Watch the first trailer for Creedence Clearwater Revival play the Royal Albert Hall
If you’ve poked around YouTube sometime in the past decade or so, you’ve probably stumbled upon footage of Creedence Clearwater Revival playing the legendary London venue, the Royal Albert Hall. With the band hitting the peak of their powers, the concert is a legendary line of demarcation for both CCR and American rock music crossing over to European audiences.
When the group arrived in the UK, they were only two months away from releasing Cosmo’s Factory, the first of two LPs released by the CCR in 1970. By that point, the band already had several crossover singles, including ‘Proud Mary’, ‘Green River’, ‘Down on the Corner’, and the UK number one ‘Bad Moon Rising’. Regarding record sales, CCR were at the top, battling with only one other prominent band.
“We were over there to introduce ourselves to the European market. And, of course, the Beatles were Number One in record sales and we were Number Two,” drummer Doug Clifford explained for the new documentary. “And I’m an athlete, I’m very competitive — I like winning. I like putting my best foot forward to achieve that goal in any, sort of, athletic activity. And if you’ve seen the footage on it, I’m, like, in a boxing ring and my drum kit is (laughs) my opponent.”
CCR’s appearance at the Royal Albert Hall was a big deal: two sold-out shows as one of the biggest bands in the world. A camera crew was on hand to film the band’s escapades, documenting what was sure to be one of the year’s biggest concerts. The only problem was that the footage of the Albert Hall show never officially surfaced, with the remnants finding their way into the world in incomplete form.
The full show is now featured in the upcoming documentary Travelin’ Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall. Directed by The Beatles: Anthology director Bob Smeaton and narrated by Oscar-winning actor Jeff Bridges, the documentary will cover the band’s history from their earliest days in El Cerrito, California, all the way up the band’s performance at the Royal Albert Hall.
Check out the trailer for Travelin’ Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall down below. The documentary will stream on Netflix beginning on September 16th.
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