Creedence Clearwater Revival Releases Royal Albert Hall Album, Concert Film
by Best Classic Bands Staff
John Fogerty sings “Bad Moon Rising” at the Royal Albert Hall concert
A long-lost Creedence Clearwater Revival performance at London’s legendary Royal Albert Hall has been released as a concert album, in conjunction with a documentary concert film. Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall, arrived on Sept. 16, 2022, on 180-gram vinyl, CD, and cassette tape, via Craft Recordings. It presents the band’s performance in its entirety playing such classic rock favorites as “Fortunate Son,” “Proud Mary,” and “Midnight Special.” Watch the official trailer for the movie as well as several performances below.
The film, Travelin’ Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall, is directed by two-time GRAMMY® Award winner Bob Smeaton (The Beatles Anthology and Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsies) and narrated by Academy Award®-winning actor Jeff Bridges. It takes viewers from the band’s earliest years together in El Cerrito, Calif., through their meteoric rise to fame. Featuring a wealth of unseen footage, Travelin’ Band culminates with the band’s show at the Royal Albert Hall—marking the only concert footage of the original CCR lineup to be released in its entirety. The film was made available for streaming on Netflix on Sept. 16, the day the album was released.
Watch the official trailer for Travelin’ Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall
Watch their performance of “Fortunate Son”
More from the August announcement: For decades, rumors have circulated among CCR fans about a long-lost recording of their legendary 1970 show at London’s Royal Albert Hall. The new release presents the concert in its entirety and finds CCR—John Fogerty, Tom Fogerty, Doug Clifford, and Stu Cook—at the apex of their career, playing the most prestigious venue in London.
On Nov. 14, both the album and the film will be presented in a Super Deluxe Edition Box Set, available exclusively via CraftRecordings.com. The 2-LP/2-CD/1-Blu-ray collection includes the live album on two 45-RPM 180-gram vinyl LPs as well as on CD. A second CD features music from the film, including formative recordings from the band’s earliest incarnations (including Tommy Fogerty and the Blue Velvets and the Golliwogs). The Blu-ray offers the complete documentary film, plus the digital album in hi-res and Dolby ATMOS® immersive audio. Limited to 5,000 copies worldwide, each individually numbered set is housed in a 12” x 12” box, with embossed gold foil detail, and includes a reproduction of the original 1970 tour program, a 17” x 24” poster, and a 16-page booklet, featuring an excerpt from Bridges’ voice-over script, which offers background on the band’s incredible path to the London show.
Watch them perform “Proud Mary”
After spending roughly 50 years in storage, the original multitrack tapes were meticulously restored and mixed by the GRAMMY® Award-winning team of producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell, who have helmed countless acclaimed projects together, including the Beatles’ 50th-anniversary editions of Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, as well as audio for the Elton John biopic Rocketman and Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back series. The LP was mastered by engineer Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios using half-speed technology for the highest-quality listening experience.
Listen to “Bad Moon Rising” and “Midnight Special” from the Royal Albert Hall concert album
When Creedence Clearwater Revival stepped onto the Royal Albert Hall’s stage on April 14, 1970—just days after the Beatles announced their breakup—the California rockers had arguably just become the biggest band in the world. Leading up to the show, CCR had enjoyed an unprecedented “magical year,” as Jeff Bridges narrates in the film. “In only 12 months the band had achieved five Top 10 singles and three Top 10 albums [Bayou Country, Green River, Willy and the Poor Boys] on the American charts, outselling the Beatles. They had appeared on the legendary Ed Sullivan Show and played to over a million people across America, including the hundreds of thousands gathered at Woodstock. ‘John, Tom, Stu, and Doug’ may not have had the familiar ring to it of ‘John, Paul, George, and Ringo,’ but Creedence were challenging the Beatles for the title of the biggest group in the world.”
Watch them perform “Travelin’ Band”
Related: Our Album Rewind of CCR’s Bayou Country
Indeed, the band’s Southern-steeped, “swamp rock” sound permeated global airwaves throughout 1969. Singles like “Proud Mary,” “Green River,” “Fortunate Son,” and “Down on the Corner” were in the Top Ten across Europe, North America, and Australasia, while “Bad Moon Rising” hit No.1 in the U.K. and New Zealand. But Creedence was more than just a commercial success. By the end of 1969, Bridges notes, “John Fogerty was considered one of America’s most politically significant songwriters,” following his biting commentary on class amid the Vietnam War in “Fortunate Son.” The critics were paying close attention to CCR, while Rolling Stone declared them to be the “Best American Band.” As the new decade dawned, Creedence played a triumphant hometown show at Oakland Coliseum. Less than four months later, in April, the four-piece embarked on their first European tour—an eight-show run that included stops in Holland, Germany, France, and Denmark.
Watch the official unboxing video
While Creedence Clearwater Revival would go their separate ways just two years later, speculation around a live recording of that legendary concert began to permeate their fanbase in 1980. That same year, Fantasy Records had released a live album by the band, mistakenly titled The Royal Albert Hall Concert. It was quickly discovered that the audio was, in fact, from the Oakland Coliseum show, captured months earlier. While the label rushed to sticker the album with correctional information—and properly re-named the January 1970 performance as The Concert for later production runs—actual footage from the Royal Albert Hall remained the stuff of rock ’n’ roll lore…until now.
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2 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationFogerty’s solo bands were tighter. Better drummer for sure. Aronoff is a beast.
Doug Clifford is THE MAN. I have never liked Aronoff’s drumming. He overplays all the time without real swing. “Cosmo” was for the CCR what Charlie Watts were for the Stones and Ringo Starr for the Beatles. No matter how tight the Fogerty’s solo bands are, they are without a real soul to my ears. I have waited official release of this concert almost 40 years and now my dream has come true!