Fogerty's secret to a 50-year rock career (16 photos)
Wednesday, September 19, 2012 by: Donna Hopper
As Bruce Springsteen declared during his headlining performance at this past July's Hard Rock Calling festival in London, former Credence Clearwater Revival front man John Fogerty just might be "the Hank Williams of his generation."
The 3,200 fans in attendance at the Essar Centre Tuesday night would likely agree as the 67-year-old rock legend blitzed the audience with more than 120 minutes of hits.
SooToday.com turned to one concert-goer to point out that Fogerty had been playing for two hours straight, and the set was still going.
"Of course! He's a walking jukebox of material, and he still has a bucket-load left," they replied.
From his vast catalogue of music, Fogerty selected an array of tunes immediately recognizable as his own and some that many may have forgotten he penned.
The night's setlist included the CCR mainstays Born on a Bayou, Green River, Who'll Stop the Rain, Lookin' Out My Backdoor, Lodi, Long as I Can See the Light, Heard It Through the Grapevine, Down on the Corner, Up Around the Bend, Have You Ever Seen the Rain, Travelin' Band, Bad Moon Rising, Proud Mary and the main set's closer, Fortunate Son.
He also performed a number of solo recordings, such as Hot Rod Heart, Joy of My Life, Old Man Down the Road, Centerfield, Blue Moon Nights, and Rock and Roll Girls, as well as covers of Suzie Q, Midnight Special - both of which may as well be his own - and Pretty Woman.
With enormous vitality - that was unfortunately not matched by the remarkably still audience - and vocal chops that show zero sign of age or road-wear, Fogerty's four hours of practice and six-mile jog every day may be the key to a 50-year-long career in rock and roll.
Rock star wannabes should take note.
To view this article's photo gallery, please click here.
Please enjoy the SooToday.com news video below, shot and produced by Adam Gualtieri, which shows a bit of Fogerty's Sault Ste. Marie performance as well as opening act, Lucas Nelson (son of country music icon Willie Nelson) and The Promise of the Real.
Note: Comments that appear on the site are not the opinion of SooToday.com. Keep discussions civil and on topic. Refrain from obscenity and don't post anything that your grandmother would be ashamed to read. Those who do not abide by these guidelines will have their membership revoked without notice. If you see an abusive post, please click the link beside the post to report it.
Don't blame the audience for the lack of vertical enthusiasm!!!You can thank the over zealous security detail for that. They were clearly doing their part to stop people from enjoying good ol rock and roll. I am sure there is a time and a place that requires a little tighter security measures, but last night wasn't it. Putting a security t-shirt on sure seems to go to some peoples heads. Let good hearted people enjoy themselves. Remember a lot of the people in attendance are our hippy peace love and happiness generations!!!Don't worry John "we're still with you"
Great show spoiled by ridiculous regulations. Has anyone at essar centre ever been to a concert before. I have never seen a crowd on the floor of a rock show sit through a two hour concert anywhere but here. What is the reason, it is a mystery. It can't be just rules and regulations. Guess what, when people hear great music they want to get up and move! If you want floor seats you should expect to stand.
Those "over zealous" security folks did a great job protecting the rights of those that purchased tickets for front area seating. Those that had seating in the back and believe it is their right to come up front blocking the stage view from those in the front because they deem it a rock concert can go flour their nuts. Many folks enjoy concerts just as much from their seats and pay to do so. I salute the excellent job the security did.
The 3,200+ tickets sold showed John he is well liked in the Sault. There were plenty of standing ovations, clapping and cheering. If you happened to notice the average age of the crowd was around 50+ years....if you want to be on a floor with everybody standing and smashing into each other perhaps a ticket to the 2012 Carnival of Madness tour would be more in order.
General Admission floor tickets for shows like this would solve all the problems about the placid Soo crowds.
Any show with reserved floor seating makes the crowd appear tomb-like - there's no movement in the floor other than clapping at the end of a song.
General Admission floor tickets is the best of both worlds - if people don't want to stand, they can buy tickets in the seated sections, and if they want to stand and dance/jump around/let loose - they can buy the GA floor.
Works for every show they have them for, not sure why it wouldn't have worked for an energetic act like Fogerty.
I dont know if you noticed there right wingster, but every single band in this situation prompts the crowd to respond, get up, do something, you dont have to smash into each other. This is not a piano recital. The artists themselves prefer a crowd that is not coming off of weekend at Bernies
It's one thing for the crowd to get on its feet, its another thing all together for people from the back rows to move up to the fence and block the view for everyone else.
For that matter, I prefer to enjoy a rock concert sitting in my comfortable seat, rather than having to stand and try and see through a sea of heads and waving arms for 2 hours.
RW... I was section to row c seats 11 and 12... Basically front row. The people in the very front row were told to sit down as well. I understand that the back seat people do sometimes try to sneak forward but if you noticed, it was the people who paid for the front seats who were under the scrutiny. If you are not interested in people dancing and clapping and having a great time, in the area in which they were assigned then maybe the floor isn't your best choice, but those of us who wanted to get up and move around in our seat areas should be able to. The couple next to us was asked to sit down, while the husband was simply allowing his wife to get seated before he moved into the row....over zealous IMO
Security are not a vigilante group they have a superior who tells them what to look for and how to operate. They are not freelance. There had to have been complaints and they responded to avoid any more of the same. Take it up with Essar and leave security personal out of it. In all honesty I do not believe there has ever been a concert here where some one has not lamented one thing or another. Whiners abound and security is damned if they do and damned if they don't. Move the people and they are angry, don't and those who sit are upset. How about NO security and you can fight it out yourselves? Works just tickerty boo for me and saves Essar a goodly sum of cash.
Note: Comments that appear on the site are not the opinion of SooToday.com. Keep discussions civil and on topic. Refrain from obscenity and don't post anything that your grandmother would be ashamed to read. Those who do not abide by these guidelines will have their membership revoked without notice. If you see an abusive post, please click the link beside the post to report it.
As Bruce Springsteen declared during his headlining performance at this past July's Hard Rock Calling festival in London, former Credence Clearwater Revival front man John Fogerty just might be "the Hank Williams of his generation."
