John Fogerty Live Acoustic Set 8/8/19 at the end of Woodstock: Back to the Garden NYC 92nd St Y:
I went to this event one year and change ago, just days before my son and I went off to Europe for a wonderful and highly memorable vacation.
But I was very grateful to have gone to this event, too, and thought I would begin my annual commemoration of Woodstock by recalling this even, which includes a video clip taken by yours truly of the entire musical set (three songs) performed by John Fogerty on that night.
Enjoy!
Woodstock was 50 years ago. That is half a century, which seems incredible!
This year marks 50 years since Woodstock, which I still believe to be the greatest concert ever. Really, say what you will, but a concert that is still remembered fondly, and discussed, and one in which half a million or so young people, on drugs, congregated, yet with no fatalities of even serious injuries? Plus, the sheer artistic genius that was on display, and it was not all just relegated to the performers on the stage, either.
Of course Woodstock should be remembered, then. And this year, on it's 50th anniversary, it is being remembered. There was a three day music festival at Bethel Woods, at the site of the old Woodstock, in June. And there was supposed to be another major music festival that took the name and was supposed to carry the tradition: Woodstock 50. But the organization of the event was apparently very poor, and after being relocated several times, it finally was cancelled not long ago, just weeks before it was supposed to take place. Perhaps that makes the fact that the first Woodstock, back in 1969, not only took place, but was such a huge, ringing success, all the more monumental. It deserves to be remembered.
On Thursday evening, it was remembered again at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, as legendary rocker John Fogerty, Andy Zax and David Fricke sat for a discussion about Woodstock.
Almost out of nowhere, I heard about this event, just days before it was to take place. I had not heard about it before, but it popped up on my Facebook, then looked to see if there were still tickets. There were, and they were surprisingly affordable. So, I decided to get a couple and take my son for a learning experience about a legendary concert that actually took place well before either of us were born.
This was going to be a discussion between Rock 'n Roll Hall of Famer John Fogerty, Andy Zax, and David Fricke. Fogerty probably needs no introduction, but just in case, he made a name for himself with both Creedence Clearwater Revival, as well as with his solo career. Andy Zax has worked extensively on making available many hours of previously unreleased material from this legendary concert, and the event took it's name from the boxed set that he recently released from his restoring work. The host for the evening was David Fricke, who has been a prominent writer and editor for Rolling Stone magazine. Fricke was at Woodstock, and shared some of his memories of it on this evening, as well.
Fogerty recalled how Creedence Clearwater was basically the first major act to agree to attend Woodstock, and that their presence gave the event weight, and made it major. Obviously, some other huge acts would follow up and sign to be a part of it. As it turns out, they would all become a part of history. He was in Los Angeles the night before, on Friday, August 15th, the first night of Woodstock. Creedence Clearwater Revival were doing a television show that evening, and the band flew out to New York state the next day. He remembers flying by helicopter to the site of the Woodstock festival on what he described as likely a World War II helicopter with cracked, yellowing plastic glass. It was small, able to carry only two passengers at a time. But he remembers flying over farm fields and lakes and such, and then, all of a sudden, seeing half a million people crowded on a hill where the concert was taking place.
Fogerty talked about his experience there. He wanted to walk around the grounds, and he did so. At that point, he said, he was a newbie, and not too well known, as CCR had just begun to get big at the time. So, he had relative anonymity, and was able to walk around without being recognized. He remembered seeing someone selling bottles of water (he believed that they were not even full gallons, but smaller) for $5, which was a lot of money for water, especially back then. This offended him, and he wondered aloud what would have happened if someone needed water, but did not have the $5?
He also recalled waiting in the trailer while the Grateful Dead played, and he said that they seemed to play forever. Then, in between sets, the wait seemed interminable, as well. He kept thinking that he was about to take the stage, but instead, he kept waiting. Finally, when he did take the stage with CCR, he could see only the two rows from the lights on the stage, and most of the people he did see were naked and sleeping. It looked to him like a scene out of Dante’s Inferno, like one of the layers of hell, with naked bodies stretched out in an otherwise dark scene. He did not blame them, after all that they had been through. It had rained earlier, the day had been extremely long, there was tons of music that surely had to have drained them, and the waits, as Fogerty mentioned, were too long. They were exhausted, and so most of the audience seemed asleep.
In frustration, he tried to rally the crowd, telling them that they were performing the best that they can, trying to put on a good show for everyone. Then, he saw one candle light up. And the guy holding the candle told him, “Don’t worry John! We’re with you!”
From that point on, Fogerty said, he was playing the rest of the show for that one guy, who was, according to Fogerty, one of the few people seemingly awake.
Andy Zax has spent the better part of a decade and a half working on Woodstock tapes and files, and trying to assemble the ultimate, comprehensive Woodstock recording. He did it, and the boxed set, which is called "Back to the Garden," is 38 disks, with 36 hours of recordings, including some background noise and conversation which, he said, made the event feel more alive, when you can hear small, everyday conversations that people who were there were having. Some of the people in attendance discussed sandwiches or other everyday things, and that, he says with justification, makes the event more real.
At one point, the audience was asked if anyone in attendance had been at Woodstock. There seemed to be at least three or four people who had, and one guy said that his picture can be found on the cover of one of the Woodstock releases. Pretty cool!
Fricke summed up the significance of Woodstock right at the end of the evening. He knows that Woodstock has some detractors even to this day, and he concedes the point. Even Fogerty jokingly mentioned, at several points during the panel discussion, how Woodstock was maddeningly disorganized. So, there were some weak points, to be sure.
”But," Fricke went on to say, "when you consider 500,000 people got into that space and with that terrible exception (the death of a young man who was accidentally run over by a tractor trailer who’s driver simply had not seen him) and feeling enriched, and having this music still is quite original.”
He summed it up by suggesting that this helped to make Woodstock so memorable, and this is why it is still remembered and honored to this day.
At the end of the discussion, Fogerty performed a three song acoustic set, which I recorded and posted on Youtube, and which I am sharing here for anyone who might be interested in watching and/or listening. It can be found both at the top of this post, as well as at the very bottom. At certain points, the video is a bit shaky, because the guy behind me was tapping the back of my chair, which was a bit annoying. Fogerty performed with his son, Shane, and together, they performed three classics: Have You Ever Seen the Rain?, Fortunate Son, and Proud Mary.
Woodstock: Back to the Garden John Fogerty, Andy Zax and David Fricke in Conversation and Performance
View of Manhattan from the top of the parking deck at Jersey City's Path Train station:
John Fogerty Live Acoustic Set 8/8/19 at the end of Woodstock: Back to the Garden NYC 92nd St Y:
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