In 1967 Cream played the Grande for two nights and one afternoon in October. Glancing at a school bulletin board, I spotted a crude sign-up sheet to go see them play at their Sunday afternoon "no age limit" concert. Bus transportation was provided by the school and tickets were around $5.00. I had never heard of the Grande Ballroom, Cream or Eric Clapton, so had no idea what was in store.
Almost two years earlier, "Uncle" Russ Gibb, a junior high school teacher and occasional radio broadcaster, had visited a friend in San Francisco and both went to a concert at the original Fillmore run by Bill Graham. Gibb was amazed and thought something like that could be replicated in Detroit. Soon Bill Graham was providing first-hand instruction as to how to rent a facility and run similar concerts, and so it was that the Grande Ballroom was born.
Taking the advice of Robert Stigwood, their manager, Cream had passed on the Monterey Pop Festival, the thinking being that they had to have a name for themselves prior to touring the States. Their first foray at an ill-conceived, week-long battle of the bands outing in New York, promoted by Murray the K, had proved to be a disaster. In the autumn of '67 Graham had booked them for a week at the Fillmore, and it was on this abbreviated tour that the group made their midwest debut at Detroit's Grande Ballroom.
This being my first concert, I had never before experienced anything like what I encountered that afternoon. Here is a digitally remastered recording of that series of concerts.
Cream At the Grande Ballroom, Detroit 1967
