Keep On Chooglin'

Saw John Fogerty in concert Friday night. This is one of those acts, like The Allman Brothers, that I have long chided myself about going to see. How much longer before folks like these are unable to tour?

Some background: I became a die-hard Creedence Clearwater Revival fan in high school. Sure, they had broken up in the early 70s and I graduated high school in 87, and it wasn't cool to like CCR like it was cool to like Yaz or Squeeze, but so what? They put out great song after great song, just timeless stuff. You could tell by the groups of people dancing in circles at the Fogerty concert. Seeing the guy who wrote the songs play them live has long been a goal, even if Fogerty and the drummer and the bass player from CCR are estranged (The fourth member of the band, Tom Fogerty, John's brother, passed away some years ago - also estranged from his brother over numerous legal issues having to do with the rights to CCR songs)

But I digress.The show seemed delayed a bit -we had to stand outside Hammerstein Ballroom for 20 minutes past the time doors were said to be opening. Turns out - as I learned from hearing two guys near the sound board talk to Bob Fogerty, John's brother and longtime manager (I think) - John had what he thought was a bad sound check, causing some delay. I also hadn't realized this was the opening night for his tour.

Anyway, he didn't come on til around 9. Things got started when they played two of his songs from the album "Blue Moon Swamp," plus an early Fogerty rarity - "Rockin' All Over The World." Fun to hear, but I knew he wouldn't be playing it in concert.

I forgot any sense of disappointment over the course of the show. A somewhat hokey start had them having Fogerty rise out of the stage in silhouette against an animated version of a swamp scene and having him sing a gospelly song from his new album with what sounded like recorded back up vocals. But after that - wham! This was ostensibly a show to promote his new disc, "Revival," but it sure sounded like a CCR concert to me - he played "Proud Mary," "Up Around the Bend," "Travelin' Band," "Fortunate Son," "Looking Out My Back Door," "Down on the Corner," "Bad Moon Rising," "Born on the Bayou," and even picked up deep cuts that I never imagined anyone would play - CCR's version of "Good Golly, Miss Molly" plus "Ramble Tamble," "Keep On Chooglin'," and "Bootleg." He also dished up a few solo songs, such as "Centerfield" and "The Old Man Down The Road."

He was in great voice and was backed by a number of good musicians, including the drummer, Kenny Aaronoff. All in all, a pretty entertaining show