Cream (BG-79, night 4)
BG-79 · Bonnie MacLean
San Francisco
Butterfield Blues Band
Southside Sound System
Friday, August 25, 1967 — night four of the Butterfield Blues Band, Cream and the Southside Sound System at the Fillmore Auditorium, under Bonnie MacLean's BG-79.
Charlie Musselwhite, whose band held the bottom of this card every night, deserves more than a line. He had come to Chicago from Memphis as a teenager, learned harmonica in the South Side clubs alongside players two generations older, and made *Stand Back!* in 1966 — one of the records, alongside Butterfield's, that carried Chicago blues to a white audience. By 1967 he had moved to San Francisco, where he stayed. Two Chicago-schooled harmonica players and a British power trio, six nights running, is a fair summary of what the Fillmore's bills were actually made of in that year.
The run continued into a second week under a different poster, which almost nobody got: Blashfield's BG-80 took Cream from the 29th through September 3. Graham booking one act across two consecutive sheets was rare enough to be remarkable in itself.
Verification Notes
Antagonist (2026-08-17 headless run): corroborated via check-claims on vetted tiers + adversarial live reads (wolfgangs/gdao/dead.net/setlist.fm/billgrahamfoundation/COAU-latest + Corry Arnold blogs). Cream night 4. Bonnie MacLean. DEEPENED 2026-09-03 (enrichment pass 1). Bill per COAU Fillmore Auditorium listings (Hannan/Arnold), 25 August 1967. Butterfield billed first, as throughout the BG-79 run. The two-consecutive-posters observation from classicposters.com product page (browser session 2026-09-03). DEEPENED 2026-09-03 (enrichment pass 1). Bill per COAU Fillmore Auditorium listings (Hannan/Arnold), 25 August 1967. Butterfield billed first, as throughout the BG-79 run. The two-consecutive-posters observation from classicposters.com product page (browser session 2026-09-03). DEEPENED 2026-09-03 (enrichment pass 1). Bill per COAU Fillmore Auditorium listings (Hannan/Arnold), 25 August 1967. Butterfield billed first, as throughout the BG-79 run. The two-consecutive-posters observation from classicposters.com product page (browser session 2026-09-03).
Were You There?
Do you have memories of this show, or an original BG-79 poster? On This Day in Art Rock History celebrates the people who lived through the psychedelic era. Your stories and collections matter to this archive.
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