John Fogerty rocks and rolls along the Fox River in Aurora, Illinois

 By Tom Siebert

Rock legend John Fogerty vigorously ripped through his revered Credence Clearwater Revival songbook in a powerful two-hour concert before more than 6,000 fans at scenic RiverEdge Park in Aurora on Wednesday night.

The John Fogerty Celebration Tour of the U.S., Canada, and Europe made this stop along the Fox River, 40 miles west of downtown Chicago, to share the good news that the heralded songwriter recently won a decades-long legal battle to regain the rights to his iconic music catalogue.

“I got my songs back!” he announced to the Baby Boomer-dominated audience on this last evening of July. “And I’m so happy, I’m gonna play everyone one of them for you!”

Fogerty opened with “Bad Moon Rising,” one of an astonishing 14 consecutive Top Ten hits that Credence Clearwater Revival compiled between 1969 and 1972.

Many in the lawn chair-sitting audience sang happily along, as if to rejoice in the fact that the song’s apocalyptic lyrics never came to pass:

“Don’t go around tonight,” Fogerty sang in his high-pitched howl. “Well, it’s bound to take your life. There’s a bad moon on the rise.”

The next number was “Up Around the Bend,” with its immediately recognizable, screeching guitar riff. Then came the title track from Green River, one of three landmark albums that Credence Clearwater Revival released in 1969, surpassing The Beatles in sales.

Like many of CCR’s songs, “Green River” evokes the American South through an eclectic blend of rockabilly, Delta blues, and country music.

Fogerty is an age-defying 79 who can still hit the hard notes, play complex guitar solos, and strut across the stage with obvious joie de vivre.

And he has to stay young because his guitar-playing sons Shane, 32, and Tyler, 31, are in his band.

The brothers Fogerty did double duty on this hot sticky night. Their psychedelic garage band Hearty Har was the opening act for their famous father.

The elder Fogerty still sounds as if he were born on the bayou. But John actually hails from El Cerrito, California, a San Francisco suburb, where he learned to channel the voices and spirits of black blues greats such as Lead Belly, Howlin’ Wolf, and Robert Johnson.

He, his fellow guitarist brother Tom, bassist Stu Cook, and drummer Doug Clifford began performing around the Bay Area at sock hops and banquet halls as early as 1959, taking ten years to become an “overnight success.”

John Fogerty emerged as the primary artistic force of the group, writing and singing some of the most enduring songs in rock history but leaving the other band members feeling left out and resentful.

After Credence broke up in 1972, Tom Fogerty launched a solo career that lasted until 1990, when he died at 48 from tuberculosis complicated by an AIDS-infected blood transfusion that had been performed on him during the late 1980s.

In 1995, Cook and Clifford formed Credence Clearwater Revisited, recruiting well-known musicians and performing CCR’s songs throughout the U.S. and overseas for nearly two decades.

John wrote “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” following the band’s storm-swept performance at the seminal Woodstock Music and Art Fair in August 1969. The beautifully bittersweet ballad has come to represent the rainbow that is his life today.

Fogerty told the attentive Aurora audience how he dejectedly gave away his Rickenbacker 325 Sunburst electric guitar in 1974, only to have his wife Julie secretly hunt down and repurchase the prized instrument and place it under the couple’s Christmas tree in 2016.

So tonight’s lucky concert-goers got to hear “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” with the guitar on which it was written.

Many of them heartily joined the plaintive chorus: “I wanna know. Have you ever seen the rain? Coming down a sunny day.”

And the hits kept coming, sometimes one segueing right into another, while others were interrupted by just a brief change of guitars.

The Prairie State crowd roared at the line “just got home from Illinois” from the 1970 tune “Lookin’ Out My Backdoor,” so much so that Fogerty repeated it at the end of the rollicking toe-tapper.

He dedicated “Joy of My Life,” first heard on his 1997 Grammy-winning album Blue Moon Swamp, to Julie, who sat stage-side while her husband and sons performed. The couple has been married for 33 years and has four other adult children from their previous marriages.

John Fogerty grew up as a Cub Scout and Boy Scout, developing a relentless sense of right and wrong. So he was deeply disillusioned when Fantasy Records owner Saul Zaentz literally stole the rights to his songs and sold them for use in movies and TV commercials.

Eschewing Credence songs for years, John emerged as a solo star in 1985 with the hits “Centerfield” and “The Old Man Down the Road,” over which Zaentz sued him, claiming the song sounded too much like CCR’s 1970 single “Run Through the Jungle.”

At last night’s concert in Aurora, Fogerty busted out his bat-shaped guitar for “Centerfield,” which drew cheers from much of the RiverEdge audience.

