reCAP :: John Fogerty :: 2017.02.15
According to Merriam-Webster, the word 'chronicle' is "a historical account of events arranged in order of time usually without analysis or interpretation."
When I was a teenager, I had a Creedence Clearwater Revival best of titled "Chronicle." The album, or aging myself - cassette - was 20 songs long and I played them over and over to the point I thought the tape would explode. Last night - Feb. 15 - John Fogerty belted out 15 of them at The Cap. It served as a chronicle with the icon playing CCR's 1968 hit "Susie Q" to the top ten 1985 solo hit "The Old Man Down The Road." Oh, and also 2013's "Mystic Highway."
The show was a history of rock and roll packed into two hours. The time span wasn't the only mix - the Capitol crowd was a mix of young and old. If you wonder how I know the difference it's easy: I recently turned 40 (boo hoo) so all the people older than me are old and all of the people younger than me are old. I should mention I brought my 77-year-old mom and we both had a blast. The action was non stop. No opening act. Fogerty played 24 songs straight. Speaking of age, watching the 71-year-old Fogerty bounce around up there made me want to take better care of my 40-year-old self. Seeing him run around on stage without missing a beat or a note was something to behold.
It was made more amazing when he told a story about playing Woodstock. The story, as he tells it, has CCR expected to go on at 9pm on Saturday night. Well, they were following the Grateful Dead and didn't go on until 230am. A master storyteller, he tells of how the crowd was mostly naked and mostly asleep - except one guy. That guy lit a lighter and yelled "we are with you John". Fogerty said he played the rest of the show for that guy - then he went home and wrote Have You Ever Seen The Rain. Well last night we were all that guy as Fogerty took us on a ride from 1968-today without missing a beat. It was a real chronicle.