John Fogerty: Still Chooglin’ Through the Virginia Rain
By Mike Sprouse / Odd Rocker Photography
So, picture this: It’s Friday night in Doswell, Virginia. The rain picks up then fades off and on, just to make everyone soggy and slightly miserable. We’re wedged in behind Kings Dominion — within shouting distance of roller coasters — but none of that mattered. Because in the gravel lot-turned-venue at the Atlantic Union Bank After Hours stage, the guy who basically invented swamp rock was walking out in denim jacket and jeans like it was 1970 all over again.
And folks, John Fogerty came to play.
This wasn’t just a night of nostalgia on August 1, it was a good time freight train of guitar licks, harmonies, sweat, soul, and songs that refuse to die. Judging by the energy in the crowd — half of whom looked like they grew up with Creedence blasting from the dashboard of a ’68 GTO, and the other half who probably discovered Fogerty via a Tarantino soundtrack — these tunes aren’t going anywhere.
A lot of acts save their biggest hits for the end but not Fogerty. No easing in and no slow burn. He walked out with his Les Paul slung low and punched straight into “Bad Moon Rising” like it was a dare. That jangly riff hit the crowd like a bolt of lightning — tight, bright, and unmistakable. You could practically feel everyone’s internal jukebox syncing up.
There’s something about that voice, that ragged, bourbon-soaked howl that somehow still sounds like a Southern preacher being dragged through a thunderstorm. It’s aged, sure, but it’s aged like a good cast-iron skillet — seasoned, louder, and still capable of frying the hell out of a riff.
Watch John Fogerty perform “Bad Moon Rising” and “Fortunate Son” live for Howard Stern on YouTube:
Before the last notes even finished ringing, Fogerty was off and running again — “Up Around the Bend” next, and then “Green River,” and then “Born on the Bayou.” The man was on a mission. No intro speeches. No filler. Just straight into the thick of it, like he had a deadline to meet with God and the only thing that could get him there was chooglin’.
Okay, sidebar. Every time Fogerty drops that word — “chooglin’” — it makes you wonder: “What is it? Is it grooving? Is it grinding? Is it some combination of dancing, sweating, and throwing a fist in the air on beat?” Maybe it’s not meant to be defined. Maybe it’s just a vibe.
And “Keep on Chooglin’,” when it came midway through the set, was the full sermon. That one’s a jam. Not just a song, but a whole breathing, sweating engine of swampy rhythm. The band — tight as ever — stretched it out into a full-on boogie breakdown that had people waving and swaying in the rain.
I don’t know how to say this without sounding like I’m selling crystal pendants at a roadside stand, but there was something a little cosmic when Fogerty launched into “Who’ll Stop the Rain.”
It didn’t matter whether you first heard that one on a movie soundtrack or a dad rock playlist– there was this kind of unspoken reverence in the crowd. Phones went down. Eyes stayed up. You could hear people actually singing, not just mouthing the words.
The song hit a little harder knowing how many storms this man’s played through — musically and otherwise. Label fights, legal messes even family losses. And yet here he was, guitar in hand, still asking the same question. Who will stop the rain?
Nobody had an answer, but we sang it anyway.
Watch John Fogerty perform “Who’ll Stop the Rain” live for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (way back in 1993) on YouTube:
“Lookin’ Out My Back Door” brought the bounce back, complete with some jangly guitar and that weird mix of whimsy and melancholy that only Fogerty can pull off. Then, just when you thought things were cruising into classic rock comfort territory, out came “My Toot Toot.”
Because John Fogerty doesn’t just play songs — he curates little moments. He builds miniature worlds where bayou blues crash into rockabilly and somehow emerge with their dignity intact. When “Run Through the Jungle” kicked in like a cinematic gut-punch, that transition felt perfectly natural. Welcome to the swamp.
Quick shoutout to the band. That lineup is stacked. And not just with pros — Fogerty’s kids are in the mix, too. Shane and Tyler Fogerty both held their own and then some, trading licks, sharing vocals, and anchoring the whole thing with tight chemistry that somehow made the stage feel more intimate than it was.
This wasn’t just some hired-gun backing band. It was family, blood or otherwise, and that made it all hit deeper.
When John introduced “Joy of My Life,” the love song he wrote for his wife Julie, it felt like something more than a soft ballad moment. It felt personal and sincere. John explained how Julie doggedly worked getting his rights to his songs back and how much it meant to him when she did. The second half of the set walloped everyone like a greatest hits album cranked to eleven. “Fight Fire” roared. “It Came Out of the Sky” was cheeky and sharp. Then came “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” — which, honestly, felt like a sequel to “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” just with a little more resignation baked in.
And right when things started to get heavy again, Fogerty came out with a baseball bat shaped guitar and started the opening chords of “Centerfield.” It was corny and it was perfect. It was summer encapsulated in three and a half minutes of hand claps, nostalgia, and a baseball metaphor so vivid you could practically smell the Cracker Jacks.
The final stretch was just hit after hit: “Down on the Corner” got people dancing like they’d forgotten they were on gravel in the rain. “The Old Man Down the Road” was menacing and bluesy, with Fogerty milking every squawk out of his guitar.
Watch the official music video for “The Old Man Down the Road” by John Fogerty on YouTube:
Then — boom — “Fortunate Son.” If there’s a song that defines defiance in the American rock canon, it’s this one. It didn’t feel like a protest song anymore, it felt like a battle cry and the crowd roared every word.
Fogerty didn’t ham it up and he didn’t get preachy, he just played it with teeth cause it still mattered. Because these days it definitely does.
The band took their bow and disappeared… briefly. Nobody budged because we knew it wasn’t over. And sure enough, back they came. Fogerty smiled. He looked a little misty-eyed, like maybe this meant more than he was letting on. Then he counted off, and “Travelin’ Band” exploded like it was wired to a firework.
That one’s quick and dirty. A rock ‘n’ roll sprint that brought the crowd right back to life. Then, with no warning, he rolled right into “Proud Mary.” That song is baked into American DNA. Everyone knows it. And yet, hearing it live, from the man who wrote it, in a field full of strangers-turned-friends on a rainy Virginia night — it felt bigger. Like a benediction. If you’re measuring a rock show by sweat, smiles, and singalongs that rattle your bones, John Fogerty still delivers. Still defiant. Still weirdly timeless. Still chooglin’.
On this particular August night, out in a grass and gravel lot in Doswell, he brought the bayou to Virginia — and left nothing behind but smoke, stomped-down grass, and a few thousand happy people who didn’t mind the rain.
Setlist
1. Bad Moon Rising
2. Up Around the Bend
3. Green River
4. Born on the Bayou
5. Who’ll Stop the Rain
6. Lookin’ Out My Back Door
7. My Toot Toot
8. Run Through the Jungle
9. Joy of My Life
10. Fight Fire
11. It Came Out of the Sky
12. Keep on Chooglin’
13. Have You Ever Seen the Rain?
14. Centerfield
15. Down on the Corner
16. The Old Man Down the Road
17. Fortunate Son
Encore:
18. Travelin’ Band
19. Proud Mary
Here are some photos of John Fogerty performing live at SERVPRO Pavilion on August 1, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Michael Sprouse/ Odd Rocker Photography.
