NEW YORK – As he turned 80 this week, John Fogerty was in a mood to honor his past and to revise it.
We should all aspire to be as vibrant and memorable at his age. Fogerty, currently embarked on a global tour, electrified the Manhattan’s Beacon Theatre on Thursday night with a lively 100-minute performance, captivating a nearly full house. The audience ranged from those who likely celebrated hits like “Proud Mary” and “Fortunate Son” when they debuted over fifty years ago, to younger fans who may have learned about the songs from their grandparents.
From a distance, Fogerty appeared and sounded almost unchanged from his Creedence Clearwater Revival days, when they dominated the charts from 1969 to 1971. He wore his signature flannel shirt and sported the familiar shaggy hairstyle, albeit with his bangs brushed back. His robust voice, though slightly mellower with age, remained impressive, and he played the same Rickenbacker guitar he acquired in the late 1960s.
Fogerty embraced his identity as a proud rock ‘n’ roller and a devoted family man. His sons, Shane and Tyler, joined him on guitar, and his daughter Kelsy made a brief appearance with a third guitar. Positioned off to the side was his wife, Julie, whom he affectionately credited as the love and hero of his life, not least because she played a critical role in reclaiming his song rights. Fogerty struggled with his song copyrights for many years and at one point was even sued for allegedly plagiarizing one of his own Creedence classics, which he no longer owned at the time.
He has marked his victory with an upcoming album, “Legacy,” for which he recorded new versions of 20 songs. If you were in the house Thursday night, you couldn’t help hearing about it. A promotional film about “Legacy” opened the show and Fogerty mentioned it again before his encore set. Both the album, subtitled “The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years,” and his concert tell a story of how he wants to look back.
As Fogerty noted at one point Thursday night, Creedence Clearwater Revival soared to the highest heights before imploding bitterly in the early ‘70s and never again recording or touring together. Only Creedence diehards would have known the identity of the other band members — drummer Doug Clifford, bassist Stu Cook, and guitarist Tom Fogerty, John’s brother, who died in 1990. Their names were never mentioned, their faces near-invisible among the rush of images that appeared Thursday on a screen behind Fogerty and his band. The new tracks on “Legacy,” each labeled “John’s Version,” leave only John Fogerty from the original group.
The Beacon show was very much about where is he now, and how much he likes it. He dashed about the stage, rocked out on his Rickenbacker with the joy of a teenager on air guitar and even poured himself champagne. Fans clapped and danced, while being showered with confetti and dazzled with lasers and fog. The more informed sang along with “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” and the baseball anthem “Centerfield,” Fogerty’s most famous post-Creedence song. Virtually all stood and cheered to serenade the night’s guest of honor, whose birthday was the day before.
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