![\"Burdon\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Burdon.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe latest Rolling Stones round of touring brought forth the predictably two-part, contradictory media response:<\/p>\n
1. They\u2019re too old to rock \u2018n\u2019 roll and should have hung it up decades ago, and<\/p>\n
2. Isn\u2019t it incredible how Mick Jagger can run around the stage at 70?<\/p>\n
Quickly, no, the Stones aren\u2019t too old to rock \u2019n\u2019 roll, not so long as fans are still willing to shell out the big bucks to watch. And, yes, it is incredible how Jagger can run around the stage at almost 70, though methinks he was much better at 20 just standing there and singing (see\u00a0The Rolling Stones Charlie Is My Darling\u2014Ireland 1965<\/i>, the terrific documentary of the band\u2019s 1965 Irish tour, released last year).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But Jagger\u2019s not the only rocker whose stage act belies his golden-years age. Eric Burdon, in fact, just turned 72, and celebrated earlier this month here in New York with a flurry of promotional activity including sitting in with the band on\u00a0Letterman<\/i>, a special invite-only birthday celebration at the John Varvatos store in the former CBGB\u2019s, and two nights at the Highline Ballroom.<\/p>\n
Burdon, fully recovered from the back surgery that put him down last year, never sounded better on\u00a0Letterman<\/i>, where he sang his Animals classics \u201cWe Gotta Get Out Of This Place,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t Let Me Be Misunderstood\u201d and \u201cHouse Of The Rising Sun,\u201d and at Varvatos, where he split his set between Animals and his acclaimed new album\u00a0\u2019Til Your River Runs Dry<\/i>. The disc finds Burdon progressively committed as ever with songs like lead track\/first single \u201cWater,\u201d which reflects his profound interest in water conservation\u2014having lived in Southern California since the 1970s\u2014and came out of a conversation with fellow water-awareness advocate Mikhail Gorbachev.<\/p>\n
![\"image002\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/image002.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Like Burdon, John Fogerty, who turns 68 today, was here last week, doing two nights on\u00a0Letterman<\/i>\u00a0and other activities in support of his new album,\u00a0Wrote A Song For Everyone<\/i>, just out today with a five-star\u00a0Rolling Stone<\/i>review. Yes, the album is excellent, but in spite of itself: Fogerty easily outsings and outplays guests half his age (Foo Fighters on \u201cFortunate Son,\u201d Keith Urban on \u201cAlmost Saturday Night\u201d) who join him on remakes of Fogerty originals that can\u2019t possibly be improved upon\u2014even if Jennifer Hudson gives \u201cProud Mary\u201d her best Tina Turner and Fogerty\u2019s sons Shane and Tyler give \u201cLodi\u201d a rockier reading.<\/p>\n
Luckily at an iHeart Radio simulcast\/taping, no guests were present, just Fogerty and a big band (three guitarists, including Shane; two female backup singers, bass, organ and drummer Kenny Aronoff)\u2014nothing to take away from Fogerty by trying to gratuitously add anything on. And like Burdon, no one, certainly not Jagger, sings with such spirit and conviction.<\/p>\n
Also like Burdon, Fogerty\u2019s songwriting is in top form\u2014though there are only two new ones on\u00a0Wrote A Song For Everyone<\/i>. The one he played at iHeart, \u201cMystic Highway,\u201d was beautifully delivered and held up with any of the classics. Thankfully, it\u2019s not diluted on the album by any voice besides Fogerty\u2019s own, and hopefully, it will be followed in short order by a Fogerty album of all new material.<\/p>\n
Jim Bessman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FOGERTY & BURDON\u2014FORTUNATE ONES The latest Rolling Stones round of touring brought forth the predictably two-part, contradictory media response: 1. They\u2019re too old to rock \u2018n\u2019 roll and should have hung it up decades ago, and 2. Isn\u2019t it incredible how Mick Jagger can run around the stage at 70? Quickly, no, the Stones aren\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4976],"tags":[6213,6210,6674,6677,6672,6676,6671,6673,6216,6675,6215],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10005"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10005"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10011,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10005\/revisions\/10011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}