The ode to the national pastime is played at ballparks at every level across America and is on a continuous loop at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

With CCR and on his own, Fogerty has sold more than 100 million records worldwide. His 2009 induction speech at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was delivered by longtime fan Bruce Springsteen.

“As a songwriter, only a few did as much in three minutes as John Fogerty,” Springsteen said at the time. “He was an Old Testament, shaggy-haired prophet, a fatalist. Funny, too. He was severe, he was precise, he said what he had to say, and he got out of there.”

Fogerty is a Vietnam-era veteran who wrote perhaps the most important anti-war song of all time, “Fortunate Son,” which Ed Sullivan allowed CCR to play on his variety show in 1969, after the TV giant had tried to squash the performances of other controversial songs by Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, and The Doors in prior years.

The hard-rocking “Fortunate Son” was the showstopper and “ender” Wednesday evening. The song’s searing lyrics recall English author Samuel Johnson’s quip about patriotism being the “last refuge of scoundrels.”

“Some folks are born made to wave the flag. Hoo, they're red, white and blue,” Fogerty screamed. “And when the band plays ‘Hail to the Chief’, ooh, they point the cannon at you!”

When the somehow-patriotic anthem ended, the crowd exploded in cheers, hand-clapping, and peace signs as the house lights dimmed.

About two minutes later, Fogerty reappeared, tearing into the Little Richard-inspired “Travelin’ Band” off the 1970 masterpiece album Cosmo’s Factory.

And the grand finale was––What else?––“Proud Mary,” the instant classic that propelled Credence Clearwater Revival to global renown and has been covered by more than 100 recording artists, most popularly by Ike and Tina Turner in 1971.

Seemingly everyone at RiverEdge Park knew the words and sang along:

“Left a good job in the city. Workin' for the man every night and day. And I never lost one minute of sleepin’, 'worryin' 'bout the way things might have been. Big wheel keep on turnin'. Proud Mary keep on burnin'. Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river.”

At song’s end, Fogerty waved at his fans and shouted: “Thank you! God bless you! I love you!”

Then, the once-troubled troubadour departed the stage for parts well- and lesser-known to make joyful sounds for many more.

The Eagles and Steely Dan shine in a Chicago concert for the ages

By Tom Siebert

Steely Dan reeled in the years and the Eagles took it to the limit one more time Saturday night before more than 23,000 concert-goers at the United Center in Chicago.

In their second Windy City show, billed as “Eagles: The Long Goodbye Final Tour with Special Guest Steely Dan,” the two supergroups that dominated pop music in the 1970s staged the ultimate battle of the bands.

First up was Donald Fagen, the 76-year-old jazz-rock genius who founded Steely Dan in 1972 with co-songwriter/guitarist Walter Becker, who died of esophageal cancer at 67 on Sept. 3, 2017.

On that somber day, Fagen issued a statement promising “to keep the music we created together alive as long as I can.”

He more than kept that vow last evening with an extraordinary nine-piece band and three angelic backup singers called The Danettes.

The opening number was Stanley Wilson’s 1959 big-band crusher “Phantom Raiders,” followed by some of the most sophisticated songs ever written and recorded.

There was the funky, hypnotic “Josie,” from Steely Dan’s 1977 multi-hit album Aja, then the breezy “Hey Nineteen” off of 1980’s Gaucho, which featured 32 musicians in the studio band’s frequent quest for sonic perfection.

“Hey, kids, how are you doing?” Fagen sang to the Baby Boomer-heavy crowd, which erupted in cheers. He added, “You’re lookin’ great!”

Next up was “Kid Charlemagne,” a magnificent song about the rise and fall of an infamous San Francisco drug dealer. Despite the conspiracy theory, The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” was not about LSD. But this little ditty clearly was:

Clean this mess up else we’ll all end up in jail

Those test tubes and the scale

Just get it all out of here

Is there gas in the car?

Yes, there’s gas in the car

I think the people down the hall know who you are.

The United Center rendition of “Kid Charlemagne” featured Jon Herington’s impossible guitar solo, replete with complex bends, rapid arpeggios, and rich melody lines.

The next tune was “Dirty Work” from Steely Dan’s 1972 debut album Can’t Buy a Thrill. This song, like all on the impressive setlist, did not remain the same as the studio version.

Catherine Russell, Carolyn Leonhart, and La Tanya Hill––The Danettes––shared the lead vocals, while the original sax solo was replaced by the trumpet stylings of Michael Leonhart.

