<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On Saturday, August 17th, 2024, I got to attend my second show at the Cuthbert Outdoor Amphitheater.\u00a0 Unlike the first show (Ringo Starr\u2019s All-Starr Band in June of 2023), this 2024 show involved dodging a few raindrops.\u00a0 The day of the show, a rare thunderstorm rolled through Eugene, Oregon in the afternoon but watching the weather radar confirmed that the storm would blow over by showtime.\u00a0 With the start of the concert delayed by thirty minutes, it was clear sailing by the time the opening band hit the stage. \u00a0 We made plans to park in the shadow of Oregon University\u2019s Autzen Stadium, just as we had last summer.\u00a0 With a fair distance to hike to the venue, we knew we were not going to get there early enough to find a spot to sit on the lawn in the upper part of the bowl.\u00a0 My West Coast Bureau concert partner Todd and I decided to miss part of the first opening band.\u00a0 Oddly enough, we ended up standing with our backs to the surrounding hedge directly across from the stage (the exact spot we had occupied for Ringo\u2019s show last year and where Todd and Elizabeth stood for the band Cake a few weeks earlier).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The opening band, Hearty Har, were just finishing their set when we got situated.\u00a0 We will come back to them in a few minutes.\u00a0 The second opener, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, took very little time to get set up.\u00a0 They had three large rolling platforms holding two large banks of speakers with lights arrayed along the tops and sides.\u00a0 The third platform held a sizable double bass drum kit.\u00a0 Once the crew cleared Hearty Har\u2019s equipment from the stage, the pre-assembled backline for the Destroyers was rolled into place.\u00a0 George Thorogood\u2019s band took flight in 1973 so they are now celebrating their fiftieth year on the road.\u00a0 At some point they dropped the \u2018Delaware Destroyers\u2019 handle and became just \u2018the Destroyers\u2019.\u00a0 Besides playing killer rock & blues, they had a reputation in their earlier days for taking on any and all softball teams fielded by bands they toured with.\u00a0 I joked with Todd that maybe the band got on so many tours by challenging other acts:\u00a0 \u201cIf we beat you, then we get to go on the road with you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Thorogood is one of those artists who does one thing and he does it well.\u00a0 The Destroyers play a racious blend of hard driving blues\/rock.\u00a0 George is equally adept on the guitar as he is putting on a show.\u00a0 They make no apologies:\u00a0 \u201cWe are here to have a good time so buckle up.\u201d\u00a0 This will sound snobbish and I do not mean to offend any die-hard Destroyer fans, but about 45 minutes into their hour-long set, I told Todd, \u201cIt is kind of like listening to the same song over and over again, just with different words.\u201d\u00a0 Again, part of this comes from Thorogood playing to the crowd and putting on a show.\u00a0 For example, in one solo slot, he criss-crossed the stage while strumming the open bottom three strings without fretting any notes.\u00a0 With his picking hand. So engaged, Thorogood pointed to various sections of the crowd with his fretting hand.\u00a0 Of course, the crowd in the area which he pointed would erupt in hoots, hollers, and applause.\u00a0 To me, the \u2018showmanship\u2019 part of his playing takes away from his obvious guitar playing talent.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As he stalked the stage, George\u00a0 repeated the same tuneless strum for way too long.\u00a0 When he took his guitar solo to centerstage (with the rest of the band off stage), I lost count of how many times he moved his slide up and down the fretboard without actually picking any notes (making a series of \u2018WAAA – wooo – WAAA – wooo\u2019 sounds.)\u00a0 With these observations aside, The Destroyers put on a great show and their fans loved it. George\u2019s stage banter was well worn, but a showman of this caliber knows the rules:\u00a0 \u201cIf it works in Des Moine, use it in Eugene.\u201d\u00a0 I did hear some locals comment on his pronunciation of the locale – here it is \u2018Or-e-gin\u2019 not \u2018Or-e-GONE\u2019.\u00a0 The band left the stage to a standing ovation as the last strains of his signature song <\/span>Bad to the Bone<\/span><\/i>, were still echoing around the amphitheater.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Once the three large rolling backline pieces were out of the way, the crew busied themselves setting up the staging for John Fogerty.\u00a0 With a bank of keyboards at the far left and the drum riser on the far right of their backline, there was a small raised platform left occupying the back center of the stage.\u00a0 All the while they were getting things set, there was a huge, colorful logo being projected on the blackmesh screen hanging behind the band announcing the tour\u2019s theme.\u00a0 The Destroyer\u2019s had a different projection behind them for each song in their set, most featuring the iconic Bulldog they have used for years on their albums and posters.\u00a0 When Fogerty and his band hit the stage, the back projections took on an even bigger role in the show.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The main event began with a five minute video that had Fogerty explaining why he was doing a \u201856th Anniversary Tour\u2019.\u00a0 In a rap that would be repeated many times over the next ninety minutes, he told the interviewer in this clip that after 56 years, \u201cI have finally got my songs back.\u201d\u00a0 As the film ended with a wide shot of John playing music with his children, he appeared on the central raised platform silhouetted against a large rising full Moon.