woodstock

[Johnny Chicago]

Here's my 5 minute review of their performance at Woodstock:

It's very difficult but also very easy to understand why CCR won't let their performance footage be used or seen some 40+ years after the event that some people have claimed was a pivotal moment for so many bands.

I have a bootleg of the performance - and must have been recorded off the soundboards or right onstage cause their sound is AWFULLY close - and to be honest, it wasn't one of their best.

I know i'm committing some kind of sacrilege here by knocking one of the greatest 60's & 70's bands of all time, but it has to be said. the music is rushed, even the long numbers, and John is constantly complaining throughout their set about some technical error that the rest of Woodstock must have heard.

By the way, their set clocks in at just under 45 minutes, and once again, their sound is very amateurish. Yes, they were pretty much rushed onstage after the usual 9-year long set by The Grateful Dead went over (big surprise), it was late at night, the hippie types were all partied out, and as can be heard on the bootleg, at least a few of The Great Unwashed clapped and cheered a bit after each song.

Now here is the setlist, according to my recording:

1. Born on the Bayou
2. Green River
3. Ninety-Nine and a Half
4. Bootleg
5. Commotion
6. Bad Moon Rising
7. Proud Mary
8. I Put a Spell on You
9. The Night Time Is the Right Time
10. Keep on Chooglin'
11. Suzy Q (their encore song)

Now, given that they were given zero time to prepare, it was late, the crowd was mostly asleep, and John was upset about a lousy setup onstage, they still rocked the hell out of those dirty hippies.

The song choices were right, Suzy Q goes on for 9 minutes alone, and it seemed even after all of the stuff that went against them, they still soldiered on and played their hearts out. By the end of the set, the hipsters were wide awake and they can be heard screaming for more.

I give their performance 2 1/2 stars - not their best, not their worst.

Now John has remarked that he hated this concert, and would never let it be seen forever. As of late 2009, a few performances have leaked out, and of course I've got the bootleg, and you can too as it's easily attainable online pretty much anywhere.

It would be a real shame that those of us who'd like to hear the entire set, digitally remastered, or at least in better sound (my bootleg is pretty crappy to decent in spots, so don't expect much yourself) will probably never get that chance.

As Jimi Hendrix's entire Woodstock appearance still hasn't been put out there, CCR's is much more overlooked as it doesn't exist anywhere (except illegally) and John & Co. are still alive and can rectifiy their error and put it out there...

Even if it's not the best of them, it's still CCR at Woodstock, doing the best that they can.

Thanks for reading.

[nerdistmonk]

Umm hate to crash the party, but CCR (well fogerty) has authorized the use of the footage and it has been reissued with the Bluray of woodstock, only 3 songs as far as I know, the rest wasnt filmed thus they are not in the film. A black and white stage cam caught a good part of it, but the batteries went dead at the end of chooglin. all together my bootleg footage has 5 songs on film/tape and 45 minutes of mixing board audio. The blackstead tapes have all the remastered ccr audio on them but they cost about a mil to buy.


So lets review:

CCR footage has been released, the whole performance was NOT taped/filmed
Only 4 songs were shot on 16mm color film, 3 songs were taped on bw tape
Film:
Born on the bayou
Bad Moon Rising
I put a spell on you
Keep on Chooglin
Tape:
Proud Mary (about a minutes worth, too far away to be audible since it was a stage cam)
The Night Time is the right time (bad audio)
Chooglin (Battery fails towards end)
CCR Audio has NOT been released (officially), the good audio that no one has heard will cost you a million bucks. (part of the blackstead woodstock masters, ccr doesnt own their taping of the performance by blackstead)

The blackstead tapes were used in the bluray version thus the amazingly good sound on the 3 songs that were released.

[Johnny Chicago]

Well, there you go.

Peace, love and music is out the door, just pay me.

Scumbags.

[nerdistmonk]

Originally Posted by Johnny Chicago

Well, there you go.

Peace, love and music is out the door, just pay me.

Scumbags.

Yep. sad but true, Creedence didnt really come with alot of gear, there is 2 audio tapes of their performance, 2 color films' and 1 bw stage tape.

*Audio Tape 1: The soundboard tape, from the mixing trailer in the back of the stage, really bad quality due to mixing, 45 min, very common bootleg (This is what CCR heard and decided not to release, I agree)

*Blackstead Master Tape: High Quality Multi-track master tape. No mixing, was used to restore the audio on the bluray version. (You wont ever hear the whole thing unless you pay the BUCKS$$$)

[Voyeur]

Tell ya what. The audio may not be perfect, but they ROCKED "Keep on Chooglin" that night!

[nerdistmonk]

Originally Posted by Voyeur

Tell ya what. The audio may not be perfect, but they ROCKED "Keep on Chooglin" that night!

oh yes chooglin was excellent on that concert and dont ask me what happened on the susie q recording, but chooglin is one of the performances that was remastered on bluray.

[Voyeur]

Originally Posted by nerdistmonk

oh yes chooglin was excellent on that concert and dont ask me what happened on the susie q recording, but chooglin is one of the performances that was remastered on bluray.

Sweet!

[auriga24]

They played:

1. Born on the Bayou
2. Green River
3. Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)
4. Bootleg
5. Commotion
6. Bad Moon Rising
7. Proud Mary
8. I Put a Spell on You
9. The Night Time is the Right Time
10. Keep on Chooglin'
11. Suzie Q

In that order

[Seej]

The soundboard was bootlegged at the wrong speed, resulting in a higher pitch & faster tempo. Listening to Suzie Q on youtube, and it's obvious that it's not in E when the officially released videos on bluray are in correct pitch (all in the key of E). Even the bootlegged video copies of the early film edits are in E, apart from Bad Moon Rising in D.

[nerdistmonk]

the bootleg is a soundboard tape so it has no mastering to speak of, and odds are it was just a cheapo reel-to-reel machine capturing it, and yes it was transferred back with the tape speed set wrong by the looks of it

regardless CCR's performance in HQ is stored on the blackstead tapes along with the remainder of woodstock