I bought all the Cream albums the first time around, although I was only 12 when they broke up, so I never got to see them live. Sure, they were great, in their way and for their time. But I can't really see this reunion being much more than a nostalgia trip.

The psychedelic stuff was good, and I'm sure they can still play it as well as (or better than) they ever did. But the freshness of the concept is gone, so it will just be rehash for nostalgia's sake. As for the blues? The fact is, we've all learned a lot about what makes for a good blues performance since Cream was ripping it up back in the late '60s. If you take the rosy nostalgic glow off, those old 20-minute blues jams really don't amount to much (Clapton himself has said this, many times). Part of what made their stuff special at the time was that the audience was discovering it for the first time, and it was being played by young white guys ("just like us!") who had only themselves discovered it a few years before. So the guys who sounded like cutting-edge musicians back then sound more like self-indulgent young pups now.

Still, there's money to be made. Count on the shows giving rise to a DVD and multi-CD package, which is undoubtedly a big part of the motivation for this.