Foghat were among the unfortunate realities of arena rock, a blues rock band so uninspiring that calling them “pedestrian” is to overrate their quality. They were everything that could possibly go wrong with a white blues band. Wooden rhythms, clanging arrangements, anemic guitars, adenoidal vocals. I saw them several times because they were on the same bill with bands I wanted to see. Edgar Winter Group, J. Geils Band, Bob Seger? This was the 70s, when the brilliant, the mediocre and the largest category, the absolutely abysmal performed on the same bills ; you had to grit your teeth, swallow hard and take it like a champ, aware that sitting through another unturned, zombie-shuffling set by Foghat was the condition you needed to agree to if you wanted a chance to see a true living legend live. It was like getting hit by the same bus over and over and over again.
