DURING the Covid lockdown I raided my keepsake boxes in the attic and revisited some of the music memorabilia on my Facebook page. Four years on, I thought I’d share them in my blog.

And this one’s very special. The most exciting gig of my life. It was September 1, 1971, the night a 16-year-old fanboy got to see his rock and roll idols live for the first, and sadly final, time.

Although I grew up with The Who and The Kinks, my obsession was Creedence Clearwater Revival. I couldn’t get enough of them and, early in the year, I’d written to them, pleading with them to play Manchester.

They wrote back a lovely letter thanking me for my support and enclosing a folder full of CCR goodies including this autographed band photo, press releases and limited edition fan club items.

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Best of all, when the UK dates were finally announced, there it was! There were just two gigs, one at London’s Royal Albert Hall and the other at … Manchester Free Trade Hall!

By now a trio after the departure of Tom Fogerty, they played two sets on the same night, both only about an hour long. I saw the late 9pm show, a performance I can never forget, packed with CCR classics.

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Here’s the short, sharp and sweet setlist…

Born On The Bayou

Green River

Susie Q

It Came Out Of The Sky

Door To Door

Travelin’ Band

Fortunate Son

Commotion

Lodi

Bad Moon Rising

Proud Mary

Up Around The Bend

Hey Tonight

Sweet Hitch-Hiker

Keep On Chooglin’

Not the best gig I’ve seen – contenders for that include Led Zeppelin, Lucinda Williams, The Who, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie and Queen (you can see my top 20 gigs here) – but certainly the most exciting.

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Poignant, too, because it turned out to be the band’s farewell tour. Like Elvis, they’d rarely played the UK – and they called it a day the year later. They’d been the biggest band in the world for a crazy. glorious few years and now it was over.

Here are a couple of reviews of the gig.

I’ve seen John Fogerty three times since, with Tina Turner at Wembley, with Bruce Springsteen at Hyde Park and in his own right at the Royal Albert Hall. I also interviewed Stu Cook when he launched Creedence Clearwater Revisited but it could never be quite the same again.

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Two live albums resulted from the tour – Live In Europe (recorded at various venues on the European leg) and It Came Out Of The Sky (recorded in San Francisco). Several bootlegs also exist and pop up for sale every now and then.

My thanks to fellow Creedence fan Peter Greendale for the Free Trade Hall concert poster featured in this post. The show was his very first gig, and he has not only seen John several times since, but has met him twice in the US and also in Amsterdam and Manchester.

Keep on chooglin’!