Work in Progress...
JOHN FOGERTY IN EUROPE
JUNE 1997
JOHN FOGERTY IN HAMBURG: PICTORIAL
First installment of pictures of John Fogerty at the Hamburg Concert. Original photographs by Barry T. King, the U.K., who made a special trip. Graphical effects by the River Rising Web.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF FOGERTY IN HAMBURG, FRIDAY 27
By Manfred Petri: "I am back. What a great night for all of us who were there. I have met Robert, Peter, Jukka, Barry and Teresa, Wiebo you name them [all River Rising List Members]. And I have met him. He gave me his autograph and I stood in front of him for five minutes when he signed others people tickets and pictures. I saw his lovely wife Julie, his daughter and Bob Fogerty. I still can't believe it. To stand right in front of that man was a dream I kept for many, many years. The concert was outstanding. 2 hours of the best music you can find on this planet, played in a small venue, only 400 people. I was in front of the stage and he rocked us down just one meter away.
It was just great. This man is the best musician I ever saw. The band was great but I can't stop to say here I missed Stu and Doug as I missed John last year. On the old songs the sound was close to the old CCR days, on the new songs you could hear that they have been recorded with this band. It sounded more like a band playing these songs for a longer period together. The setlist was slightly different to the concerts in the States.
From Peter Koers, Editor of the CCR Fan Club Magazine: "I met with John in Munich on June 22 at the TV show and had the opportunity to talk to Julie and John for a little more then 30 minutes.As I told Julie that we would be with circa 10 to 15 fanclubmembers in Hamburg, she said that she would arrange something for us.As 30 to 40 fanclubmembers showed up, it really was to much to all get in and see John at the soundcheck.
But THANK YOU Julie!!!!!, as it was no doubt her initiative that caused John to come out on the street and give us all an autograph.That was awesome.And, the communication between John and us during the concert was the best we ever can get.John even named a few people by name and had little conversations with us between the songs.IT was simply fantastic. And, to everybody, thanks for the disciplined behaviour!
Sorry, the only dissapointment was Bob Fogerty.I won't go into detail, but a few other people may do that and they have the right to do so.JOHN FOGERTY AT THE ROSKILDE FESTIVAL
By Wiebo de Witt, Holland [posted to the River Rising Mail List]: "June 26, 1997: Roskilde Festival, Denmark- At 22:30 the lights went down and swamp crickets are heard over the sound system. So this is it: John's first concert on European soil in over 25 years! We can hardly believe it. We had made a banner which said 'HELLO JOHN, GREETINGS FROM BELGIUM'. When John starts to play 'Born On The Bayou' he walks towards our side of the stage, sees our banner, points to it and goes 'heeeyy!!'. What a start! John looked fit and ready. He wore blue jeans, a blue shirt and a red scarf. The band sounded phenomenal and they were really in to it. I could hardly believe that we were actually listening to a John FOGERTY concert! From the first notes John was going for it, smiling and stamping his feet.
I expected a shortened festival set but they played a two hour show while rain was pouring down like nothing else, but we couldn't care less. When John walked on to the little catwalks and stamped his feet he let the water fly. Such a cool sight. During 'Who'll Stop The Rain' the rain actually stopped which was a magical moment. Later on it began twice as hard though :)
The band was really great. Kenny Aronoff was rocking away in his now well known manner. Even though the two rhythm-guitarists weren't moving around a lot, they laid a very solid base down which worked great. Everybody is saying that they miss Stu and Doug but I believe that this band is the best that could've happened to John these days. They are a great rock band together and let's hope they can work some things out so that they can keep playing together for the big world tour which will begin later this year.
We had no voices left when the show was over but we didn't really care. There was not a big crowd when the show started but when all was over I guess there were at least 15.000 people standing there. John made a lot of new fans that day ! Be sure to see them when they play somewhere near you.FOGERTY IN HAMBURG
By Wiebo de Witt, Holland [posted to the River Rising Mail List]:"June 27, 1997: Grünspan, Hamburg- After the Roskilde concert we couldn't wait to see John again tonight in a much smaller venue (+- 400 tickets sold)
As soon as the doors are open we rush to the stage and there we are, up front for the second John FOGERTY show in two days! And this one turns out to be even better. John seems to prefer the smaller club to the Roskilde grounds yesterday because he really is going for it. We were so close to John that he could actually sweat all over us.
John's voice is very powerful tonight: 'Travelin Band' and 'Fortunate Son' sound fantastic.We get to hear the same set list as yesterday but John is much more interactive with the audience. He even calls out Peter, Helmut and Robert's names [Peter and Robert are River Rising List Members] telling us he even knows the people here by name. Great fun.
Before John starts Jellyroll I ask him what kind of thing his steel-guitar is. 'Is it a bird? it it a . . .' and John responds by saying 'yeah... what is that thing?' giving his impersonation of a singing saw 'wheeeeeeeaaa'. This show is really something else. Excellent version of '110 In The Shade'. So many stupid and fun remarks were made during this show between John and his audience but what for me really stands out is that during Bad Moon Rising's chorus John looks at me and sees me sing. He sticks up his thumb and says 'Alright !' Peter also notices this and smiles to me. This is the best evening of my life and I will never forget it ! Never. Robert later on signs to Kenny Aronoff that he would like one of his drum sticks. Kenny throws one to Robert but it passes by over our heads . . . Too bad. But after the encores Kenny walks up to Robert and gives him one personally !
That's what kind of evening this was. A very personal night for both the performers and the audience.
After a complete two hour set John thanks his audience and gets backstage. This was a night which I will always remember. If they get back to Europe later this year I will definitely go back to see this man and his band again. They have tought me the true meaning of Rock and Roll.