\u00a0 It won\u2019t surprise anyone that the open number was <\/span>Bad Moon Rising<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 As the song ended, Fogerty came to the stage front and again reminded everyone that he had (at last) gotten all his songs back and that he planned to play every one of them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0John told a little of the CCR backstory as things went along.\u00a0 At the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, his band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, were a constant presence on the radio and the <\/span>Billboard Charts<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 In a previous interview I had watched, he said that it took him a long time to figure out that jealousy played a big part in tearing CCR apart:\u00a0 \u201cIf we were going through the airport and some kid asked me for an autograph, the other guys behind me would grumble about it.\u00a0 At the time, I didn\u2019t realize they resented me being recognized as the face of the band.\u201d\u00a0 He was more than just the front man.\u00a0 Fogerty wrote the music, did the arrangements, produced many of their recording sessions and was responsible for the airplay they were getting.\u00a0 In the early days, he even taught bass player Stu Cook (who was actually a keyboard player) how to play the bass.\u00a0 By 1972, John\u2019s brother Tom had quit the band and the green-eyed monster did the rest of the dismantling as they tried to carry on as a trio.\u00a0 CCR went from the top of the heap to the bottom in very short order and it hit John hard.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In his biography ( <\/span>Fortunate Son, <\/span><\/i>2015 ), Fogerty takes full responsibility for the things he didn\u2019t get right with CCR.\u00a0 For example, he was dissatisfied with their performance at Woodstock and refused to let any of the footage be used in the Movie or soundtrack.\u00a0 The rest of the band thought it was a typical CCR performance, but John was the immovable peg on certain business matters.\u00a0 To say this decision cost the whole band a lot of royalty revenue is a vast understatement.\u00a0 Tension had also been brewing between Fogerty and the head of the Fantasy Records label they were signed to.\u00a0 When the label refused to give them a better royalty deal, John vowed to never play those songs again lest they make more money from them.\u00a0 Fantasy continued to sell CCR\u2019s albums so it is uncertain how well this tactic worked.\u00a0 In 1987, Bob Dylan convinced him otherwise, saying, \u201cIf you don\u2019t do <\/span>Proud Mary, <\/span><\/i>everybody\u2019s gonna think it\u2019s a Tina Turner song.\u201d\u00a0 Thus Fogerty began playing his greatest hits again while he and his manager\/wife Julie began the long process of trying to re-acquire the rights to his own creations.\u00a0 When Concord Records bought up the Fantasy label, they did offer Fogerty a better deal but they were still reluctant to part with the rights to his music until 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After this brief lull in the Eugene concert to remind everyone why they were there, the band knocked off six more of CCR\u2019s big hits spanning the next half hour.\u00a0 The crowd finally retook their seats when John kicked off one of his deeper cuts <\/span>Effigy.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>The ninety minute set was essentially a 5000 voice singalong when the biggest hits were played.\u00a0 I will not list all the songs because that information is easily found online.\u00a0 Each song included elaborate back projections and while they were very well done, it leads me to my one complaint about the show.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The projections were very bright and featured a lot of movement.\u00a0 A lot of the time, the band were dark outlines in front of this backdrop.\u00a0 There were two or three very large footlights at stage level facing the audience from the back of the stage.\u00a0 When they were turned up to full, it was actually very hard to see what was going on.\u00a0 No matter;\u00a0 part of this \u2018problem\u2019 may have come from our position high in the bowl of the amphitheater. \u00a0 I can not speak for what the people \u2018down front\u2019 witnessed but there were other times when the projections were very effective, especially when the follow spotlights illuminated the band members better.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Back to the opening band, Hearty Har.\u00a0 Yes, they were on the bill but not just because two of Fogerty\u2019s children front the band.\u00a0 Formed in Los Angeles in 2012 by guitarist\/vocalists Shane and Tyler Fogerty, the band includes Jesse Wilson (bass), Nick Straton (guitar), Richard Milsap (drums) and Douglas Lamothe (keys).\u00a0 Shane and Tyler have performed with John on previous tours but for this celebration, all the members of Hearty Har serve as his backing band.<\/span><\/p>\n I can not say enough about drummer Milsap because the foundation he held down was perfect.<\/span><\/p>\n There were a few times the bass drum beats were a little boomy and overpowering, but the brief solo Milsap played was great.\u00a0 I have seen videos of s live performances Fogerty has done with drummer Kenny Arornoff behind the kit.\u00a0 His drumming always seems to overwhelm the music both with power and speed.\u00a0 Maybe it was John\u2019s excitement (to be playing his songs again after 1987) that picked up the pace when he again began performing CCR tunes, but all too many of the songs were played way too fast with Aronoff keeping time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At one point, Fogerty recounted how the 1972 breakup of CCR affected him:\u00a0 \u201cI lost my band, my girlfriend left, and my dog bit me.