New York – When he turned 80 this week, John Fogerty was humorous to honor his past and review it.
We should all be so alive and so remembered at their age. Fogerty, in the middle of an international tour, played a noisy set of 100 minutes on Thursday night to an audience and a worship audience almost capacity at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan. The members of the crowd covered those who probably remind “Proud Mary”, “lucky son” and other accessories of Clearwater Revival when he launched half a century ago to those young enough to have heard of them through their grandparents.
At least from a distance, Fogerty did not see or sound very different from his best moment with the creation, which was rarely out of the lists between 1969 and 1971. He carried his characteristic flannel shirt; He had the same hairy haircut, although with his bangs he retreated; He sang with a vintage roar that has softened only slightly; And he even played the same guitar, a RicknBacker, who had acquired in the late 60s.
Fogerty appeared as a proud rock ‘N’ Roller, and a very proud family. His band includes two of his children in Guitar, Shane and Tyler, with his daughter Kelsy joining them briefly on a third guitar. On one side was his wife, Julie, whom he praised as the love and hero of his life, even if only because he gave one of the best gifts that an old rock star could ask: he helped recover the rights of his song catalog. Fogerty had fought for his copyright for decades, and at one point he found himself being demanded by plague one of his creation successes, which at that time did not possess.
He has marked his victory with an next album, “Legacy”, for which he recorded new versions of 20 songs. If you were at home on Thursday night, you couldn’t help knowing it. A promotional film about “Legacy” opened the program and Fogerty mentioned it again before his set. Both the album, subtitled “The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years”, and their concert tell a story of how he wants to look back.
As Fogerty pointed out at a time on Thursday night, Creedence Clearwater Revival rose to the highest heights before driving bitterly in the early 70s and never recording or touring together. Only creation academics would have known the identity of the other members of the band: drummer Doug Clifford, bass player Stu Cook and guitarist Tom Fogerty, John’s brother, who died in 1990. Their names were never mentioned, their faces are almost invisible among the images that appeared on Thursday on a screen behind Fogerty and his band. The new tracks in “Legacy”, each label “John’s version”, only leave John Fogerty of the original group.
The Beacon Show was a lot about where he is now and how much he likes. He threw himself on stage, shook with his ricknBacker with the joy of a teenager on the air guitar and even poured champagne. Fans applauded and danced, while they were damaged with confetti and dazzled with lasers and fog. The most informed sang along with “Have You’re has seen the rain” and the baseball anthem “Centerfield”, the most famous song after Fogerty’s creza. Virtually everyone stood up and cheered for the guest of honor of the night, whose birthday was the day before.
