John Fogerty at Greek Theatre, October 12, 2013

John Fogerty
2013-10-12
Greek Theatre
University Drive at Gayley Rd, U.C. Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
8:00 PM, Saturday, October 12, 2013

[7:58 PM lights down, documentary; John announces that tonight's album revival will be Cosmo's Factory]

1. [8:00 PM] Travelin' Band
2. [8:03 PM] Lookin' Out My Back Door
3. [8:06 PM] Ooby Dooby
4. [8:09 PM] Ramble Tamble
5. [8:17 PM] Run Through the Jungle
6. [8:21 PM] Up Around the Bend
7. [8:26 PM] Before You Accuse Me
8. [8:35 PM] My Baby Left Me
9. [8:35 PM] Who'll Stop the Rain?
10. [8:38 PM] I Heard It Through the Grapevine
11. [8:47 PM] Long As I Can See the Light
    [end of Cosmo's Factory]
12. [8:52 PM] Centerfield
13. [8:57 PM] Green River
14. [9:02 PM] Pottersville
15. [9:07 PM] Lodi
16. [9:12 PM] Mystic Highway
17. [9:19 PM] Train of Fools
18. [9:23 PM] Midnight Special
19. [9:28 PM] Hot Rod Heart
20. [9:30 PM] Rock and Roll Girls
21. [9:33 PM] Born on the Bayou
22. [9:37 PM] Almost Saturday Night
23. [9:42 PM] Keep On Chooglin'
24. [9:50 PM] Have You Ever Seen the Rain?
25. [9:53 PM] Oh, Pretty Woman
26. [9:56 PM] Down on the Corner
27. [9:59 PM] Old Man Down the Road
28. [10:04 PM] Fortunate Son
    [10:07 PM offstage, pause, back in a minute]
     
    Encore
29. [10:09 PM] Hey Tonight
30. [10:11 PM] Bad Moon Rising
31. [10:14 PM] Proud Mary
    [10:18 PM offstage, lights up after a moment]

• Kenny Aronoff: drums.
• John Fogerty: acoustic guitar, guitar, harmonica, vox;
• Shane Fogerty: guitar, acoustic guitar;
• James Lomenzo: bass, harmony vox;
• Bob Malone: keyboards, accordion, harmony vox;
• Devon Pangle: guitar, acoustic guitar, percussion, harmony vox;

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

In early September I'd responded to an East Bay Express email contest with an enthusiastic “Pick me, please!” when they offered complimentary tickets to this show, and I was happily surprised to be selected as a winner. Must be my Irish luck!

What with the 8th UCMAP Yongmudo Tournament that morning and Olivier Latry's organ recital at Davies Hall in the afternoon, it's been quite the busy day! Fortunately, the events were spaced just far enough apart that it wasn't too stressful to cram them into the schedule. So after an hour or two at home for decompression and a quick dinner, it was time to hustle off to the Greek Theatre for tonight's shindig.

After our recent weekend there with Furthur, it was interesting to see the environs in use for a regular show. Shorn of circus trappings, it was much more sedate, and generally less of an event!

It took only a moment to pick up our tickets after detouring to the north side of the venue to visit the box office, and I was astonished to see that the crowd was trickling in unimpeded by any sort of bag search. Guess this must be a non-terrorist crowd!

We entered and found our seats – up in the stands, a little over towards Stage Left, but with a clear view of most of the stage – and settled in for the evening's entertainment. While the PA played something that sounded like an oldies radio station (sans DJ or commercials), a somewhat laudatory self promoting “History of John Fogerty” slide presentation looped repeatedly on the large video screen hung over center stage. Just the thing for a pre-show brush up on JF trivia! Just before showtime the lights dimmed completely in order to show a brief movie about JF, and then (drumroll please…) it was SHOWTIME.

As the stage exploded (figuratively) in light and smoke (real smoke, from multiple emitters spread across the stagewidth), the band kicked things off with a crash, launching into Travelin' Band, the ?first? tune off tonight's album, Cosmo's Factory. John was in fine form, and while the band may have been hamming things up a little excessively, they certainly paid admirable credit to the original recordings. It took about an hour to run through cc, and the transition to the greatest hits section occured more or less seamlessly: a roadie handed John his Louisville Slugger guitar, the band launched into Centerfield, and the video display ran Fogerty's baseball-related clips.

For the next hour or so, the band choogled through one hit after another, with the crowd growing looser and more wild as the night wore on. My only complaint – and a minor one at that – was the absence of a few personal favorites from the setlist, notably Suzi-Q (which has been in current rotation) and Vanz Can't Dance (which hasn't).

It might have been chilly, but that didn't stop the crowd from boogeying in the aisles and having a good old time while Fogerty replayed the soundtrack of the 70's.

Ting took plenty of pics and vids. Once I get my act together I'll share links for some of the pics.

A recording of this show is for sale from Live Downloads

Stacey Scales posted a review at SpinningPlaters.com

Back to the calendar!