build,peaceful moments mixed into the ferocity reveals another layer during every listening.They were pioneers - no matter which showboat came to steal the stage.

[blackandtanful]

狂喜乱舞､再結成で再現してくれた"N S U"～～永遠成り大CREAM

[gummodude]

Clapton failed on the solo. Not even close to the energy of the original.

[ChiroQuacker]

i loved the way ginger played at these shows..it was great...now if u listen to the drummers on erics solo tours...they dont groove like ginger...ginger is not locked in with the bass but i like that and thats part of the cream sound...i love it...

too bad this was it...wish they had released the msg shows on cd and dvd as well

[Unclemoparman]

Clapton was crazy not to play Gibson-Marshall!

[69MC97gc]

Thank you.Cool to hear and see,and to see Keith doesn´t make it worse-Reading Keiths "Life". page  68 about the snots-----this bothers me since translation is so ---bad.I wish I had bought the English version..Eric---your memoirs "Clapton" out now will be the next one.In English. A promise.

[rickstr69]

i was there when wheels of fire was recorded ..wow right you are

[magolandia1]

Old? Older? Fuck You They play music not going to run 100 mts in olympic games

[ChiroQuacker]

i read claptons book he said these msg shows sucked...is he kidding..this sounds fucking amazing....

nuts not to play together anymore...guess ginger and jack fighting on stage is not worth it to EC....too old for that bullshit

[55slice]

I know they personal problems with each other ...but no living band can fuck with Cream live.

[impala327]

Maybe someone already commented on this, but: the mini Marshall stack on Clapton's rig is Hil.Ar.I.Ous!!!

[muswellmedia]

Poor old Eric the greatest guitarist in the world...as long as he's standing with Jack and Ginger

[55slice]

@muswellmedia ...I don't know if he;s the greatest guitarist in the world or not but very few can match him for being clean and having tone for days.

[geoff101001]

NYC is what ruined everything for there reunion. They said in like interviews it felt like they were back in 1967 68 again. that they were just trying to get through there songs and not being true to the audience. Plus at one point jack turned his bass up to loud

[dustydino8]

CLAPTON GETS BETTER WITH AGE HE IS THE MAN . BAKER WAS KICKASS ! ROLLIN MF ! BRUCE HAD HIS HEAD UP HIS ARSE . STILL THANX FOR THE SONG DUDE!

[spiderlarry]

Reminds me of Teen Canteens at my junior high school in 1970 Winston Churchill...petri dishes... great music, teens trying to dance to changing chords, rhythms...LOL

[impala327]

Marshall Stack sighting! LOL! Hilarious! Too bad they didn't bring the gorilla...

[InterTHER]

Cream 4ever

[stonesharve]

wish i was there,to bad I couldnt get tickets :0(

[lifehouse57]

@stonesharve see jack bruce with his own band if you haven't, they sound better than cream ever did

[npspec34]

looks like footage from the moon

[CrankyOldYankee]

I take the old studio version, thanks.

[asinwhat]

i saw cream in,i believe,1967,at a suburban neighborhood swimming pool in nj..the place was called "pleasureland"..they were having touring bands with top 40 singles come there to perform..needless to say,it was quite an eye opener....

[janicewilsonify]

Jack and Eric and Ginger. The greatest trio ever.  Love the visuals too. Thanks

[cutis1000]

Given that NSU was once given 10 + minute renditions back in the 60's, it's sad all these three could muster was less than 5 minutes....

[Woody263]

Not all about length - it's quality

[poorperson]

well i think it would be of higher quality if t it wa slonger. btw look at clapton using that marshall stack at 2:59!

[ishman3155]

I was at this show 24th row on the floor this is not a marshall stack they are hartke amps they put the mini marshall speakers on top because people were complaining from earlier shows they did this as a goof a great show u had 2 be there

[poorperson]

HAHA nice

[cherrybomb2600]

@Woody263 right! they haven't lost it!

[LesPaulGoldTop21]

Great!

[MorganRose23]

o my god i guess im gonna die then

[abrahamlincoln0900]

Where is the bass and percussion?.Something is missing here.Love this band though.

[thestratlars]

Fabulous solo from EC. That is one amazing tone, and yes, I prefer this tone and his playing now to his playing from the 60's. Far more refined in the musical and emotional ideas being conveyed. Far more nuance and a tremendous depth of feeling. Really outstanding.

[alonzogarbanzo]

I agree. This break is a trip---in the sense of a sound journey. Besides EC's inspired playing, Jack is having fun using fingerstyle on the high reaches of his bass, never losing the bottom.

[getcreamed]

@thestratlars

yikes, there are things you might have missed. Clapton's power was far far greater with the 60's Cream. Think live Cream not studio Cream. They might have hit a few good spots in 2005 but back then all 3 were giants. NSU from Live Cream arguably contains Clapton's greatest piece of work, ever.

[lillianmuse]

I was there.

[alexrags]

I went to the first 2 shows at the garden. The 2nd night was better than the first. As far as playing gibson guitars I also would have loved to have seen that, but they have to play what they feel comfortable with. Why didn't ginger play ludwig drums? All in all it just went to fast.

[pappatacio66]

Clapton became more "slow" than "hand"..

[poorperson]

MOARR!!!!

[ran123br]

Cream reunion , need gibson guitar and bass...

Clapton strat and jack bass , dont have atmosphere and tone from cream. It is another band playing cream songs , with strat. flat guitar tones

[TilderyKoadil]

you type comment. many words in comment. none of which make any sense..

aka - ur comment makes no sense.

are u foreign or just crazy?

lol

maybe ur just as old as jack..

[goldtop4]

First of all, Jack IS playing a Gibson bass.