Steely Dan always had the best musicians and trombonist James Pugh is an exemplar of that high standard. He has played alongside jazz giants Woody Herman and Chick Corea. Jim is also a faculty member in the School of Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The rest of these virtuoso musicians are drummer Keith Carlock, bassist Freddie Washington, guitarist Adam Rogers, saxophonist Walt Weiskopf, and saxophonist/clarinetist Roger Rosenberg.

But the undisputed star of the show was Donald Fagen himself. Sitting center stage behind his vintage Rhodes keyboard, wearing dark sunglasses and black clothes, he was the proverbial “cool dude in a loose mood.”

Fagen proved throughout the night that he is still a brilliant piano player, but particularly on the pleading love song “Rikki, Don’t Lose That Number,” a huge hit from 1974’s Pretzel Logic.

And he stood up and out on a few numbers to show off his dazzling skills on the melodica, a portable keyboard that is blown into, most notably on the exotic eight-minute “Aja.”

The showstopper of the night––at least for me––was “My Old School,” the powerful Tex-Mex pop anthem from 1973’s Countdown to Ecstasy.

It is the sordid but very funny story of a mass marijuana bust that Fagen and Becker got caught up in when they were students at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, in 1969.

The song’s detailed lyrics include a reference to the then-local district attorney and later Watergate mastermind G. Gordon Liddy––dubbed “Daddy G”––as well as this memorable line:

California tumbles into the sea

That'll be the day I go back to Annandale

Notwithstanding his famous musical pledge, Fagen did go back to his old school to receive an honorary Doctorate of Arts degree in 1985.

The penultimate number of the 12-song set was “Reelin’ in the Years,” a Top Ten hit from 1973 that has not lost its infectiousness, as evidenced by much of the audience singing along emotionally and heartily applauding Carlock’s splashy drum ending.

And nothing against the great Joe Williams’ song “A Man Ain’t Supposed to Cry” from 1958, a better closer may have been Steely Dan’s first hit, “Do It Again,” from 1972.

Better yet, they could have played “Everything You Did,” off 1976’s The Royal Scam, providing a neat introduction of the next act with the verse “Turn up the Eagles; the neighbors are listening.”

Instead, there was a 20-minute intermission, building up to the highest anticipation level for the most commercially successful American musical group, who were introduced by an emotional video montage of their fabled career.

Then, out of the darkness appeared rock legend Don Henley flanked by fellow guitarists Vince Gill, Deacon Frey, Joe Walsh, and Steuart Smith as well as Timothy B. Schmit, whose bass skills were not needed on the thrilling acoustic rendition of “Seven Bridges Road.”

Following the harmonic country song made famous in the 2013 documentary History of the Eagles, they segued straight into “Take It Easy” off 1972’s Eagles, the album from which the band first soared.

Co-written by song master Jackson Browne and sung Saturday night by the late Glenn Frey’s son Deacon, the laidback anthem seemed like sound advice for the troubles of today:

Take it easy, take it easy

Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy

Lighten up while you still can

Don’t even try to understand

Just find a place to make your stand and take it easy

Then Henley, who alternated all night between his back-of-the-stage drum kit and upfront guitar playing, sang lead on the soft rocker “One of These Nights,” title track from the album that propelled the Eagles to global stardom in 1975.

After which he alighted from his drumming perch, strolled down to the front of the stage, and became the show’s unofficial emcee.

“The Don” graciously welcomed the audience and then reminisced about past visits to Chicago, name-checking “martinis at Gibson’s steakhouse, boat rides on Lake Michigan, and sneaking out to Portillo’s in the middle of the night.”

It’s not easy to play drums and sing at the same time, but Henley has mastered both talents, as demonstrated by his next trick: singing 1972’s “Witchy Woman” while keeping the booming Native American drumbeat in perfect time and tone.

Country megastar Gill, who joined the band in 2018, nailed the lead vocals on “Take It to the Limit,” while the group’s trademark harmonies lifted much of the audience to its feet.

Gill, 66, tapped into the underlying sadness of “Lyin’ Eyes,” albeit without Glenn Frey’s signature sneer.

He also sang the soothing folk rocker “Tequila Sunrise,” from 1973’s Desperado, and “New Kid in Town,” a melancholy south-of-the-border song off Hotel California, the Eagles’ 1976 magnum opus that sold 32 million copies.

During the 20-song set, the hits kept coming. And so did the guitar techs, handing out fresh instruments before each number.

Bassist Timothy B. Schmit, 76, beautifully sang the soulful “I Can’t Tell You Why,” sounding as good as he did when the song became an oft-played single from the 1979 album The Long Run.

