Thursday, August 28, 2014

John Fogerty - 1987-07-04 - Landover, MD

John Fogerty
July 4, 1987
Capitol Centre, Landover, MD
Vietnam Veterans Benefit Concert

Soundboard recording (from cassette master), excellent quality
Avaialble in both Lossless (FLAC) and mp3 (@320 kbps) versions

Going back down through the years with John Fogerty, here is a great sounding show from 1987, and one that  is especially significant (and historic), because this was the first show where John played Creedence songs since he left Creedence Clearwater revival 15 years earlier. As you probably know, John had major disputes with his label, Fantasy Records, and Saul Zaentz, the head of Fantasy. Like many artists back in the 60's, eager to sign with a record company, CCR got a bad deal from Fantasy, giving Fantasy all the distribution and publishing rights to their songs (all of which were written by Fogerty). Even worse, what money CCR did get from Fantasy was 'reinvested' by Fantasy in various shady tax shelters and schemes, which ultimately lost many millions of dollars. When Fogerty split from CCR to get away from Zaentz and Fantasy, he was frustrated to find that Fantasy still retained control over his solo career, too. So, John signed away even more of his CCR royalties in order to get out from under the Fantasy contract. Thus, he refused to play any of the Creedence songs anymore, because he could not stand to see Zaentz profit further from his performances. For several years, Fogerty didn't play at all. But in 1985, John released his breakthrough solo album, Centerfield. But, the disputes with Zaentz still did not end. Zaentz sued Fogerty claiming that one of the songs on the new album, the hit single 'Old Man Down the Road' (which Zaentz did not own), plagarized John's own Creedence song 'Run Through the Jungle' (which Zaentz owned the rights to), thus denying him millions in revenue (he sued for $140 million!). Thus, Fogerty was essentially sued for plagarizing himself. Fogerty won that case, including getting attorney's fees from Zaentz. But that was not the end of it. John also had a couple of songs on the album that were thinly veiled attacks on Zaentz ('Mr. Greed' and 'Zanz Can't Danz'), so Zaentz sued him for defamation, too (Fogerty changed the title to 'Vanz Can't Danz' as a result. Anyway, all this was still going on in 1987 when John was asked to play the closing set at the Vietnam Veterans Benefit (also featured that night were Stevie Wonder, CSN, Linda Ronstadt, Kris Kristofferson and Neil Diamond all playing just a song or two, and then John closing with a full set). In rehearsals, John played only solo album material, no CCR songs, but then at the show, as his set opened with the intro to 'Old Man Down the Road', and then it happened, one of those magical moments that occur just once in a musical lifetime. Fogerty stopped, huddled up with his band mates, and then launched into 'Born on The Bayou'! The rest of the set was all Creedence classics. From that show forward, CCR material would again grace every Fogerty concert! Now, to be completely accurate, it was not the first time that Fogerty played any CCR song live, because earlier that year (1987-02-19), at an impromptu show in Hollywood with Bob Dylan and George Harrison, Dylan urged him to start playing 'Proud Mary' again ('so people wouldn't think it was a Tina Turner song'!), and Fogerty did play 'Proud Mary' (but only that one CCR song that night), but perhaps that show got him thinking about playing all his old songs again. So, this was the first time he played multiple (and even a full set) of CCR songs since 1972. During the show (track 5), John talks to the audience (the vets) about facing past pains, letting go of all the injustices done to you, and moving on with your life, and perhaps that was what he decided to do regarding his own music. This show is widely available, but it is a great recording, and certainly a historic night, and John, of course, is wonderful.

Tracklist:
01. Announcer
02. The Old Man Down The Road (musical intro)
03. Born On The Bayou
04. Down On The Corner
05. John addresses the audience
06. Who'll Stop The Rain
07. Up Around The Bend
08. The Midnight Special
09. Bad Moon Rising
10. Audience applause
11. Fortunate Son
12. Vietnam tribute segment (incomplete; no Fogerty)
13. Proud Mary

This recording from "The RS Archives" (a Mexminute/TheCommish production)

mp3: John Fogerty_1987-07-04_Landover_mp3.rar
Link updated 11/7/21
FLAC: John Fogerty_1987-07-04_Landover_FLAC.rar

Thursday, August 21, 2014

John Fogerty - 2004-11-21 - Chicago, IL

John Fogerty
2004-11-21
Live at The Chicago Theater, Chicago, IL 

Excellent Audience recording (Crystal Cat Records: CC 745-46)
Mp3 @ 320 kbps

Here's some more from the great John Fogerty, this one from about 10 years ago, following the release of his Deju Vu (All Over Again) Album in 2004. So, this show highlights his usual great performance, this time consisting of several songs from that then-new album in addition to all the old Creedence favorites, all in very fine sound quality on this Crystal Cat recording. Again, shows how he has really lost nothing from the old days to now, and actually is probably enjoying performing much more now than he did in those old days. Just great stuff. This recording also contains several bonus tracks from another date on the same tour which adds some additional songs not played at the Chicago show.    

