The Cream at the Shrine, Los Angeles - 1968

John Van Hamersveld (1941 - ) is an American graphic artist and illustrator who designed record jackets for pop and psychedelic bands from the 1960s onward. Among the 300 albums are the covers of “Magical Mystery Tour” by the Beatles, “Exile on Main Street” by the Rolling Stones, and “Skeletons from the Closet” by the Grateful Dead. He burst onto the scene with his first major assignment in 1963, designing the poster for the surf film, Endless Summer. Later he served as Capitol Records' head of design from 1965 to 1968 and worked on the artwork for 54 albums by Capitol artists including the Beatles and the Beach Boys. He designed a total of 14 posters in 1968 for rock acts appearing at the Shrine.

“The” Cream traveled down to LA having just finished a run of shows at the Fillmore West and Winterland in San Francisco where they recorded live for their third album, Wheels of Fire. Their second album, Disraeli Gears, was not released in the U.S. in November 1967 so by the time these concerts took place the record and Cream were still very much top of mind (the album reached #4).

Cream had played their first headlining dates in the US in August 1967, playing first at The Fillmore in San Francisco and later at The Pinnacle in Los Angeles. The concerts were a great success and proved very influential on both the band itself and the flourishing hippie scene surrounding them. Upon discovering a growing listening audience, the band began to stretch out on stage, incorporating more time in their repertoire, some songs reaching jams of twenty minutes. Long, drawn-out jams in numbers like "Spoonful", "N.S.U.", "I'm So Glad", and "Sweet Wine" became live favorites, while songs like "Sunshine of Your Love", "Crossroads", and "Tales of Brave Ulysses" remained reasonably short.