\u00a0 A 12 year old kid came up and asked me if he could have my Rickenbacher guitar and I just gave it to him.\u201d\u00a0 Fortunately, many years later, his wife tracked it down and got it back for him as a birthday present.\u00a0 Not only did John get his songs back, he has also been reunited with the iconic guitar that he used on many of their hits.\u00a0 The one piece of his iconic stage rig missing on this tour were the red, padded and tucked Kustom amps and speakers he made so popular back in the day.\u00a0 Today, his band seems to favor using Fender and Orange amplifiers on stage.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Fogerty did talk about their gig at Woodstock but without going into the particulars of them not being in the film.\u00a0 He did, however, mention the rain.\u00a0 Right after the festival, he wrote the song <\/span>Who\u2019ll Stop the Rain<\/span><\/i> which (right on cue) became another instant hit.\u00a0 Naturally he ended this story by launching into the tune with another lusty singalong from the crowd.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Another interesting tale revolved around a track recorded by the pre-CCR band The Golliwogs.\u00a0 According to Fogerty, \u201cThe record label guys were in love with all the \u2018Mod\u2019 sounds coming from England.\u00a0 They said, \u2018Write something Mod.\u2019\u2019 We were 19, they were, like 90, so we wrote a Mod song.\u201d\u00a0 Tyler Fogerty took the mic as they performed The Golliwogs\u2019 <\/span>Fight Fire <\/span><\/i>with digital flames dancing on the screen behind them.\u00a0 The only other deep track I did not remember was <\/span>It Came Out of the Sky.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Though I distinctly remember borrowing the <\/span>Willie and the Poor Boys<\/span><\/i> (1969) album from my buddy Mitch, I don\u2019t remember this track making an impression on me.\u00a0 The lyrics touch on some familiar CCR topics (<\/span>Whoa, it came out of the sky \/ Landed just a little south of Moline \/ Jody fell out of his tractor \/ Couldn\u2019t b\u2019lieve what he seen) <\/span><\/i>He even name drops VP Spiro Agnew and TV news commentators Eric Severide and Walter Cronkite in the lyrics.\u00a0 The video replete with flying saucers and <\/span>Close Encounters of the Third Kind <\/span><\/i>aliens got the point across, but the song still did not ring any bells for me.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0John mentioned his wife of 36 years many times.\u00a0 The background film accompanying <\/span>Joy of My Life<\/span><\/i> (from the <\/span>Blue Moon Swamp <\/span><\/i>album) was a veritable family album of photos from their wedding on through the present.\u00a0 This was the only song that featured two sax solos.\u00a0 I am sorry to say I did not hear the player\u2019s name and finding a reference to him online has proven to be difficult.\u00a0 The songs featuring sax (some of which John himself played on CCR albums) and some tasty keyboard work from Lamothe added much to the classic arrangements.\u00a0 The Fogerty \u2018boys\u2019 (all three of them) had a grand old time jamming out on <\/span>Keep on Chooglin\u2019 <\/span><\/i>while Tyler got to show some chops of his own on cowbell for <\/span>Down on the Corner.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Fortunate Son <\/span><\/i>closed the show and by that time the adrenalin was pumping.\u00a0 It was a little fast but a) not nearly as speedy as when Aronoff was behind the kit and b) not so fast that John had to spit out the words.\u00a0 I can state that I have never seen Fogerty play this song at the same pace as it was recorded.\u00a0 After a brief standing ovation, he was back on the stage saying, \u201cWhat, did you think we were done?\u201d\u00a0 The encore started with <\/span>Travelin\u2019 Band <\/span><\/i>and ended with (what do you think?) <\/span>Proud Mary.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>The exit music came on loud enough to indicate there wasn\u2019t going to be another encore.\u00a0 Looking at the string of dates that Fogerty\u2019s band has already played and will continue to play, I imagine he has to draw the line somewhere.\u00a0 His voice is still strong, he hits the high notes, and only on occasion did the vocal sound a little thin.\u00a0 This is no knock on his talent (he is after all in his late 70s) and the youthful enthusiasm he and his band radiated throughout the show should be a lesson to all of us of any age.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After the Destroyers left the stage, I was standing there minding my own business when a woman stopped, poked me in the chest, and said, \u201cDid you buy that here?\u201d (meaning the 56th Anniversary shirt my wife had found for me before the trip).\u00a0 I told her where it came from and she looked so disappointed.\u00a0 I half wondered if she was going to ask me if I would sell it.\u00a0 Sorry lady, you will have to look online, I am keeping mine!\u00a0 And John, you keep right on <\/span>Chooglin\u2019.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Who’ll stop the Rain? From Belgium in 2010<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On Saturday, August 17th, 2024, I got to attend my second show at the Cuthbert Outdoor Amphitheater.\u00a0 Unlike the first show (Ringo Starr\u2019s All-Starr Band in June of 2023), this 2024 show involved dodging a few raindrops.\u00a0 The day of the show, a rare thunderstorm rolled through Eugene, Oregon in the afternoon but watching […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,8,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-new-music","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3266"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3269,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3266\/revisions\/3269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}