George Thorogood & the Destroyers
Live @ Vets Park

What can you I say about George Thorogood that hasn’t been said before – he’s a veteran second tier musician with a handful of hits that are still played on classic rock stations everyday. His music is infectious blues-based rock that tells stories from the other side with humor and aplomb. He injects screaming slide riffs and salacious lyrics into basic two chord rock and roll. This is music for beer-swilling boomers that want to relive their don’t-give-a-damn glory days, throw their fist up in the air even when it’s filled with a cup of that juice.

The sixty year old rocker released his debut album, the eponymous George Thorogood & the Destroyers in 1977. Since that time he’s released 16 studio albums, 4 live albums and several Greatest Hits/Anthology discs. Thorogood garnered mainstream attention as the support act on the Rolling Stones 1981 Tour - and it landed him an influential gig on Saturday Night Live. He got noticed…big time. Eventually he gained a reputation as one of the hardest working acts on the circuit. He recorded and toured incessantly for the next 33 years. Thorogood is a survivor who plays each gig as if it will be his last. He’s an excellent slide guitarist and has a unique vocal style that includes humorous asides in a talkin’ blues format. Like so many other classic rock band from the seventies, his tours have become “greatest hits” shows with little deviation from the tried and true.

He opened the show with the aptly titled Rock Party that ignited a high energy show that never skipped a beat the entire night. The band was tight and right on the mark and Thorogood proved to be tireless performer with a whole cadre of moves - hoping around the stage, jumping and doing awkward un-rhythmic pirouettes while hammering the shit out of his guitar. With a dramatic flare, Thorogood told the crowd he was going to do some dirty, nasty and unspeakable things and try to his best to get arrested. He was just blowing smoke. Instead of pulling an Iggy Stooge and doin’ the wet nasty to a willing ‘Ladies Prefer Length” firecracker planted in the crowd, he did his best Engelbert Humperdinck, crooning the blues and playing it safe for his beer-loving fans.

Thorogood recovered his Gris Gris with a spot-on version of Bo Diddley’s Who Do You Love that surpassed the recorded hit version. His version of the ancient twelve bar blues standard Night Time (Is the Right Time) was sonic perfection as the rhythm section pounded out that familiar big beat and the guitars and sax wove in and out of the mix to underscore the primal urgency in the lyrics. Thorogood played his famous drinking songs I Drink Alone and One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer in rapid succession. The crowd loved it – we all went wild. But it was curious that George laid out a “don’t drink and drive” rap while introducing the songs. I heard a drunk belch out an almost angry protest to George’s seeming advocacy for safe driving -“what-the-effin-razam-frazam” - and quickly retreat to his plastic cup of warm beer. In no time he forgot the slight and thrust his sudsy cup up in the air and gurgled along with the band. It was a moment of truth.

A notable non-hit Get a Haircut was a hilarious tale about a would-be suitor forced to endure her father’s harangue just to get a little poontang. Thorogood performed crowd favorites including the marvelous Hank Williams country shuffle Move it On Over and his biggest hit Bad to the Bone which contains the best sssstutter in the history of rock & roll since Daltrey stammered so disfluently in My Generation.

George sang well even if his voice lacked the youthful authority and nuance of his hit-making years. His high energy performance was infectious, even charming - in its back to the wall, no holds barred paean to youthful rebellion. For many it brought back a time of unrestrained enthusiasm for living life in the moment with an unencumbered spirit.

It was reassuring to hear an aging rocker take on his past and inject it with the care and energy it deserves. It was a fabulous show.

Peace
Bo White