John Fogerty debuts at Glastonbury Festival in 2007

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Fogerty in Glastonbury.

John Fogerty performed at Glastonbury Festival on June 23rd, 2007. It was his one and only appearance at this southwestern English festival. Furthermore, the show was also broadcast nationally by the BBC.

On these midsummer days, Fogerty had a tight schedule in Great Britain. He started his tour in Europe on June 22nd by playing a concert at Wembley Arena in London. Next day, he headed for the venue of Glastonbury Festival in Pilton on the fields of Somerset.

The Glastonbury concert was the 15th John Fogerty played on the British Isles. Creedence Clearwater gave six concerts in the UK during their heyday in 1970-1971. Fogerty also supported Tina Turner in six stadium concerts in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland in 2000. The flannel shirt maestro also delivered a memorable show at Hammersmith in London in 2006.

Fogerty was in a great shape in Glastonbury. After opening the show with "Travelin' Band", he greeted the audience briefly ("ain't no about speeching, I came here to play rock and roll") and rushed for "Green River."

Fogerty played a regular set - except the final. It was one of the few shows he failed to deliver "Proud Mary" - thanks to problems with timetable. Fogerty wasn't allowed to do encores because of the late hour, but he went on stage anyhow and played "Rockin' All Over the World" which is probably best known as the cover version by Status Quo in Britain.

The shows in London and Glastonbury also provided the first opportunity for the concert goers in England to check out the new John Fogerty band: Kenny Aronoff (dr), David Santos (b), Billy Burnette (g), Hunter Perrin (g) and Matt Nolen (kb).

The significance of the concert was raised exponentially by the fact that the show was broadcast by the BBC4 TV channel in the UK. Highlights of the performance were also released commercially: "Ramble Tamble" and "Keep On Chooglin'" were added to the exclusive Walmart bonus DVD sold together with the Revival album in the USA in 2007. "Bad Moon Rising" was included in the Live from Glastonbury CD released by the Q magazine in summer 2008. The BBC coverage might also be available on Youtube.

"It was a very, very crazy day for sure," recalled Belgium residents Petra and Robert who have seen no less than one hundred and a half John Fogerty concerts since 1997. "The athmosphere was fantastic. We were surrounded by youngsters and everyone was so excited to see John and participated. We were knee-deep in the mud but that was no problem."

Scott in the UK reviewed the show for the E-festivals website. He regarded "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" as "a totally perfect festival moment." The overall impression was positive as well: "Were my dad alive I’'m sure we'’d have been in this field in Somerset together overflowing with joy to witness John Fogerty bring us every song we’'d ever sung together."

Fogerty made a return to England next summer to shoot the Comin' Down the Road DVD at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The set list

  1. Travelin' Band (not in the TV coverage)

  2. Green River (not in the TV coverage but filmed by the BBC and available on Youtube)

  3. Who'll Stop The Rain

  4. Sweet Hitch-Hiker

  5. Lookin' Out My Backdoor

  6. Born On The Bayou

  7. Ramble Tamble (not in the TV coverage but available on the Walmart DVD)

  8. Midnight Special

  9. I Heard It Through The Grapevine

  10. Lodi

  11. Cotton Fields

  12. Have You Ever Seen The Rain

  13. Up Around The Bend

  14. Keep On Chooglin'

  15. Down On The Corner

  16. Good Golly Miss Molly

  17. Bad Moon Rising

  18. Fortunate Son

  19. Rockin' All Over The World

Thanks to Peter, Petra, Robert and Scott.