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JOHN FOGERTY : COMIN' DOWN THE ROAD - THE CONCERT AT ROYAL ALBERT HALL |
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Label : Verve Forecast Length : 100 minutes Venue : Royal Albert Hall, London, UK Recording Date : June 24, 2008 Release Date : November 3, 2009 NTSC : 16:9 Review (Record Collector) : Fogerty's return to London's Royal Albert Hall in the summer of 2008, a full 37 years after his last triumphant show at the venue with Creedence Clearwater Revival, was a curious affair. The demands of filming meant that the audience - this reviewer included - had to endure several "intervals", as camera positions were adjusted, sound levels checked and Fogerty himself frequently left the stage to change into an identical white shirt whenever the old ones' sweat stains became too noticeable. It made for a frustrating evening, with unwelcome interruptions to the swamp groove we'd all come to celebrate. Large sections of the crowd were also displeased that solo material, enjoyable as it was, outnumbered his former band's glories by about two-to-one, contradicting the nostalgia-fest promised in the gig' pre-publicity. Thankfully, this finished memento of the show does a splendid job in disguising the joins, reminding us of Fogerty's power as a live performer, his vocal rasp undiminished with age and newer songs such as Gunslinger and Don't You Wish It Was True holding their own against old favourites Fortunate Son and Proud Mary. A DVD worth checking out, even if, like the old saying about laws and sausages, it's something you'd rather you hadn't seen being made. |