Cream (band) - Goodbye

Cream were eventually persuaded to do one final album. That album, the appropriately titled Goodbye, was recorded in late 1968 and released in early 1969, after the band had broken up. It featured six songs: three live recordings dating from a concert at The Forum in Los Angeles, California, on 19 October, and three new studio recordings (including "Badge", which was written by Clapton and George Harrison, who also played rhythm guitar as "L'Angelo Misterioso"). "I'm So Glad" was included among the live tracks.

Cream's "farewell tour" consisted of 22 shows at 19 venues in the United States between 4 October and 4 November 1968, and two final farewell concerts at the Royal Albert Hall on 26 November 1968. Initially another double album was planned, comprising live material from this tour plus new studio tracks, but a single album, Goodbye was released instead with three live tracks taken from their performance at The Forum in Los Angeles on 19 October 1968, and three studio tracks, one written by each of the band members. The final U.S. gig was at the Rhode Island Auditorium, 4 November 1968. The band arrived late and, due to local restrictions, they were able to perform only two songs, "Toad" and a 20+ minute version of "Spoonful". Bootlegs of inferior quality exist of the final US Concert.

The two Royal Albert Hall concerts were filmed for a BBC documentary and released on video (and later DVD) as Farewell Concert. Both shows were sold out and attracted more attention than any other Cream concert, but their performance was regarded by many as below standard. Baker himself said of the concerts: "It wasn’t a good gig ... Cream was better than that ... We knew it was all over. We knew we were just finishing it off, getting it over with." In an interview from Cream: Classic Artists, he added that the band was getting worse by the minute.

Cream's supporting acts were Taste (featuring a young Rory Gallagher) and the newly formed Yes, who received good reviews. Three performances early in Cream's farewell tour were opened by Deep Purple. Deep Purple had originally agreed to open the entire U.S. leg of the tour, but Cream's management removed them after only three shows, in spite of favourable reviews and good rapport between the bands.