@ Laguna
Right Mel, here goes, I can't guarantee all dates are completely correct as I've lost a few braincells over the years but this is what I rememeber about Cream:
Cream started in October 1992, promoted by James Barton and Darren Hughes. Essentially started as an alternative to what was going on in London and Manchester as Liverpool was way behind them on the clubbing map at that time.
Barton's history pre-Cream was promoting nights round Liverpool (Daisy, Nights Alive and a few others which never amounted to much), he met clubber Dazza Hughes thru mutual mates/work colleagues and from this pairing Cream was born.
Cream started in the back room of the Merseyside Academy, since renamed as the Annexe @ Nation.
Interesting fact no 1 - It was nearly called 'Taste' but at last minute Barton changed his mind and 'Cream' it became.
James Barton and Andy Carroll were resident DJs and Paul Bleasdale was brought in as well. Also playing @ the Opening was Fabio Paras (who ended up being pelted with missiles (only in Liverpool
) so he was pulled off and Bleasdale came to the rescue (the start of a long relationship between Cream and Paul Bleasdale).
Interesting fact no 2 - 2 young clubbers who we now know as Lottie and Yousef were at the Opening night.
After 3 months night was so successful that they also opened Zoo Bar next door to the Annexe and within 7 months were attracating 1000 people per wk.
In summer of 1993 venue changed name to Nation and had huge refurb. The grand reopening was headlined by David Morales and Frankie Knuckles with new capacity of 1,800.
Interesting fact no 3 - Morales and Knuckles cost £5,000 plus flights from New York, around the same time Oakie would get paid £500 for playing Cream and Tongy £250
The Cream logo which we became one of most recognised symbols of clubbing culture thru-out the 1990s followed as Cream began to be seen as a recognised brand name, from which followed CDs. Cream was the third of the big major superclubs at the time to move into the compilation field after MOS Sessions and Renaissance, launched Cream Live series in 1995.
Interesting fact no 4 - The second birthday party was the biggest night @ Cream so far and the line-up read Morales, Tongy, Oakie, Sasha, Jez Healy, Ramploing, Weatherall, CJ Mack.............and Kylie
Big name residents at this time were Andy Weatherall and Jermey Healy.
The club explanded again when the Courtyard was opened and at this time Cream was one of the top 2 superclubs clubs in the country, it wasn't uncommon for up to 3,000 clubbers to be locked outside every Saturday night unable to get in.
Intersting fact no 5 - James Barton banned Gazza from Cream when he signed to Everton (Barton is a big Everton fan and didn't want Gazza coming to the club getting caned
)
Cream first venture into the Ibiza market with 2 one-off parties in assocation with Jose Padilla in 1994 called Cream/Moondance at Pacha and Space. The following year they took a full residency at the then Ku club, again featuring live performance by Kylie.
Barton and Hughes had problems with Ku management and following year moved to Amnesia where it's been ever since - residents over the years have included Oakie, Seb, Paul Van Dyk, Nick Warren, Timo Mass and Tiesto.
Oakie cemented his relationship with Cream when he commited to singing up as Cream Courtyard resident.
Interesting Fact no 6 - Oakie insisted that the signing took place at Stamford Bridge (him and Dazza Hughes are big Chelsea boys
) Oakie played 40 Saturdays a year at Cream and always played after watching Chelsea on a Saturday afternoon so many a Saturay evening was spent somewhere in the air between Heathrow and Manchester airport
Oakie left after 2 years (his 1996-1998 resident years are probably remembered most fondly by Cream goers, grown men were brought to tears by some of his sets.)
Seb followed Oakie as resident and then the boy Yousef in 2000.
Behind the scenes tho things weren't all hunky dory with Dazza Hughes quitting Cream in 1998. The split mainly was due to Hughes wanting to develop Cream further (wanted to open a club in London and then branch out thru-out the world).
Interesting Fact no 7 - The actual first new Cream nightclub outside Liverpool planned was going to be at 1 Leicester Square, London (which subsequently opened in 1999 as the now defunct Home - Darren Hughes new venture).
Home opened in 1999 (Hughes had managed to sign Oakie as resident which was seen as a stab in the back from Barton) but the club was destined to fail from day 1. All clubs in London need a 7/8/9am licence to compete, Home was originally granted a 6am licence by Westminster Council. Prior to its grand-opening there was a Mobo Awards aftershow party hosted there, Dane Bowers amongst others started rucking, the police were involved and they took away Home's late licence before it had even opened to the clubbing public. Therefore Home was in the middle of a tourist trap in Leicester Square, thus attracting a tourst crowd, plus why would clubbers bother going there when it now had to shut at 3am when they could go to Ministry til 9am. Home shut in 2001 and Dazza Hughes kept himself busy with Home@Space (now We Love Sundays) and Homelands.
Cream branched out into the festival arena in 1998. The first ever Creamfields was actually @ the Matterley Bowl, Winchester (where Homelands has been since 1999) and it was only the following year that they moved to Liverpool over the August Bank Holiday wkend, a slot they have held ever since.
Creamfields also branched out and hosted a Creamfields in Dublin and a Creamfields in Beunos Aires.
Another significant event in Cream's history was the Millennium celebrations. Cream set about staging events in London, Cardiff and 2 in Liverpool (one outside on Pier Head). Sky One even commissioned a 6 part programme following Cream the months building up to these events. As people will remember lots of Promoters got their fingers burnt at the Millenium and Cream actually ended up losing £400,000 across the 4 events
However the outdoor event was considered a success where Liverpool boys like The Lightening Seeds played alongside the likes of Oakie, Fatboy and Orbital.
Cream the club finally closed its doors in the summer of 2002, the British press denounced it as the end of clubbing and the end of the superclub.
There were a number of reasons why it closed, the statement from Barton and co was along the lines that they wanted to focus on one-off bigger events as this was what clubbers wanted these days, take the Cream brand name worldwide and promote Cream the record leve.
These were all essentially true but at the same time Cream attendance figures were down, altho Seb and Yousef were worthy and respected residents, the pinnacle high of the Oakie years was never repeated. The venue was looking tatty and was getting a bad name for itself with drugs and violence, a number of high profile ecstasy deaths didn't help its situation and Cream was finding it increasingly difficult to cope with competition such as Gatecrasher and Godskitchen which seemed new and exciting, whereas Cream was looking a bit old and tired.
In Barton's defence, the move worked to an extent, Cream still hold one-off specials at Nation (at Bank Holidays etc), Creamfields is probably the best known dance music festival thru-out the world, anyone who has attended Cream @ Amnesia knows that it still pulls the punters in and is widely recognised as one of the popular nights in Ibiza, Cream continue to grow abroad with parties in Moscow, Prague, Barcelona and South America and Baby Cream has been launched, a chain of bars with late licences, the complete opposite to the superclub of old.
I would say along with Ministry of Sound, the Hacienda and Renissance , Cream shaped clubbing in the UK from the early 1990s. Those heady days will never be repeated but no-one can or would deny Cream's place in club culture and the fact that people are still talking about it almost 15 years after it opened is testament to how highly it was regarded in those days. From a clubbers perspective, I spent many Saturday nights at Cream thru-out the 1990s and they still stick in my head as some of the best clubbing nights I've ever had, ask any Northerners in their late 20s/early 30s and they will say the same thing and as for the Oakie years, well those who were there will know what I mean
Hope that helps Mel, sorry I realise I've babbled on a bit, just tried to get down as much info as I could. If there's anything else you want to know, ask away
