REVIEW: John Fogerty Rocks Edmonton – With His Kids
A packed lower bowl down at Turtle Island was transported through time and space to a psychedelic 1960’s influenced evening of peace and love in the presence of a surprisingly hard-rocking old man named John Fogerty.
It’s hard to imagine the 77-year-old CCR founder rocking out harder than he did at Rogers Place on Wednesday night, taking on a couple extended solos in Heard It Through The Grapevine and an Eddie Van Halen-inspired tapping solo to introduce deep album cut Keep On Chooglin’. He was so legit in his approach he didn’t let it go without a number of whammy bar divebombs. He paced the set well, dialing down the volume yet maintaining full emotional effect for slower songs like Joy Of My Life and Who’ll Stop the Rain.
The mostly uptempo, energetic and highly entertaining show set the standard right out of the gate with set opener Up Around the Bend, one of the catchiest of all their earwormy uptempo rockers. The band, rounded out by John’s two sons Tyler and Shane Fogerty, alongside rhythm section Jesse Wilson and Richie Milsap, were tight, delivering a powerful and economic sound. Several mid tempo rockers like Born On the Bayou and Lodi were truncated slightly – when you’re 77 you can’t drive with the pedal to the floor the entire time, can you? He more than made up for it by cranking up the gusto on Travelin’Band, Centerfield, Old Man Down the Road, and Fortunate Son, where a very fortunate son in the form of Shane Fogerty got to play call and response duelling Les Pauls with his dad during the extended end solo section. It was a fittingly poetic way to end the main set.
There was a couple glaring omissions – he didn’t hit Down On the Corner or Susie Q – but when you are America’s greatest living songwriter I think you have the permission to miss a few here or there. Next time through town I’m sure fans are crossing their fingers maybe John will brush off some oldies like The Night Time Is The Right Time, Midnight Special, or Tombstone Shadow, if he’s game for it of course.
That the night had an opening act was a bit of a surprise. It was expected Fogerty would hit the stage smack at 8, be out the door by 9:30 and in bed with lights out by 10. There were other plans afoot, however, such as the live Canadian debut of “heartyhar,” the band featuring John’s kids, both on guitar and vocals. The band were a fairly deft concoction of melodic, acid-drenched garage rock, like a hard rocking Byrds, or a beefed up Buffalo Springfield with Deep Purple’s Jon Lord sitting in on keyboards. That the band lean more naturally to the hard rock side was further illustrated by Tyler pulling off of number of Ian Gillan-worthy screams over the course of their 30 minute set. While they aren’t there yet, they have some really good material. Quick summary of heartyhar – kind of a dumb name, but a great band worthy of your time.
