Clearwater Creedence Revival, supported by Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse at Anvil Arts on Saturday 27th January 2024
The first rule of gigging is “always go and see the support band”.
Never has been truer than the performance from Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse who took a middle-aged Saturday night Basingstoke crowd and turned them into whooping maniacs.
Beaux Gris Gris (pronounced \ˈbō\ \ˈgrē-(ˌ)grē\ ) & the Apocalypse is an American rock band created by Louisiana-born-and-raised musician Greta Valenti (Well Hung Heart) and UK British Blues Hall of Fame Inductee, Robin Davey (The Hoax, DVL, Well Hung Heart).
Think, an American version of “When Rivers Meet”.
They didn’t take any prisoners throughout their whole set; I think it’s what the American’s call “kicked ass”. There was also no “airs or graces” as Greta and Robin were out on their merch stand at the interval and afterwards, meeting fans, signing albums and CDs. Mixing with and talking to the people.
The set list was
Heartbreaker
Thrill Me
Gris Gris
Baby Baby
Louisiana Good Ride
Don’t Let The Bastards Drag You Down
I’m on Fire
Fill Me Up
What’s My Name
After the interval was the main act which was Clearwater Creedence Revival who are a celebration of the band Creedence Clearwater Revival and the songwriter, Tom Fogerty.
The band comprises of Peter Barton, fellow founder member Geoff Hammond and Graham Pollock and Alan Sagar and have been together for 20 years. Barton was the lead singer of The Animals for 15 years while drummer Hammond is a former member of the Denny Laine Band, guitarist Pollock played in The Hollies with Eric Haydock and bassist Sagar was a member of Big Country and Slack Alice.
These guys have been playing together for years and are tight, bashing out the tunes that the Basingstoke locals sang along to, they even got up and danced towards the end.
The set list was
Proud Mary
Green River
I put a spell on you
Lodi
Long as I can see the light
Almost Saturday night
Who’ll stop the rain
Cotton fields
Run through the jungle
Born on the Bayou
I heard it through the grapevine, bass solo and drum solo
Bad moon rising
Down on the corner
Fortune son
Have you ever seen the rain
Encore
Susie-Q
Travelin’ band
Tim Hughes | Now Spinning Magazine
