Blues Roulette is coming to Bairnsdale on Sunday, October 25, bringing the music of Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) to The Forge Theatre from 3.30-5pm for an afternoon of raw, rollicking rock and roll built to be sung at the top of your lungs.
Between 1969 and 1971, Creedence Clearwater Revival dominated the world with one of the great runs in rock history, turning out hit after hit including Proud Mary, Bad Moon Rising, Green River, Down on the Corner, Born on the Bayou and Fortunate Son.
But CCR was always more than the hits.
Their songs spoke for ordinary people, for workers and outsiders, for anyone trying to survive while the world kept changing around them.
Fortunate Son spoke directly to the inequality of the Vietnam-era draft, written by frontman John Fogerty after his own military service, and the song became an anthem not just for war protesters, but for the soldiers who fought.
“‘Fortunate Son’ isn’t really an anti-war song,” said Ben Wicks, founder of Blues Roulette.
“It’s about who pays the price when the wealthy avoid it. John Fogerty wrote it as a veteran himself, and soldiers in Vietnam took it as their own. Fifty years on, that song still says something true.”
Blues Roulette has built its reputation since 2015 on raw, unrehearsed performance, pairing a rock-solid rhythm section with some of Australia’s best blues and roots musicians for one-night-only shows at venues and festivals around the country, including Port Fairy Folk Festival and the Melbourne Guitar Show.
This isn’t a tribute act full of wigs and costumes, but a genuine celebration of one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time.
“These songs have survived because they’re honest,” Mr Wicks added.
“There’s no pretending on stage, no script. We play them the way CCR meant them: loud, direct and from the gut. That’s the whole idea behind Blues Roulette, and it’s exactly what this music needs.”
Tickets are on sale now through events.humanitix.com/creedence.
