The official trailer for the soon-to-be-released documentary Travelin’ Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall is now available to view. The near-two-minute clip contains footage both from the band’s storied concert at the world-famous venue in April 1970, and interview and other actuality of the period that also feature in the full-length film.
“Do you feel that the group is going in the direction that you want it to go?”, chief songwriter John Fogerty is asked at the beginning of the trailer. Pausing for a moment, he answers: “Yes. But just not fast enough.” Nevertheless, Travelin’ Band captures Creedence at the height of their powers, staking their claim as the biggest band in the world at the time and certainly among the most exciting live outfits.
The film includes the whole of CCR’s London show, the footage from which had been a subject of keen debate among their millions of fans for decades. In 1980, a live LP release by the group was mistakenly titled The Royal Albert Hall Concert, but was soon discovered to have come instead from a January 1970 show at the Oakland Coliseum in California. The LP was stickered with the correct information, but the Albert Hall footage remained unreleased, until now.
The film, directed by double Grammy winner Bob Smeaton and narrated by Academy Award-winning actor Jeff Bridges, goes on general release next Friday (16) at the same time as the album of the concert, Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall. Both feature many of the band’s best-loved songs, including “Fortunate Son,” “Proud Mary,” “Born on the Bayou,” and “Travelin’ Band.”
British writer Miles Kington, reviewing the Albert Hall show (the first of two there during CCR’s European tour), wrote: “They sounded much as The Beatles would have sounded if they had got better and better in their first style instead of forging ahead…there was dancing in the aisles before they had finished, and a standing ovation through the National Anthem and for quarter of an hour after that. The roots are far from dead.”
Pre-order the Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall album.