John Fogerty and John Mellencamp
Alltel Pavilion, Raleigh, NC
July 22, 2005

I will admit that on my way to Raleigh, I was looking forward more to John Mellencamp's performance than to John Fogerty's.

However, that all changed after the first song of Fogerty.

The former singer of Creedence Clearwater Revival did his best to entertain the fans through an hour-and-a-half set of mostly CCR classics.

He opened the set with "Travelin' Band" followed by "Born on the Bayou" and "Who'll Stop the Rain."

A few of his solo songs were mixed in, but the crowd really enjoyed the CCR tunes.

"Out My Back Door," "Have you Ever Seen the Rain" and "Down on the Corner" all led up to a thunderstorm that rolled into town.

While the rain didn't let up for the rest of the night, it didn't dampen the spirits of all in attendance, or Fogerty, who was clearly having a blast on stage.

"Centerfield" brought out a baseball-bat shaped guitar. "Up Around the Bend" and "Fortunate Son" closed out the set.

Fogerty's two-song encore consisted of "Bad Moon Rising" and "Rollin' on the River." The biggest applause of the night came for the line "Looks like we're in for nasty weather."

After a short delay, Mellencamp came out, kicking off his set with "Small Town."

While Mellencamp was having fun too, he seemed to get more of a crowd reaction when Fogerty came out on stage to sing two songs with him early in the set.

Fogerty and Mellencamp shared singing duties on "Green River" and "Rain on the Scarecrow" - the latter being all-acoustic.

Mellencamp followed the duet with one of his new songs, "Walk Tall" then "Paper in Fire."

A short "intermission" showed clips of Mellencamp over the years. From clips of performances on VH1 to interviews as far back as the 1970s, the montage showed some of his career highlights.

Mellencamp returned to play a barrage of hits - "I Need a Lover," "Authority Song," "Jack and Diane" (which the crowd sang most of), "Crumblin' Down," "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.," "Hurts So Good" and "Pink Houses."

His final two songs started with a song he "hasn't played since 1979" "Ain't Even Done with the Night."

The final song of the night was "Cherry Bomb."

While fans screamed for an encore, none was found.

Overall, it was one of the best shows I've seen in a while, but it seemed anti-climactic as Fogerty seemed to have the better show of the two.

Posted by jeffhahnedisabled at July 23, 2005 11:44 AM