17 Aug 1997 Mountain View

"He's probably teaching himself a new instrument backstage," I joked, to which my spouse replied, "We might as well go home then." We had read several articles about John's legendary perfectionism and the three years he spent learning to play the dobro for just one or two tracks on "Blue Moon Swamp."

I felt bad because here John was on his home turf in the Bay Area, and yet the Shoreline wasn't sold out. Still, it was a very respectably sized crowd for an artist who hadn't released any new music for a decade, and the ultra-professional Fogerty didn't let the few empty seats phase him.

As others have reported, Fogerty opened with "Bayou" and "Green River,"etc., and preceded through the same set list as if it were the Ten Commandments. Even the stage patter was much the same, although, I must say, it was a surreal experience listening to John's speaking voice, which I had never heard His soft, courtly drawl made him sound like an MC at the Grand Ole Opry rather than a Northern California native. "What's with the Okie accent?" I kept wondering, "the guy's from flippin' EL CERRITO!" (in the East S.F. Bay, not 15 miles from my house.) Although John made several token references to the Bay Area as "home," it seemed clear to me that he's left this region -- along with its many bitter memories -- resolutely behind and adopted the U.S. Southeast as some kind of spiritual homeland.

I was sorry I had read the advance reports because it slightly spoiled the show for me. However, Fogerty fans don't lie. As John launched into the show, two things were almost immediately apparent: his voice is in wondrous shape, and his band is awesome. With the exception of the much-mentioned high notes on "Grapevine" (he didn't make 'em this time either), every wail, screech, howl and growl was just as powerful and bone-chilling as ever, although, somehow, blusier and more knowing and poignant. His band, powered by drummer Kenny A. and bass-player Bob Glaub, is tremendously professional and tight. The opening act, Freddy Jones Band, was good but absolutely forgettable once you had the Fogerty band to compare it with.

Fogerty doesn't have a very charismatic stage presence: at times he seemed to be challenging Al Gore for the title of "World's Most Wooden Famous Person." Still, he tried gamely -- doing an awkward impression of Chuck Berry's guitar hop now and then or donning a silly hat someone threw at him. There was a preponderance of "moons" that night -- the real, full moon, which floated beautifully above the stage; the "man in the moon" painted on John's stage set, lots of audience members in "Blue Moon Swamp" T-shirts, and of course, "Bad Moon Rising." At one point, John remarked upon all of the "moons" by turning around and bending over, showing us his (fully clothed) backside. It was a dopey but much-welcomed bit of spontaneity.

But, whatever. With a voice like that -- with a band like that -- with music like that -- Fogerty could hang upside down like a bat and people would still come from miles around to see the magic boy. Leave the "charisma stuff" to Tom Jones or whomever, because John doesn't really need it. His music has always been way, way bigger than he is and that's probably why it has survived through all the years he refused to play it.

Standouts: As everybody else has noted, the one-two punch of "I Put a Spell on You" and "Suzy Q" is a total killer (and before this, I didn't even like Suzy Q very much!); John's done something to "Spell" that's pushed it way beyond the CCR version and into some kind of blues Nirvana. The foot-stompin' "Before You Accuse Me" ate Eric Clapton's butt for breakfast. "Workin' on a Building" with the famous dobro was cool, too, especially because the concert benefited a charity that builds houses for the poor. And of course, the letter-perfect renderings of all the Creedence classics, especially "Fortunate Son." We can kid all we want about John's obsessive pursuit of the perfect sound, but you gotta admit, the results are stunning.

Quibbles: Once again, he amputated "Lodi" and "Back Door" for no discernible reason. Eight tunes from the new album seemed excessive (although they were very well done). I thought John's inviting us to call out tunes we wanted to hear was bogus, since he granted no musical request that departed from the holy set list. Also, there were things I missed, like the sax on "Long as I Can See the Light" and the organ/handclaps on "Centerfield." Lastly, it broke my heart to hear Fogerty constantly repeat "thank you so much for being here" -- he must have said it twenty or thirty times. It was nice to be appreciated, but by show's end I just wanted to stand up and shout: "For God's sake, you're the greatest rock 'n roll singer of all time -- quit being so humble!"

But by that time, he was already gone into the night, packing up the travelin' band for the next gig. . .