John Fogerty is in fine form celebrating his half-century in music on 50 Year Trip: Live At Red Rocks, available on CD, vinyl and DVD. Filmed and recorded on June 20, 2019 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, the set is heavy with Creedence Clearwater Revival tunes, as one would expect, save a few notable solo numbers.
From opener “Born On The Bayou,” right on through to “Looking Out My Back Door” and “Who’ll Stop The Rain” into a raucous “Hey Tonight” one can’t come away disappointed here. Fogerty and his band — Shane Fogerty on second guitar, James LoMenzo on bass, Bob Malone on keyboards, and drummer Kenny Aronoff — cover the vast CCR catalog, as well as pay tribute to Woodstock and the 60s with covers of “With A Little Help From My Friends,” “My Generation,” “Everyday People” “Dance To The Music,” “Give Peace A Chance,” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Highlights include Aronoff rumbling into a spooky “Heard It Through The Grapevine,” the gospely “Long As I Can See the Light” (complete with a killer sax solo), and Fogerty wailing through “Keep On Chooglin’,” the last tune from the band’s second release, Bayou Country. A few deeper cuts from Fogerty’s solo releases (“Centerfield” and “The Old Man Down The Road” were the only solo numbers performed) might have rounded the set out more, but it’s a small point in the face of all this good music, played so well.
If you have the video, there’s commentary from Fogerty in between songs. He talks about writing certain songs, being around for 50 years, and Woodstock. As the set winds down with “Fortunate Son,” Bad Moon Rising,” and “Proud Mary,” you realize how great it is to still have an American treasure like John Fogerty around, proving he can rock with such high energy and deliver on the classics that define a generation.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
