Creedence Clearwater Revisited (July 2008)


Date of Performance: July 2, 2008
Venue: Summerfest, Classic Rock Stage, Milwaukee, WI, US

Have you ever seen CCR in the rain? Now I can say that I have watched them while the skies cried.

Between prolific and teeming downpours, this band was crisp and more focused than a spotlight. I was awed by their virile sound and John Tristao was the next best thing to John Fogerty. While he had big shoes to fill and a lofty role to handle, his stalwart voice resulted in a very snug fit.

Back in the day, when an album - and not a single - got radioplay based on what songs were most viable, CCR overwhelmed disc jockeys with countless options so much so that they're instantly recognizable from their acronym (and unless you're dense; this would be a case in point). Apart from The Who, I cannot think of another band that has so many household hits.

If you subtract just one obscure Creole song that came out of nowhere, their entire recital resulted in a plethora of "aha" moments. It's hard to believe they have scores of instantly identifiable ditties in their repertoire.

They ended the set on that motivation piece Forrest Gump used in his cross-country jog and montage. I'm talking about "Fortunate Son," and I was waiting patiently for this revisited revival to catalyze its arrival. When it broke to the surface, the drizzle cleared and they were figuratively on fire. Then again, it was hard to tell if it were smoke machines or their smoldering musicianship that caused storms to quell and give way to foggy mists.

No need to rifle through something you may already know blow-by-blow. Point blank, I was thoroughly impressed with this performance. If I weren't already so familiar with their material and only had this gig to on, I would have thought that these were skilled, enthusiastic youngsters working up the nerve to take on the world -- and not a hippie band with 50 plus years of grisly experience readily accessible in the back pocket of their now no-longer-faded glory.


Added: July 30th 2008
Reviewer: Joshua "Prawg Dawg" Turner
Score:
Artist website: www.creedence-revisited.com
Hits: 4110
Language: english
  

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