John Fogerty @ SydneyEntertainment Centre(26/3/2008)

Mon 31st Mar, 2008 in Gig Reviews

John Fogerty wanted the drums louder. Then he wanted his vocals louder. Then he wanted his guitar to be as loud as the drums. Finally it appeared, by the gesticulations he was making to the sound engineer, with his arms making this big circle and going up, that he wanted the whole damn thing louder! All I could think, hearing awesome sound where I was, that it either sounded like hell from his vantage point or he was being a fucking primadonna.

This was definitely a distraction for many of the folks in the crowd, people were perplexed, as Fogerty hit us with Travelin’ Band, Bad Moon, Green River, Who’ll Stop The Rain, Commotion, Lookin’ Out My Back Door and a brilliant version of Lodi.

Turning to my friend I said ironically, “Well I guess we won’t be getting any Creedence songs tonight!” We laughed and John continued to whinge about the sound (“and we did a three-hour sound check today, too”). At one point, he walked off and someone else from his crew went over and talked to the guy at the mixing desk. Oh well, it’s only rock and roll.

John and his band of professionals delivered well over two hours of music before the encore and it was blistering blues and swamp boogie at times. Staying glued to our seats, as once again security did not allow us to move around, was very difficult as this is music where you want to shake your tail feather. John’s touring band is slick and comprised of Kenny Aranoff on drums, Dave Santos on bass, Matt Nolen on keys, Hunter Perrin on guitars, and Billy Burnette on guitars. Kenny has played drums with just about everyone, most notably part of John Mellencamp’s touring band for years. Billy Burnette has had an active solo career and became a member of Fleetwood Mac when Lindsay Buckingham left in 1984. There was no doubt that these folks knew what they were doing up there.

John played some fabulous solos that took me back, way back, to a decade most people had forgotten. The three-pronged guitar attack was done well and by midway through the gig, the sound vibrations were felt in my chest and were moving any loose clothing through the air. For a moment I thought I saw a small child get tossed by the volume of the stacks, but I may have been hallucinating.

Of course, the nearly 70 per-cent Creedence set made it a big time singalong and the crowd were very much into it. John’s distinctive voice and playing had not lost a thing over the past 40 years. Ending the gig with Old Man Down The Road off the Centerfield album, Fortunate Son, and Proud Mary left everyone standing on the floor and almost dancing.

Proud Mary is probably one of the best songs he ever wrote, but the best version still has to sit with Ike and Tina Turner in 1971 when it peaked at number four in the charts. Check out their version on YouTube and watch them get it on.

But Mr. Fogerty penned these classics and hearing them done as they were originally conceived was a great thing. It was a Revival, but Hallelujah!