John Fogerty: Premonition

Rating:
Summary: American Rock & Roll Doesn't Get Any Better
Review: If you like rock & roll -- the real thing, timeless, crisp, clear, concise, melodic, foot-stomping rock & roll -- this DVD is an essential part of your collection. Fogerty describes the Fairfield Four as a national treasure, but the phrase applies equally well to himself. More cool rock & roll sound emanates from this one guy than anybody else on the planet, including Elvis, the Boss, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, you name it. The composite concert on this disc captures Fogerty on fire, doing all your favorite CCR tunes plus some equally inspired new songs. I don't know what to make of these reviews talking about lip-synching; if you've ever seen Fogerty live, you know there's no rock performer who needs artificial sweetening less. I suspect any synch problem might be in the DVD medium itself; I have seen out-of-synch segments on various discs from time to time, and I understand you're supposed to hit pause on the PS2 to resynch audio and video. That said, I have both VHS and DVD versions of Premonition, and the DVD has it all over the VHS for both picture and sound quality. Again, this concert captures one of the all-time great American rockers at the top of his game, and I recommend it highly. Made loud to be played loud!!!

Rating:
Summary: A Great DVD
Review: I was so glad to see John Fogerty live and rockin' again. All you people who say that John was "lip-synching" on this DVD have no idea what you're talking about. I love the performances of songs like "Almost Saturday Night", "Rockin' All Over The World", and "Premonition" on this DVD. The only things I don't like about this DVD is that John had some much better (and longer) concerts on this tour. They say that the Creedence songs are so simple that anybody can play them, but the band John plays with sounds nothing like the real Creedence. Also, the DVD should have had some bonus features, like interviews, John's performances on Jay Leno and Letterman, VH1 Storytellers and VH1 Legends, and John's music videos, just to name a few. But other than that, this DVD is pretty enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: There's A Bathroom On The Right
Review: First off, I wanted to help those of you claiming that this DVD is NOT in 5.1 surround. I thought the same thing at first because when you click play on the DVD player it automatically defaults to normal Dolby 2.0 sound. To get to the 5.1 soundtrack you need to go to the main menu (after the concert starts playing) and from there you can choose your sound settings. Hope this helps.
As for the concert itself, I thoroughly enjoyed it. One nice feature of the DVD is that, unlike most music DVDs out there, you can actually turn on closed captioning to display the lyrics to the songs, which converts the disk into a fun Karaoke kind of experience!
The songs are fun, and entertaining. John seems to be enjoying himself throughout the whole show. Here's something to watch for if you haven't noticed it yet: Look closely at John as he nears the end of Bad Moon Rising. You can actually see him mouth the words "There's A BATHROOM on the right" at one point in the song. There's a smile on his face immediately after that.
If I had to pick one favorite song from the disk, it would be Centerfield, as John rocks playing a guitar shaped like a baseball bat!
All in all, a very enjoyable DVD.

Rating:
Summary: The Heart and Soul of Creedence Lives!
Review: If you are a CCR fan, (I have been since high school), you will love this DVD. The sound is superb, the band is fabulous, and Mr. Fogerty is in top form. He looks great and his playing has never been better. I really liked the set too, nice touch. Good selection of tunes, I wished for more old CCR, though! Now about this overdubbing business. I am a musician and I've played almost every one of these songs for over 20 years, I can play them in my sleep. Yes, I immediately noticed some spots where what John was playing or singing did not match the video. But they were very few and far between. It didn't "ruin it" for me. They taped two shows and got the best takes from both shows and mixed them together. Other people do this also. I noticed the same thing with Steely Dan's "Two Against Nature" DVD (still a great DVD as well). You can't fault them for wanting to put out a product with no flaws. You think any band is going to film ONE SHOW, mistakes and all, and release it on DVD? Come on. Heck, John even says at the first of the show, "if you hear any mistakes act like it's the greatest thing you ever heard and I'll just do like all these other wise guys and go back in the studio and fix it". At least he's honest! I thought they did a pretty darn good editing job overall. If you can't sit back and enjoy this show for what it is, a killer concert by one of rock & roll's all time greats, then I feel sorry for you brother. I hope I can still rock like that when I'm 53 years old!

Rating:
Summary: A Great DVD
Review: I was so glad to see John Fogerty live and rockin' again. All you people who say that John was "lip-synching" on this DVD have no idea what you're talking about. I love the performances of songs like "Almost Saturday Night", "Rockin' All Over The World", and "Premonition" on this DVD. The only things I don't like about this DVD is that John had some much better (and longer) concerts on this tour. They say that the Creedence songs are so simple that anybody can play them, but the band John plays with sounds nothing like the real Creedence. Also, the DVD should have had some bonus features, like interviews, John's performances on Jay Leno and Letterman, VH1 Storytellers and VH1 Legends, and John's music videos, just to name a few. But other than that, this DVD is pretty enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: An enchanting concert by a true legend of rock and roll.
Review: This concert features John Fogerty performing many of his old CCR hits along with some of his solo work and new material. I watched this concert in the DVD format with Dolby Digital 5.1; the sound mix is awesome! John is clearly the focus of this concert, but it's hard not to notice his new drummer. This guy is not only a fantastic musician but is a blast to watch. Watch this video, if you're not already a John Fogerty fan, you will be!

Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: Loved it, loved it, loved it! If you're a John Fogerty/CCR fan, you can't go wrong with this excellent DVD performance. If you're particularly blessed with a large screen TV and accompanying surround-sound speaker system, crank up the sound and let 'er rip! You are "live" at a concert that will knock your socks off! Particularly enjoyed ROCKIN' ALL OVER THE WORLD. I went to bed with it in my mind, woke up with it still in my mind. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: This DVD rocks!!!
Review: Good performence, Fogerty still rocks, drummer is incredible,...
Dolby 5.1 sounds great, only the picture could be better. It's not sharp. Otherwise this is one of the best rock DVD till now. It's worth the price.

Rating:
Summary: NOT 5.1
Review: Anyone contemplating purchase of this DVD should be aware that the technical information alleging that this DVD is in 5.1 Dolby Surround is incorrect. The intro on the DVD is in 5.1; but as soon as the music portion begins it reverts to 2.0 Dolby. The unfortunate part is that you don't discover this until you've unwrapped it, making it ineligible for return.
The $... price, it is not credible for this DVD.

Rating:
Summary: the old man is down the road
Review: This DVD was filmed at Warner Bros. Studios in December 1997 in front of a live audience over two nights, making it halfway between a live album and a studio recording. 22 tracks, one third of them from his solo records, others CCR classics; all performed exceptionally well. Despite the fact that the songs are simple and John is not a great musician (nor was any CCR member), the drive is still there, as well as rock'n'roll soul.
The old man is down the road - good singing, good playing (Grand Funk lovers remember this one :-)) and nice feeling while watching it.

This performance is definitely worthy of a listen in spite of the lesser quality of the recent material, and it certainly would make an excellent gift for those who is old enough to remember when these songs were frequently played on the radio. I remember dancing to these classics when I was still a kid, and IMHO this DVD is a jewel for those who still from time to time is living in the past (in a good sense of this word, naturally).