26 April 2025 (gig)
30 April 2025
Creedence Clearwater Revival are one of those bands that burned very brightly for a short amount of time. We hear songs from their rich back catalogue on our radio stations on a regular basis. Such a massive amount of hits and memorable songs could come from a band with a 20 or 30-year lifetime, but these guys banged out seven albums and a seemingly endless amount of classics in just 4 years between 1968 and their acrimonious split in 1972.
With no chance of ever seeing the legends themselves, we were delighted when Princess Pavilion announced that one of the finest CCR cover bands out there were going to be gracing the stage. Enter, Clearwater Creedence Revival...
They kick straight in with arguably CCR's biggest tune, Proud Mary, and it's clear from the off that these guys are well-rehearsed professionals; the effortless performance from the whole band is fantastic and is topped off by frontman and rhythm guitarist Peter Barton's soaring, rasping vocals.
Green River, Lodi, and the incredible I Put a Spell on You all follow early on in the set, and the crowd here in Falmouth are loving every note and singing along to every word. It's a party atmosphere here, and with such a back catalogue of hits to choose from, this band are spoilt for choice.
The band themselves, (except for the comparatively young, but very good, keyboard player) are a bunch of accomplished musicians who have been playing for decades, and have bands like The Animals, The Hollies, The Denny Laine Band, and Slack Alice on their collective CV. They do justice to songs like Bad Moon Rising, Down on the Corner and Who'll Stop The Rain, but, personally, it's their rendition of Born on the Bayou that tops the lot tonight for me.
There's some great showmanship during I heard it Through the Grapevine where one by one they leave the stage, first Peter, then the guitarist does a solo and leaves, followed by the keyboard player, then the bassist, leaving just the drummer, who does a fantastic solo, even walking around the stage playing the mic stands with his sticks! Gradually, they all come back on, meaning it's just the poor drummer who doesn't get a break, and as an alleged 82-year-old, he probably could have done with one!
They close the set with out and out rocker, Fortunate Son, followed by tear-jerker, Have you Ever Seen the Rain. A ferocious Travelin' Band ends the encore, leaving us all wanting more, but happy. Clearwater Creedence Revival have plenty of dates left to play. If you like CCR, go and see them.
The performance is helped by the sound man here tonight, they always seem to get it spot on in Falmouth Pavilion. Gigs coming up include Queen tribute Good Old Fashioned Lover Boys (supported by Foo Fighterz) in a couple of weeks' time and Jake Bugg later in the Summer, get yourselves down there.
