Quote
SimonN
Hello,

Here's my shoddy match report from Thursday in Manch...

First time seeing the man who wrote and played on as fine a string of songs that any American band (or perhaps any other) produced. Don’t believe me? Just take a gander at the setlist…

Bad Moon Rising
Up Around the Bend
Green River
Born on the Bayou
Rock and Roll Girls
Who'll Stop the Rain
Lookin' Out My Back Door
Run Through the Jungle
Effigy
Joy of My Life
Lodi
Keep On Chooglin'
Have You Ever Seen the Rain?
Hey Tonight
Down on the Corner
Travelin' Band
Cotton Fields
The Old Man Down the Road
Fortunate Son

Encore:
Rockin' All Over the World
Proud Mary

The arena’s top-deck was curtained-off and the lower tier was perhaps only 60% full, although the floor seats appeared to have sold better. That said, it only took the opening chords of ‘Bad Moon…’ and everyone was standing and would remain so for a lot of the 90 minutes that followed. No mean feat when you consider the demographic, ahem…

I know that I’ve said this before but it’s always a source of amazement to me that when you go to see an artist who has a distinctive voice and you hear them sing live, I can’t help thinking “Blimey- they sound *exactly* like John Fogerty”! And he does. His guitar playing is a thing of wonder too…numerous changes of Les Paul, Tele and his treasured Rickenbacker that he stuck a Les Paul humbucker in to…as played at Woodstock and then given away a few years later to a young fan when JF was fed-up with the business. His wife Julie made it her mission to buy the guitar back…JF didn’t say how much that ran them though!

This tour is as much a celebration as anything else: JF is proud of the fact that he is now the legal owner of all his songs- a process that took about fifty years to complete and again, he says it’s down to his better half’s tenacity. That and the fact that he says he outlived all the record label bosses, managers, legal eagles and accountants…”Sons of bitches!”, hah-hah!

The tour is also a celebration of his own family, seeing as how he has two of his sons playing guitar on stage with him. They also have their own band (Hearty Har) and they were the support act. To be honest, they weren’t my cup of char but their 30 minute slot was over soon enough. During a stellar ‘Fortunate Son’ I couldn’t help chuckling at the line ‘I ain’t no millionaire’s son’ that both Tyler and Shane Fogerty sang…nonsense aside, it’s hard to convey just how great those songs are.

The other daft thing that occurred during ‘FS’ was a fight between two idiots just behind the first block of seats on the arena floor section. So much for anti-war…actually you might have thought that the arena security and stewards would have had an easy night, what with the average age (although it was good to see more than a few under 30s) but it was a full-time job trying to corral them, hah-hah! The other point to note is that the arena bars now sell 2 pint plastics: you can imagine how that guaranteed a constant stream of punters to and from the kharzis. At £100 a ticket, perhaps not the best plan?

By no stretch was this band subpar, but It made me realise a little more just what am amazing collective CCR were: if you need proof, please seek out the ‘Travelin’ Band’ documentary on Netflix. Standard 'money back if not 100% delighted' guarantee applies...

After the sad news of Tina’s passing, it was inevitable that JF would speak a little about her and the song of his that she covered and owned. Wow…and it was a wonderful way to bring the show to a close. Anyway, not even a 30 minute delay on the M61 coming home could wipe the dopey grin off my face- I was very fortunate indeed to see some greatness indeed. Roll on John!

P1320693 by nicholl.simon, on Flickr

P1320608 by nicholl.simon, on Flickr

P1320410 by nicholl.simon, on Flickr

P1320715 by nicholl.simon, on Flickr

Cheers,

Simon.

Quote
paulywaul

Quote
SimonN
Simon, thank you for the review and the pictures. I can't wait for this, been a CCR fan since I bought the album GREEN RIVER way back when ..... 1968/1969 or so !!

Hi Paul,

Hope all is Kool & with you! Man alive, you really are a CCR lifer then, hah-hah!

I know some folk reckon that JF's voice is gone etc...all I know is that he sounded terrific for a 77 year old,as did his geeetahr playing.

Have a blast!

Cheers,

Simon.

Quote
SimonN

Quote
paulywaul

Quote
SimonN
Simon, thank you for the review and the pictures. I can't wait for this, been a CCR fan since I bought the album GREEN RIVER way back when ..... 1968/1969 or so !!

Hi Paul,

Hope all is Kool & with you! Man alive, you really are a CCR lifer then, hah-hah!

