Gimme That Old-Time Rock & Roll

On a recent Saturday evening, high school classmate Mitch Stephens and I attended a concert featuring Stevie Winwood (of the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic and Blind Faith) and John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival) at the Jones Beach Theater (of Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater) in New York.

      Why did we go, why be so regressive in our tastes?  Because classic rock & roll is obviously so much better than whatever so-called music is spewing forth from radios and concert halls nowadays. It had hummable melodies, logical chord progressions, verses and choruses and bridges, a big beat, and, in the classic formulation, "you can dance to it.”  

      I haven’t heard anything in 40 years that can compare to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Rascals, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Eagles, the Four Tops, the Supremes, The Byrds, The Animals, the Dave Clark Five, Mitch Ryder, or, of course, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.  The lyrics were heartfelt and even caused, seismic changes in society.  They were real bands, often friends.  

      Even the band names were better.

Winwood and his six-or-so person ensemble played a professional set of fan faves from the various iterations of his career. It was the first mainstream rock & roll concert I have ever attended in which there was no bass player, although there was no lack of booming bottom, given the powerful set drumming, an excellent manual percussionist, and Stevie’s playing in the lower register of his keyboard. Stevie also plays a mean guitar.

      All in all, a tough act to follow.

      But Fogerty did so, with energy and elan. His mixture of crowd-pleasing CCR classics and personal favorites had the front rows standing and dancing the entire time. What his voice has lost (a lot, unfortunately) since CCR’s heyday, his guitar playing has gained (a lot, fortunately). Two of his six children performed, one of whom, an outstanding guitarist, is a chip off the old block. As expected, Proud Mary was the encore, rounding out an amazing set and career.

      Fogerty was born in 1945 and Winwood was born in 1948, and they both still have great chops. I was born in 1949, which is probably why I forget to take a photo of Mitch and me.