Brett
If you weren’t able to arrive at Treasure Island early, you were in store for an unfortunate surprise. From the moment we got in line to the venue, to the moment we passed through security was a full 90 minutes. It was the first outdoor concert of the year at the new Amphitheater, fell on a Friday, most fans seemed to be arriving at the same time. The lines were excruciatingly long and at times didn’t seem to move. I’m sure (hoping) that will be one of the top priorities to get fixed as the season continues.
We made it to our seats just as John Fogerty started to play the second Creedence Clearwater Revival song, “Hey Tonight.” We got to sing along to “Travelin’ Band” as we were walking in. Fogerty’s energy was quite amazing, considering the temperature was 97 degrees with swamplike humidity when the concert first started. He and his Band whipped through a fun 20+ song set.
A few songs in and the fans were treated to an early appearance by Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, who came out to play a two-song set featuring the songs “Holy Grail” and the CCR cover of “Green River“.
Early on, Fogerty broke into a story about how his wife managed to buy back his missing Rickenbacker Guitar that he had played at the biggest (or at least the most known) concert ever…Woodstock. Too bad we don’t know how she found it as the Guitar was missing for almost 40 years. Bringing up Woodstock led into another CCR song, “Have You Ever Seen The Rain.”
Fogerty also paid homage to all the Vets and all Military personnel around the world, saying, “Can we treat our Vets any worse? No.” This led into a Video duet with Brad Paisley on “Love And War“.
It was a very upbeat, fun, energetic show. Fogerty stepped it up a little more playing the CCR hit “Down On The Corner” along with his 1985 hit “Centerfield,” and ended the night by coming back out to play a two-song encore with “Bad Moon Rising” and finishing the night out with the classic hit “Proud Mary.”
Top to bottom, you had a couple of War protest songs and an evening full of hits. Would you expect anything less?
Then it was ZZ Top’s turn as the closer. Wow! what a difference between John Fogerty and them. Fogerty came out on fire, ZZ Top? not so much. Deliberate? maybe. Slowly paced? Definitely. Sorry, it seems like the show was mailed in, at times a little slow.
The first two songs “Got Me Under Pressure” and “I Thank You” sounded a little off” like it wasn’t mixed quite correctly. The song “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” at least seemed to have a pulse and was a fun sing-a-long song between Billy Gibbons and the crowd.
The best part of the night was definitely watching Billy Gibbons do his magic on that old Guitar. Yes, he is amazing. It’d be nice to see some energy out of the trio, besides the repeated line, “Are we having a good time?” Of course the fans are. They (and I) love your music.
The song I was looking forward to the most didn’t disappoint. A wonderful, electric, turbo-charged version of Merle Travis’s “Sixteen Tons” later made famous by Tennessee Ernie Ford was the high point of the night. Finally, the set wound down by coming into a groove with hit songs “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Legs“.
Just as the band started playing “Legs” a good portion of the 13,000 in attendance started heading out to their cars. Even the encore (which consisted of “La Grange” and “Tush“) couldn’t keep people in their seats, as everyone tried to beat one another out of the congested parking lot.
Treasure Island is putting on a Great set of Concerts this year. Hopefully, these hiccups will be a thing of the past as they head full steam into their outdoor concert season. Big And Rich hit TI on Sunday, July 1st and The Island Rock Party play the day after. I guess we will see how quickly the venue can adapt.
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