John Fogerty & Creedence Clearwater Revival:
We have seen John twice and have to say this is probably my favorite group. In the late 60’s, early 70’s this was the most popular band for about a 4-year period. They broke up at the height of their popularity as it was a nasty breakup over power. John recently re-obtained the rights to his songs and is going strong with two of his sons now with him in the band. Saw him a year ago at the PNC Bank Arts Center and was amazed at the amount of top hits including “Proud Mary”, “Fortunate Son”, “Bad Moon Rising”, “Have You Ever Seen The Rain”, “Old Man Down the Road”, “Centerfield”, “Green River”, and others. There were so many tunes that I could not get out of my head for weeks. He engages the audience in a friendly, folksy way and comes across as a real nice down-to-earth guy. We saw him a second time at the Breacon Theatre during his 80th Birthday Celebration Concert and once again was impressed. In the first concert he opened with “Blue Moon Rising” whereas the last one he changed it and started with “Rolling on the River” and also ended with it after a birthday celebration with the audience. He did not play “Suzzie Q”, which he did not write, but made famous years ago. So many of his songs were in Vietnam War Movies that I have seen and can relate to. Absolutely tremendous.
George Throrogood and the Destroyers:
The first time we saw George was as a pre-band to Fogerty at the PNC Bank Arts Center. I did not really know of him too much or his songs but he came out flying with this bluesy, sax strong song” Rocky Party” and got the crowd going. Known for “Bad to the Bone”, “One Burbon, One Scotch, One Beer”, “Who Do You Love” and a few others I was impressed with his Chuck Berry sounding rock n roll songs and energy he exhibited. Like Fogerty and Frampton he was very engaging with the crowd. We liked him so much we saw him a year later at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank where he was the headliner and he did not disappoint. He engaged the crowd once again and took requests for songs from two audience members and did play them later on. A very nice surprise band.
Hearty Har:
Yeah, who is this? It was a John Fogerty’s two son’s own band that played before him at the PNC Bank Arts Center. Did not like the songs but it was evident that his son Shane was a tremendous guitar player. They later joined their Dad’s band that night and fit in well as guitar players. Their future is with Creedence.
Canyon Lights:
Another “who is this” band. They were a trio that played before George Thorogood at the Count Basie Theatre and though not liking any of their songs it was evident that their lead guitarist, Pat Faherty, was tremendous. He had many long solos that demonstrated his skills were outstanding. George Throrogood actually had him come on the stage during his band’s encore and act as the lead guitarist for his songs.
Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band:
We saw Ringo about a year ago in Las Vegas when he was about 82 years old. The guy looked like he was 50 as he obviously stopped aging. Moved well and sang his songs with the same voice as he had 50 years prior. He invites prominent members of other older bands like Toto and they play their songs together. He changes this periodically. We loved seeing Ringo sing his songs from years ago. He did not play the drums but stood up with the microphone and sang from the front of the stage. Just seeing this icon was well worth the trip to Vegas in and of itself. Would definitely do it again.
Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons:
Amazing that he could put on this performance that he did at 90 years of age. We saw him at the Carteret Performing Arts and Events Center a year ago. He is a true icon like Ringo. He and his band did all of his great hits. His band is truly amazing as they get the crowd going and keep him going as well. To be 90 years old and do what he is doing on stage is just unbelievable. Very glad we finally got to see him perform as we loved the Jersey Boys play as well as the movie. He also was engaging with the crowd about some of his past as well. Though it does look like he lip syncs at times I will give him a pass.
LoCash:
Had no idea who this country duo was but evidently Mike Love invited them to tour with the Beach Boys as they actually wrote a song named “Beach Boys”. They played as the pre-band. Seemed like a decent country duo and they were also invited to come on stage with The Beach Boys during the last few songs.
The Beach Boys:
Recently saw them a few days after Brian Wilson died. Looks like John Stamos is taking over the leadership of this group as he has moved mostly to the front of the stage with a guitar engaging the audience more than anyone else. Jon Bolton is now the apparent lead drummer and is absolutely the best. They played 32 songs straight, hit after hit with ones such as “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”, “In My Room”, “California Girls”, ”God Only Knows”, etc. Surprise song that stood out was “Darlin’” sung by drummer Jon Bolton, who was absolutely tremendous both in singing and also his energetic, “Keith Moon” style drum playing. Audience stood up from first song until the last.
