…and was completely blown away. He was the headliner at the Houston rodeo last night, and I scored some tickets right down at floor level, seven rows back.
As background, I’m a fan. I think he’s a great singer, an outstanding, underrated guitarist and one of the four or five greatest American rock and roll songwriters. However, he’s 60, so I went in prepared for disappointment. Instead, I was treated to one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to of any size (I’m not normally a fan of stadium shows).
The selection of songs couldn’t possibly have been better: he played a dozen Creedence Clearwater Revival originals - all classics - two of his biggest solo hits (“Centerfield” and “Rock and Roll Girls”), two familiar covers from the Creedence days (“Good Golly Miss Molly” and “Midnight Special”), and one song from his newest album, the anti-Iraq War tune “Long Dark Night.” This last tune drew a slightly mixed reaction from the crowd at the rodeo, as might be expected.
The band was tight, note-perfect and extremely well rehearsed. They sounded slick, not in a 2005-Rolling Stones-esque “15 people onstage, two more guitarists behind the curtain” way, but just very bright and shiny. The drummer was Kenny Aronoff, who’s been with him for at least 15 years, but the rest of the band was new to me and looked young.
The element of the show that really, really blew me away, however, was Fogerty’s voice. The years have generally not been kind to rock singers of the 60s and early 70s - Dylan’s decline is well documented, but even guys like Robert Plant seem to have lost a step, vocally. Not so, John Fogerty. The guy still has a tenor that could cut glass. He absolutely nailed every note, including some pretty demanding parts. “Have You Ever Seen The Rain?” and “Up Around The Bend,” in particular, gave me chills.
Anyway, if you’re a fan of great American rock and roll, played by a real band rather than a Vegas revue, I can’t recommend Fogerty’s current tour highly enough. One of the best performances I’ve seen in years.
