This was Cream’s last ever concert, and they went with a bang. Met with a roaring crowd, all sad to see them go, Cream gave it their last hurrah. Sadly, the night was filmed and recorded, which means the group were under pressure to perform, and as usual they didn’t play nearly as freely as when they were only recorded unknowingly by bootleggers. Even sadder is the fact that the official recording (which this is) is of bootleg quality and the video is a pile of steaming shit. The camera man doesn’t know what the fuck he is doing and tries to incorporate trippy ‘psychedelic’ camera effects, like zooming in and out of Clapton’s nose while he’s soloing, it’s garbage. During crossroads, which Eric Clapton sings and plays lead guitar on, it’s basically his song, the camera is pointing at Ginger Baker the whole time, even during Clapton’s magnificent solo!!! At some point he even zooms in on Clapton’s wah pedal, even though it was kicked out of circuit long after they had finished playing White Room…
Anyway, the songs were really good, and at least the video managed to get some fantastic footage of Eric showcasing his guitar skills (not mid song, but during an interview), making it look like child’s play. The above video has the interview in all it’s glory, which then kicks off into an extremely short, yet amazing (3:32) rendition of Steppin’ Out! This is seriously the shortest they’ve ever done this number, it usually stretches to the 15-20 minute mark! This was also the last song they played, as their encore at the end of the second Albert Hall show. A upside to the inferior quality of the recording is that it really captures what it must’ve been like to hear the legendary Cream play live, you can tell by the hall reverb that the band was playing LOUD! Also, each instrument cuts through the mix nicely, with special mention to Clapton: his guitar tone on this recording is unbelievable! Download it here.
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