The iconic, eclectic band has been touring off and on for more than 50 years, selling more than 200 million records worldwide. Six of the Eagles’ seven studio albums rose to number one, while six of their singles topped the charts.

They have earned six Grammy awards, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, and received Kennedy Center Honors in 2016.

Up until 1976, the Eagles were best known for their unique blend of folk, country, bluegrass, and rhythm and blues music. Then founding member Bernie Leadon––who played guitar, banjo, and mandolin––left the quintet and was replaced by gritty lead guitarist Joe Walsh, turning them into a harder rock band.

Walsh struggled with alcohol and other drugs throughout his early career with the James Gang, as a soloist, and with the Eagles. But he was able to get himself together enough to co-write the band’s hit “Life in the Fast Line,” which he played to great fanfare Saturday night.

Walsh, who has been in recovery since 1993, also performed 1970’s “Funk #49” from his James Gang days, Hotel California’s “In the City,” and his 1978 masterwork “Life’s Been Good”––a comic song of rock star excess and serious guitar licks.

Of all the gifted musicians on stage, Joe gained the loudest and longest applauses––and laughs––after making funny faces, recalling his party days in Chicago, and giving a shout-out to legendary local DJ Steve Dahl.

And even though Henley promised early on that the concert would be all about the music––“no fireworks, no inflatables, no wind machines, no butt-waggin’ choreography”––the visuals were a stunner. The stage lighting was colorfully compelling, while the thematic backdrops for each song were poignantly picturesque.

Deacon Frey, who joined the band in 2017, sang lead on “Already Gone,” a revved-up rave from 1974’s On the Border, in addition to the debut album’s “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” after which a photo of his famed father was shown on the towering video screen. And just like his dad in the 1970s, Deacon, 30, wears his shades atop his shoulder-length hair.

Glenn Frey, co-leader of the Eagles who helped write and sang lead on many of their songs, died at 67 from complications of rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, and pneumonia in 2016.

His aching loss was followed by the death of another original band member, Randy Meisner, last September. Meisner had suffered from obstructive pulmonary disease and was 77.

After the Eagles broke up for the first time in 1980 amid drug use and personnel turmoil, Glenn Frey had a successful solo career.

So has Henley. He dedicated his smash hit “The Boys of Summer,” from the 1984 album of the same name, to “our good friend” Jimmy Buffet, the tropical troubadour who died of skin cancer at 76 last September.

I would have loved to have heard Henley’s “The End of the Innocence,” an ode to forgiveness and the title track from his 1989 solo album.

And writing of forgiveness, with Frey and Meisner now gone, it would have been a healing gesture to welcome back Don Felder, the Eagles’ longtime lead guitarist who is alive and well and still performing.

Felder, who was replaced by virtuoso guitarist and backup vocalist Smith in 2001, infamously fought with Henley and Frey, took them to court over song royalties and concert profits, and published a tell-all book in 2007 titled Heaven and Hell: My Life with the Eagles.

However, the day after Frey died, Felder told the Associated Press that he felt an "unbelievable sorrow,” adding, "I had always hoped somewhere along the line, he and I would have dinner together, talking about old times and letting it go with a handshake and a hug."

Felder wrote the music for the epic song “Hotel California,” Saturday night’s first encore, with its dramatic acoustic intro followed by Henley’s genius lyrics:

On a dark desert highway

Cool wind in my hair

Warm smell of colitas

Rising up through the air

Up ahead in the distance

I saw a shimmering light

My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim

I had to stop for the night

Smith and Walsh meticulously performed the dueling lead-guitar outro that drove the United Center audience into rock and roll heaven.

Every Eagle contributed to the grand performance, in addition to first-rate touring members Will Hollis on keyboards, Michael Thompson on trombone, and Scott Crago on auxiliary drums.

Walsh took the tempo down with the talk-box blues-shuffle “Rocky Mountain Way,” which he first recorded with his then-band Barnstorm on the album The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get in 1973.

Then back came the still-golden-throated Henley with a moving performance of “Desperado,” a song that was popularized by Linda Ronstadt, whose early 1970s backup band included future Eagles Frey, Henley, Meisner, and Leadon.

And the finale of this astonishing concert was the Eagles’ last No. 1 single, 1980’s “Heartache Tonight,” as the video-screen camera captured fans around the cavernous sports arena smiling, clapping, and singing along.

The Eagles/Steely Dan tour began last September in New York City and is scheduled to continue through mid-June with dates in Canada, Great Britain, California, and Charlotte, N.C.

The two classic rock groups may be saying goodbye to touring. But their timeless music, which transcends genre and generation, is here for the long run.