The Music of Cream, the pedigree of hallowed ’60s trio Cream: Kofi Baker (Ginger Baker’s son), Malcolm Bruce (Jack Bruce’s son) and Will Johns (Eric Clapton’s nephew), have announced an exciting new tour for 2020. Honoring the legendary band’s landmark album Disraeli Gears, the 40-date North American outing will feature Disraeli Gears performed in its entirety followed by a set of additional hits and rarities from Cream, Clapton, Blind Faith and more. The upcoming tour finds The Music of Creamcontinuing their celebration of the extraordinary music and legacy their family members created more than 50 years ago via their extensive live show and personal stories and footage of their fathers and mentors.
Kicking off February 28th in Victoria, BC, Canada, the Disraeli Gears Tour will travel all across North America stopping everywhere from Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Phoenix, Boulder, Baton Rouge and Fort Lauderdale to Birmingham, Atlanta, Annapolis, Long Island, Boston, Toronto, Chicago, Milwaukee, Omaha and all that’s in between, before wrapping May 3rd in Austin. See below for full list of tour dates. Tickets are on sale starting this Friday, October 18th at 10am local time; visit www.musicofcream.com for ticketing information.
With primal riffs, soaring operatic choruses, poetry, fashion and theatre rolled into one, Disraeli Gears defined the era in which it was written. The super-group’s second studio album, released November 1967, is often considered Cream’s crowning achievement. Disraeli Gears, featuring the singles”Sunshine of Your Love” and “Strange Brew,” was their American breakthrough reaching #4 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart and ultimately becoming a platinum-seller in the U.S. The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 and Rolling Stone included Disraeli Gears in their list of the Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time saying, “Cream’s sharpest, most linear album focused its instrumental explorations into colorful pop songs.” In addition to critical acclaim over the decades, the original band members themselves praised their work on Disraeli Gears. Ginger Baker noted, “You can’t escape the fact we were having such fun playing with each other,” while Jack Bruce said, “This was a whole new beginning for the band and I loved that time very much,” and Eric Clapton added, “We had found ourselves…it was a pivotal point in the history of popular music.”
For the members of The Music of Cream, who first launched their celebratory 50th Anniversary World Tour in 2017 and have since performed over 100 shows together worldwide including a string of recent sold-out UK shows, honoring Disraeli Gears and the storied history their family members created on this new tour was an easy choice.
“To follow our 50th Anniversary Tour, it was a no-brainer to go out and celebrate Disraeli Gears in its entirety,” shares Kofi Baker (drums). “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.”
“Why Disraeli Gears? Well, that’s easy for me,” says Will Johns (guitar, vocals). “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!”
“There are many reasons I love the idea of performing Cream’s second album Disraeli Gears,” adds Malcolm Bruce (bass, vocals). “Many of Cream’s best-known songs are on the record including ‘Sunshine of Your Love,’ ‘Strange Brew’ and ‘SWLABR.’ 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!”
Photo by David-Geraghty
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