Secondly, you're basing you opinion of the entire performance on the choice of instruments? Umm, yeah...

[awc192000]

1967 stockholm sweden first heard this live concert .shall i say more

[Hektor88]

It would be great if they could do another reunion with the focus and ease of the RAH shows but the fire of these shows.

[phs9452]

saw them in N.Y. THOUGHT THEY WERE GREAT

[leadguitarman9]

me too!  amazing!

[HumanBozoBoy]

this sounds great...i read eric claptons book and he said these shows were terrible and they sounded "tinny" inside the cavernous madison square garden..BUT..every clip i see from the msg shows are even better then the royal albert hall gigs...in his book eric said he would never do cream reunions again because of the acrimony at the msg shows...well i dont know but this sounds great...come on eric so what jack and ginger fight and they didnt rehearse for the msg shows. THATS WHAT MAKES CREAM!

[monty70]

While I respect Led Zepplin, the Cream reunions were so much better. This really shouldn't surprise anyone though as in terms of musical ability Cream wins hands down.

[Hektor88]

agreed. Zeppelin was great, but they didn't have the virtuosity of Cream.

[grecco2]

Great Capture!

Felt like I was there.

Nicely done...Thanks!

[npspec34]

"Driven in my car smokin my cigar the only time I'm happy's when I play my guitar." Eric played a Fender almost exclusively thru the 70's if D & D and D & B mean anything. I've seen him over 20 times live and Fender was always the ax of choice. Not that it makes a dif. "what's it all about, anyone in doubt, I don't want to go, 'til I sused it all out"

[specialagentslowhand]

they might be old, but they are all phenoms of music

[boxersmum]

saw these guys 3 straight weekends at the fillmore aud. in s.f. in 1967 for $3 for 6 hours of music each night with 2 other local

bands. saw hendrix the preceding weekend.

then did the avalon 2 weekends later to catch jim morrison and the doors for $2.50 and 6 hours of music and a belly full of baklava, and a free poster for each visit.

[dougalmac54]

Mr. Clapton:

While I admire and respect you without question, especially for your brilliant work with "CREAM", may I make one humble suggestion? PLAY GIBSONS! Thank you!

[Paladin19652007]

Absolutely. He was King of Gibsons. His playing accompanied their sound. It was a great match. Sorry, not a great fan of Fender.

[Billykid514]

agreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeddddddddd!­!!!!!!

[EdTracey347]

The only drawback to how they performed "NSU" at both the RAH and MSG: removing the D-A-C re-entry point after the improvisation makes for an awkward return to the song.

[dougalmac54]

I agree! Also, they don't stop and let Jack keep going in the breaks between verses, which is kinda weird. On the whole, the Live Cream Vol. 1 version is definitive. I wish they had recorded all of that show, the audio quality is awesome and their performance is spot-on.

[RattusNorvegicus67]

that wee glaswegian just makes that band sound like the dogs bollocks. great accent. but the best back up EVER  ????????:

[Hektor88]

anyone by any chance have recordings of "We're Going Wrong" form these gigs? I have herd EC gets his old Woman Tone almost perfectly for those performances

[dougalmac54]

This is a great performance and stands on it's own, but for my money, the version on Live Cream Vol. 1 is the most incredible live jam they ever recorded. It stands as a symphonic arrangement of a free form jazz-rock exposition that is magnificent in every way.

[drummer78]

I agree. Bruce and Baker are the reasons for the free form-ness of it all (especially Bruce). Clapton was great but I think Bruce drove him on that jam. I wish he was willing to take his guitar as far out as Bruce took his bass (for that particular jam on "Live Cream"). What do you think? That said, Clapton's guitar work on that jam is insanely brilliant...I just think Bruce was on another level entirely.

[dougalmac54]

Well, Clapton onhce said "Cream" got a bit too "free form" from time to time for his taste, and the jamming got away from the basic blues form which he loves so much. I think Jack, being a bit more of a jazz musician, was more improvisational on some levels, but I think Clapton more than held his own on those Live Cream and Live Cream Vol. 2 recordings. Their blinding aural power and musical force on those records is amazing. "Sleepy time, Time" on Vol. 1 is an amazing blues improvisation.

[drummer78]

I think with "Live Cream" they were onto an almost new type of music. It was like a rock n' roll 65 era Coltrane type band. I don't think it would be fair to describe this era Cream as progressive rock because their sound was so much earthier, raw and much heavier. Still, it was pulsating and improvosational. I can see why Clapton took a breather into more mellow song forms (using The Band as an inspiration). Still, it woudl have been cool to see him continue to explore the outer limits.

[getcreamed]

@drummer78

well after playing 2 years of manic music over and over I guess one has to take a break. Let's just be thankful for the stuff put on tape. Let's just wonder what great stuff was never recorded. There are boots with some good bits in them. I'm So Glad from the Grand Ballroom in Detroit for starters. One thing for sure, Cream will never be duplicated.

[jmsbk12345]

Oh yes, the Royal Albert Hall shows were the best by far. It all came together then.

[ECRAH2006]

Ginger is AWESOME here. So, so much better than at RAH.

[bluesgunner]

Clapton is really flying here. This is probably the last time he'll ever play like this.

[coolscrnname]

I was thinking the opposite - have you seen the recording of 'NSU' during the Reunion tour at Royal Albert Hall? He nearly gets me high with his solo in that one.  He seems preoccupied here. It could be partly that the video recording in London is made by professionals.

[ianaj89]

i know exactly what you mean.... that solo is almost like an acid flashback

[Hektor88]

i know EC wasn't to fond of these gigs, and Ginger and Jack had some arguments....but MAN that was awesome....the jam was what Cream was all about.