I know some folk reckon that JF's voice is gone etc...all I know is that he sounded terrific for a 77 year old,as did his geeetahr playing.

Have a blast!

Cheers,

Simon.

A blast I most certainly will have. Looking at that list of songs you posted, how on earth could one not have a blast ?

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

Quote
Doxa

Quote
DGA35

Puts on a great show, all hits!

I wonder if his die-hard fans are as critical about that as the Stones ones...

Anyway, that works for me, being a curious, casual fan who has never seen him live. I had and still have the tickets for Helsinki show that was postponed for the unknown future last year (the dude chickened out due to Covid and Putin), but the show is supposed to happen this summer. Let's see.

- Doxa

Quote
Beast
John Fogerty Returns To London Stage With Undimmed, Inspiring Potency

[www.udiscovermusic.com]

John Fogerty review – a triumphant celebration of Creedence Clearwater classics

[www.theguardian.com]

Quote
SimonN
Hello,

Here's my shoddy match report from Thursday in Manch...

First time seeing the man who wrote and played on as fine a string of songs that any American band (or perhaps any other) produced. Don’t believe me? Just take a gander at the setlist…

Bad Moon Rising
Up Around the Bend
Green River
Born on the Bayou
Rock and Roll Girls
Who'll Stop the Rain
Lookin' Out My Back Door
Run Through the Jungle
Effigy
Joy of My Life
Lodi
Keep On Chooglin'
Have You Ever Seen the Rain?
Hey Tonight
Down on the Corner
Travelin' Band
Cotton Fields
The Old Man Down the Road
Fortunate Son

Encore:
Rockin' All Over the World
Proud Mary

The arena’s top-deck was curtained-off and the lower tier was perhaps only 60% full, although the floor seats appeared to have sold better. That said, it only took the opening chords of ‘Bad Moon…’ and everyone was standing and would remain so for a lot of the 90 minutes that followed. No mean feat when you consider the demographic, ahem…

I know that I’ve said this before but it’s always a source of amazement to me that when you go to see an artist who has a distinctive voice and you hear them sing live, I can’t help thinking “Blimey- they sound *exactly* like John Fogerty”! And he does. His guitar playing is a thing of wonder too…numerous changes of Les Paul, Tele and his treasured Rickenbacker that he stuck a Les Paul humbucker in to…as played at Woodstock and then given away a few years later to a young fan when JF was fed-up with the business. His wife Julie made it her mission to buy the guitar back…JF didn’t say how much that ran them though!

This tour is as much a celebration as anything else: JF is proud of the fact that he is now the legal owner of all his songs- a process that took about fifty years to complete and again, he says it’s down to his better half’s tenacity. That and the fact that he says he outlived all the record label bosses, managers, legal eagles and accountants…”Sons of bitches!”, hah-hah!

The tour is also a celebration of his own family, seeing as how he has two of his sons playing guitar on stage with him. They also have their own band (Hearty Har) and they were the support act. To be honest, they weren’t my cup of char but their 30 minute slot was over soon enough. During a stellar ‘Fortunate Son’ I couldn’t help chuckling at the line ‘I ain’t no millionaire’s son’ that both Tyler and Shane Fogerty sang…nonsense aside, it’s hard to convey just how great those songs are.

The other daft thing that occurred during ‘FS’ was a fight between two idiots just behind the first block of seats on the arena floor section. So much for anti-war…actually you might have thought that the arena security and stewards would have had an easy night, what with the average age (although it was good to see more than a few under 30s) but it was a full-time job trying to corral them, hah-hah! The other point to note is that the arena bars now sell 2 pint plastics: you can imagine how that guaranteed a constant stream of punters to and from the kharzis. At £100 a ticket, perhaps not the best plan?

By no stretch was this band subpar, but It made me realise a little more just what am amazing collective CCR were: if you need proof, please seek out the ‘Travelin’ Band’ documentary on Netflix. Standard 'money back if not 100% delighted' guarantee applies...

After the sad news of Tina’s passing, it was inevitable that JF would speak a little about her and the song of his that she covered and owned. Wow…and it was a wonderful way to bring the show to a close. Anyway, not even a 30 minute delay on the M61 coming home could wipe the dopey grin off my face- I was very fortunate indeed to see some greatness indeed. Roll on John!

P1320693 by nicholl.simon, on Flickr

P1320608 by nicholl.simon, on Flickr

P1320410 by nicholl.simon, on Flickr

P1320715 by nicholl.simon, on Flickr

Cheers,

Simon.