Disc 1
01. Intro Presentation By Bobby Skafish
02. Taped Intro Instr. Green River
03. Traveling Band
04. Green River
05. Blue Boy
06. Who'll Stop The Rain
07. She's Got Baggage
08. Lodi
09. Sweet Hitch-Hiker
10. Sugar-Sugar (In My Life)
11. Rambunctious Boy
12. Blue Moon Nights
13. I Will Walk With You
14. Born On The Bayou
15. Radar
16. Run Though The Jungle
17. Hot Rod Heart
18. Bootleg
19. Down On The Corner
20. Wrote A Song For Everyone

Disc 2
01. Deja Vu (All Over Again)
02. I Heard It Though The Gravevine
03. The Night Time Is The Right Time
04. Have You Ever Seen The Rain?
05. Tombstone Shadow
06. Centerfield
07. Up Around The Bend
08. Keep On Chooglin'
09. The Old Man Down The Road
10. Fortunate Son
11. Bad Moon Rising
12. Proud Mary

Bonus Tracks (From 2004-11-13 - Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA)
13. Susie Q
14. It Came Out Of The Sky
15. Nobody's Here Anymore
16. Honey Do
17. Joy Of My Life
18. Almost Saturday Night

Links Updated 07/03/20
John Fogerty_2004-11-21_Chicago.part1.rar
John Fogerty_2004-11-21_Chicago.part2.rar

Thursday, August 7, 2014

John Fogerty - 2013-10-12 - Berkeley, CA

John Fogerty
October 12, 2013
Greek Theatre, Berkeley, CA

Soundboard recording, very good quality
mp3 @ 320 kbps

I saw John Fogerty in concert last week, and what a great show it was. He is just amazing, such a great talent and rock icon. He still goes all-out full throttle, putting everything into all his classic songs every night. He's pushing 70 now, but you'd never know it, because he sings and plays with all the energy and enthusiasm of a young man. Unlike some others, who just go through the motions to play their old songs for fans, he genuinely enjoys every minute of it, and it shows. He just loves to play his guitar and belt out those songs. And he has lost virtually nothing over all these years, as he still sings and plays as great as ever, and his back-up band now (particularly Kenny Aranoff on drums) is arguably better than CCR ever was, and the songs just sound better than ever. What a great, fun show he puts on, focusing squarely on all the classic Creedence songs, but also sprinkling in various songs from his solo catalog, which fit right in and are classics themselves. These are timeless songs, just great classic rock 'n roll, and nobody does it better than John Fogerty, even at his advanced age. Although there are a few shows that have become available from his current 2014 tour, the sound quality from those are not nearly as good as this show from 2013, which sounds great, so I am presenting that one here. This show also boasts a fuller setlist than most, including the entire Cosmo's Factory album (undoubtedly CCR's best overall) and more than a dozen other CCR greats, as well as several other of John's own, and some covers, too. A great show from John Fogerty, one of the all-time great rockers, and still in his prime and going strong.  

Tracklist
1. Intro
2. Travelin’ Band
3. Lookin’ Out My Backdoor
4. Ooby Dooby
5. Ramble Tamble
6. Run Through The Jungle
7. Up Around The Bend
8. Before You Accuse Me
9. Who’ll Stop The Rain?
10. I Heard It Through The Grapevine
11. Long As I Can See The Light
12. Centerfield
13. Green River
14. Pottersville
15. Lodi
16. Mystic Highway
17. Train of Fools
18. Midnight Special
19. Hot Rod Heart
20. Born On The Bayou
21. Almost Saturday Night
22. Keep On Chooglin’
23. Have You Ever Seen The Rain?
24. Pretty Woman
25. Down On The Corner
26. Old Man Down The Road
27. Fortunate Son
ENCORE
28. Hey Tonight
29. Bad Moon Rising
30. Proud Mary

Links Updated 07/03/20
part 1: John Fogerty_2013-10-12_Berkeley_part1.rar
part 2: John Fogerty_2013-10-12_Berkeley_part2.rar