Review: In Clearwater, John Fogerty and Steve Winwood roll with it during packed double-header

John Fogerty (second from right) Credit: Photo by Josh Bradley

It rained during “Who’ll Stop The Rain.”

While John Fogerty was telling a story about his original Rickenbacker returning to his world, some raindrops began to fall atop the packed-out lawn. Not a torrential downpour, but enough of a sprinkle to brag about the cosmically beautiful moment last Saturday night.

If you haven’t heard, Fogerty—the frontman, axeman, and main creative force behind Creedence Clearwater Revival—got his songs back a few years ago, ending a lifelong rights struggle. And he’s taking them on the road to celebrate them like it’s 1969 again.

He credited his wife-slash-manager Julie, sitting backstage at downtown Clearwater’s BayCare Sound, for the repossession and dedicated his solo tune “Joy Of My Life” to her. “Behind every man is a great woman,” he declared. “You girls all know about this!”

Following a video where he glazed his life story, Fogerty and his five-piece band, featuring his two boys Shane and Tyler of Hearty Har, hit the stage and immediately got a trifecta of his unmistakable bayou hits out of the way. Spooky-season standard “Bad Moon Rising” came first, followed by Shane leading the guys into “Up Around The Bend,” and a crazy long “Green River” solo on his Les Paul goldtop guitar.

Fogerty, 81, was sprightly and wild as ever. Unlike plenty of others in his age bracket, his swampy wail is still fully intact, he still plays (and owns) guitars like a madman, and he can still lead a jam session like it’s his last.

There’s always a different “holy shit” moment on a Fogerty tour. His time in Tampa Bay has seen the likes of a Billy F. Gibbons duet and a cover of “Fight Fire” by The Golliwogs (his pre-CCR band, you golliwog.) This time around, some Cosmo’s Factory stans were taken aback when Fogerty picked up a fiery Ernie Ball custom guitar and jumped into all seven minutes and 11 seconds of “Ramble Tamble,” the 1970 album’s opening track. It’s a fairly frequent addition to his setlist, sure, but it hasn’t been played in Tampa Bay since a 2015 stop at the old Gary amphitheater, so we’ll take what we can get.

And then you had your intoxication playlist standards. The twangy “Lookin’ Out My Back Door,” complete with tangerines and Elvis. The smooth-sailing “Long As I Can See The Light,” complete with a heavy guitar-and-sax section to close it out. And of course, he touched upon his solo work, during which Shane got his Hearty Har moment to shine on “The Old Man Down The Road.”

And the crowd was into all of it, too. The stoners, Woodstockers, and weekend party-people really dug the psychedelic ambiance in the air. Plus, this was probably the biggest crowd I’ve seen at this venue, and I’ve seen a Beatle play here.

An hour and a half beforehand, ol’ Fogey’s fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Steve Winwood, with far less fanfare, plopped himself down at a piano for “Glad,” the instrumental opening track from the Dave Mason-free Traffic album John Barleycorn Must Die.

Steve Winwood Credit: Photo by Josh Bradley

A lot has happened since Winwood’s last visit here in 2016 opening for Steely Dan. He was appointed an MBE last year, and he played on the Rolling Stones’ latest album Foreign Tongues, but he’s also watched some comrades fall. There was The Dan’s Walter Becker and Tom Petty (who Mr. “Higher Love” has also opened for in Tampa) dying within a month of each other, and further, the passing of Dave Mason last April made Winwood is now the sole surviving member of Traffic.

But whether he thinks that way or not, you’d never guess that he’s the last of a dying breed. While his voice did have a bit of a rusty start without his backup vocalists, the 78-year-old took it fairly easy once he was warmed up, spending most of his hour-long set behind an organ stage right. He took the liberty of wielding one stringed instrument per era of his: A Fender Telecaster TLAC on Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home,” a Washburn M3s mandolin on “Back In The High Life Again,” and a baby blue Strat on Traffic’s “Dear Mr. Fantasy.”

That’s not to say that his early days with Spencer Davis Group went unacknowledged, though. He sat at the organ for “I’m A Man,” which he originally wrote before leaving the group, and the obligatory “Gimme Some Lovin’” encore.

Regardless, Proud Fogerty keeps on burning, Mr. Fantasy continues his happy tunes, and rain still comes down on sunny Florida days.

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