One of the first records I ever heard my parents play.
I went to the concert with my mother, who is now retired so what better way to celebrate than to sit in a big hockey arena and smell other people's weed. I think that is why you work all those long hours in an office. Now that she is officially a senior citizen, getting to the Saddledome via C-Train was risky business. I resigned myself that I would either show up and see her waiting by the West Entrance, or she would have talked to a stranger and I would never see her again. 50/50. Luckily she was at the Dome so I put my phone away, did NOT dial the police and weep uncontrollably, and went inside.
Fogerty played a couple of years ago at the Corral (a much smaller venue) and did not sell out, so I knew there was no way that he was selling out the 19,000-seat Saddledome. Lucky me! Here is my strategy: buy the cheapest possible ticket and then scoot over to a better section. The ushers act all put out, but secretly they love the challenge of spotting who paid good money and who just squatted like a hobo in an abandoned apartment. We found a nice empty section and stretched out. Let there be rock!
The lights went down and we were treated to a 35-minute music film about the year 1969—Woodstock, other bands, The Beatles, San Fransisco, etc. It was a cool movie but to be honest, I found it a little long. I started to wonder: was this the concert? Had Fogerty died a couple of weeks ago and this was the whole show? Luckily the lights dimmed, people started screaming like they were being cattle prodded by security and eventually the 69-year-old Fogerty came out rocking "Born on the Bayou". He looked half his age and sounded great!
You ever have one of those songs that you hear and it instantly takes you back to a certain time in your life? When I was three years old, I had a ViewFinder, which is a kid's toy (like binoculars) and you can watch a comic book or a movie through the ViewFinder.
somewhere between cave man drawings and the iPad,
there exists The ViewFinder
I had a DC comics reel and watched Aquaman. Meanwhile, my dad was playing "Bad Moon Rising" (by CCR) on the record player. This is one of my earliest memories. So when Fogerty busted out "Bad Moon Rising", I was in heaven. I was three years old again. (I didn't drool or pee myself, in case you were wondering—it is a legitimate question.) The only way it would have been better was if Aquaman had suddenly shown up on stage and maybe played an instrument. Anything. Keyboards. Tambourine. Even an actor playing Aquaman would have been awesome (I am not picky).
new base player? Just an idea.
All in all, it was a great concert. He played a ton of hits and the crowd seemed really into it. Well, okay, maybe a little too into it. My only complaint was the guy sitting behind me who whipped out a harmonica during "Lodi" and started playing along. Really? Um... this is not a jam, old guy who smells like warm beer and marijuana. I am pretty sure I know the exact number of people who paid money to hear him play harmonica, and it rhymes with hero. We picked up our coats and moved to another empty section—I couldn't believe security let riff raff like that into a section that we had snuck into.
