Reviews

Mar. 2, 2005

John Fogerty at the Elysèe Arena

My, oh my. It could have been so easily the Gig of the Centuries...

Let's say something first. To me John Fogerty means this: raspy, incredible Voice (no one else comes even close) and all of those brilliant songs with killing intros and fine stories. And these two elements were all I expected; that the guy still have the Voice and the arrangements remains mostly like on the records. Not too much asked?

Yes, it was. They pretty much blew it. It seemed it all was there: John's Voice was in pretty good shape and they played the songs like they should. So what went wrong?

The NOICE! The band played so awfully loud you could'nt make out anything. No JF's Voice, no words, no bass, no nothing. Just that terrible wall of sound. Every straight rock numbers on the set sounded like there was some bloody AC/DC-wannabe on the stage. IMO, I had a pretty good place in the hall, on the side, some 30 meters from the stage. So that wasn't the problem. But after an hour I started to doubt it and took some five minutes to wander around the hall, just to compare the sound. Elsewhere it was even worse! Inferno!

There might be, of course, something wrong with my ears. But get the picutre: I'm still suffering a bit of the headache (which started right after the concert), seventeen hours after the performance ended. And I never ever get the headache, if hangovers don't count, ehh.

It's so pity. Especially 'cos during the slower and less noisy numbers you could well sense how good it all would have sound. When they played Who'll Stop the Rain I went bananas and burst to tears, but soon rolled over that wall again... So, all the relevant dynamic was lost. Just to emphasize this: for me it took about ten seconds to recognize intro for Fortunate Son 8-O

But let's get to the good parts, finally. 8-) As I mentioned, John's Voice was in shape. Powerfull still, and rather convincing. Not that he sounded like that hungry youngster in the late sixties, but more like in nineties. He also seemed to enjoy the performing very much; jumping around and chatting with the front audience between pieces.

What surprised me was his guitar playing. Absolutely fantastic! Surely Fogerty is one of the best in business and much, much better than in the records. Some solos were really ashtonishing! A bit of funny/confusing stuff also occurred: he changed his guitar after almost every song. I'm not sure why. Different songs requires different tunes, sure, but perhaps he should rewrite the set-list instead. Or was it just his little parodic comment for all those so-called Rock Stars? 8-)

Backing band was tight, but quite invisible. They stayed in the background, just doing what they had to. It was all about John C. Fogerty. About the higlights and set-list then. Mostly the same songs as on the last year's tour. As I said, all the ballad ones sounded really good, due to less noise. Cottonfields was a bit surprise choice and they went to it by singing the whole first verse a capella! Bad Moon Rising was rocking like hell. I could imagine that CCR sounded like that on the Woodstock Festival when they wiped Sha Na Na and other clowns off the stage. 8-^

IMO, Bootleg, Tombstone Shadow and »Run Through the Jungle» should be replaced on the set-list and my biggest disappointment was that »Lodi» wasn't included. But all in all, the set was okey.

Amount of audience in the Elysee Arena was about 4 000-5 000 (4 500 ticket reported to sold). Mostly mid-age fans and perhaps NOT so enthusiastic as one should expected. I mean I've heard stories about the 1997 concert — there were almost religious ecstasy feelings!

As this was the opening concert on tour there were sound problems (other than hellish noize). E.g. »Deja Vu» was almost cancelled on the start cos' John couldn't here his own voice. Minor similarities occurred.

So that was it. My first and perhaps (but hopefully NOT) the last John Fogerty concert. It was not the Biggest One, due to that noise, but it was worth to wait and experience! Memory never fades.

Hopefully, when tour goes on, those sound guys wakes up and do something and all you European fans will face fine moments. Otherwise, I deeply recommend to get something to cover your ears. 8-^

Variationing an old saying: »See Napo... John Fogerty and die.»

# Jary

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