I'm So Glad: Sitting on Top of the World

Cream confirm Royal Albert Hall reunion

Staff and agencies
Thursday January 27, 2005

The legendary rock band Cream - who have not played in the UK since 1968 - have announced a series of reunion gigs at the Royal Albert Hall this May.



The band, which consists of Eric Clapton on guitar, Jack Bruce on bass and Ginger Baker on drums, will play on May 2, 3, 5 and 6. Fittingly, their last concerts together in 1968 were played in the same venue. They have only played together once since, when they were admitted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Los Angeles in 1993.

Cream had three top 10 albums in a little over two years between 1966 and 1968, and launched Eric Clapton's solo career; he had previously worked with the Yardbirds. Heavily influenced by the blues, they were given to long, virtuoso instrumental solos, and so were seen as forerunners of the prog rock of the 1970s.

Several artists have performed lucrative comback gigs over the past year or two, including the Who's return to a reborn Isle of Wight festival 34 years after their 1970 appearance, and the Sex Pistols' candidly named Filthy Lucre tour.

Tickets for the Cream concerts go on sale on Monday January 31 at 9am, priced at £50, £75 and £125.