John Fogerty has penned more than a few odes through the years to veterans. The most well-known of the bunch would be the legendary “Fortunate Son” with Creedence Clearwater Revival. Fogerty himself is a military veteran, having served in the Vietnam War in 1967 as a supply clerk for the Army.
His respect for his fellow veterans never wavered. Thus, he decided to pay his dues via an absolutely incredible benefit concert that took place on July 4, Independence Day, 1987.
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The show was one for the books, that’s for sure. The Vietnam veterans’ benefit show was held in Landover, Maryland, at the Capital Center. The whole thing was broadcast by HBO and featured a pretty hefty list of big-name performers, from Fogerty to Neil Diamond to Kris Kristofferson to Stevie Wonder.
John Fogerty’s Love for His Fellow Veterans Led to His First Big Performance of Creedence Clearwater Revival Music in Over a Decade
Fogerty’s set was pretty incredible. He launched into a performance of “Old Man Down The Road”. Fans expected him to continue with his trend of not playing any Creedence Clearwater Revival tunes, a trend that Fogerty kept up (mostly) for the better part of 15 years. He did play “Proud Mary” during a set in February of 1987.
However, Fogerty seemed to remember what CCR was all about and how much US veterans resonated with their music. During the benefit concert, he finally whipped out some of the band’s biggest hits. In fact, it was his first time playing a medley of CCR hits since debuting as a solo artist, following the band’s unfortunate end. It was the first time he had really performed much CCR material at all since 1972. And the crowd at the Capital Center got a real treat on this day in 1987.
He absolutely ripped through his rendition of “Born On The Bayou”. When he dove into “Fortunate Son”, the audience went feral. It certainly makes sense why. “Fortunate Son” was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, Vietnam War anthems of that era. He closed everything out with a rendition of “Proud Mary”, and honestly, I feel bad for anyone else on the bill. Fogerty was on another level during this performance.
Fortunately, Fogerty would give up on his trend of not playing CCR material shortly after. By 1989, he was playing sets full of CCR material.
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