Our resident classic-rock guru Steve Fryer reports from Hollyweird …
It doesn’t get more Americana than this: American rock icon John Fogerty kicking off a celebration of that most American of holidays, at an only-in-America place called the Hollywood Bowl.
Not enough? Well, there also was an orchestra playing John Philip Sousa marches. And a big fireworks show.
Need more? How about fat guys in tropical shirts dancing? That is very, very American.
Fogerty teamed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Thursday to start a three-day engagement at the Bowl for the Independence Day holiday. It was a curious concept, yet it turned out to be a lot of fun. (The Associated Press photo, by the way, is from a performance in Berlin last summer.)
Fogerty’s career is in full vigor, on record and on stage, and it is great to see him really tear into the hits from his Creedence Clearwater Revival days. Four songs played with the L.A. Phil had magic moments, but cohesion was amiss in spots -– something likely to be eliminated by Saturday’s third and final show.
The program: the L.A. Philharmonic revived some American compositions … then Fogerty and his band rocked the place … Fogerty and the L.A. Phil teamed up on a couple of Creedence classics … and the L.A. Phil closed with “Stars and Stripes Forever,” accompanying a long and loud fireworks exhibition.
Fogerty, 64, was his usual smiling and hopping self. His guitar playing was as sharp as always, and vocally he’s never been stronger.
But with a 10 p.m. curfew, a busy schedule that included the orchestra and the fireworks show, and a start 10 minutes past the planned 7:30 p.m. kickoff (typical traffic made for plenty of late arrivals), Fogerty had to hurry through a 13-song set. Three songs from Centerfield – “Rock and Roll Girls,” “The Old Man Down the Road” and the title track — were played as a medley.
Brevity was emphasized. Fogerty and his six-piece band, with Kenny Aronoff standing out as usual on drums, led with a version of “Hey Tonight” that clocked in a couple of seconds quicker than the original 2:45 . And “Keep 0n Chooglin’,” a jam of close to eight minutes on CCR’s Bayou Country, was finished in not much more than half of that here.
Political statements and social commentary figure frequently in Fogerty’s music. He played on the Vote for Change tour that supported Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004. But Thursday Fogerty steered clear of the anti-Iraq invasion songs that were highlights of his Déjà Vu (All Over Again) album of ’04.
The collaborations between Fogerty and his band and the L.A. Phil were interesting. The big orchestra threatened to overwhelm “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” during the first chords, but then slid back into the mix. Three other songs were played with the orchestra: “Don’t You Wish It Was True” and “Broken Down Cowboy” from the 2007’s Revival album, and of course “Proud Mary,” with the brass section lending some feel from the Ike & Tina version to the performance.
The L.A. Phil, led by enthusiastic guest conductor John Morris Russell, bookended Fogerty’s set. The orchestra opened with “The Star Spangled Banner,” during which “the rocket’s red glare” and “bombs bursting in air” lines were accompanied in perfect timing with a couple blasts of fireworks.
Then came varied slices of American music, including Leonard Bernstein’s beautiful overture from “West Side Story,” a rousing take on Aaron Copeland’s “Hoedown,” a stirring play of John Williams’ “Hymn to the Fallen” from Saving Private Ryan and a bopping run through “Sing Sing Sing” on which drummer Perry Dreiman handled the Gene Krupa bits quite well.
The big surprise of the night? A salute to Michael Jackson. The L.A. Phil played “Thriller.” And it worked.
On this night of celebration, of course it worked. Everything else did.
Also:
- Clapton & Winwood retrace faded footsteps at the Hollywood Bowl
- Daughtry to play the Fonda on 13-date small-venue tour
- Adele still charming but not quite ready for the Hollywood Bowl
