Years haven’t changed Thorogood
Published: August 16, 2009, 12:30 am
Story tools:
Share this story:
George Thorogood is one of those immutable forces of nature — like stone and water, he doesn’t change.
So when he took the stage in the grandstand of the Erie County Fair Saturday night, it was like 1978 all over again for a night in many ways.
That’s when he torched the stage in the Belle Starr, the legendary club in Glenwood ski country, putting on a three-hour-plus show. Back then, he played as part of a trio, but he opened the show alone, sitting on a stool and picking some solo acoustic delta blues before kicking the stool away and launching into a blazing rock ’n’ roll show.
At that time, it seemed like Thorogood was a savior of rootsy, blues-based rock. In an era of disco, country rock and sometimes even punk, his show was a breath of fresh air and an injection of youthful energy at a time when the old lions like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf were running out of steam.
He doesn’t play that long anymore, and he doesn’t start off with the solo bit, but otherwise he puts on much the same show — for better or for worse.
For his critics, he hasn’t grown. But for the legion of fans who packed the racetrack and the stands, he still stands for everything he has represented for 30 years — good-time music and the Bo Diddley beat. The crowd of mostly middle-agers — a good many sporting Harley-Davidson wear—are Thorogood’s people, and he didn’t disappoint them.
In fact, Saturday night’s performance was one of the best I’ve seen by him since that initial show 30-plus years ago.
He still references all the patron saints of R&B — from Elmore James to Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry — but he’s created his own signature sound while doing it. If Phil Spector could make a wall of sound, Thorogood created a wall of boogie live, with the Delaware Destroyers pounding out a deceptively simple, crushing sound behind the guitarist.
Thorogood has been around long enough now that he can’t fit all his standards into a 95-minute set (“Ride On Josephine” was the one I missed), but he offered up most of the songs that he’s turned into hits on album-oriented rock radio.
So you knew songs like “I Drink Alone,” “Bad to the Bone,” “Get a Haircut,” “Move It On Over” and “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” all had the crowd filling in the lines.
But what made this show special was that Thorogood has maintained his energy over the years, and he was ready to play — both musically and figuratively — as he twitched his hips for the women and turned double entendres between songs.
By the time the band reached “Bad to the Bone,” the crowd — which had been kept back by security — finally surged forward and filled the area in front of the stage with a few hundred of Thorogood’s closest friends, bouncing and dancing to the boogie.
Critics may no longer think of Thorogood as a savior of anything, but that doesn’t really matter. The crowd still found a reason to believe in his rock ’n’ roll.
Opener Johnny Lang took a different approach to the blues. His songs were more jam oriented, a 1970s vintage mixture of blues-rock and funk. Think Eric Clapton, Michael McDonald and ’70s-era Stevie Wonder.
Lang’s vocals frequently leapt into the falsetto range, sometimes painfully so.
The 28-year-old, who has been recording for 14 years already, brought with him a killer band that I’d pay to see even without him, a five-piece ensemble that maneuvered the territory while keeping a killer groove.
Highlights included a nice version of Wonder’s “Livin’ for the City” and “Red Light” from his “Long Time Coming” CD.
Concert Review
George Thorogood and the
Destroyers
With Jonny Lang on Saturday night at the Erie County Fair
Newsletters
Sign up now for daily and weekly newsletters from BuffaloNews.com and get quick links to the info you want delivered directly to your inbox.Reader comments
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Comments have been disabled.
Due to a high volume of submissions that violate The News’ guidelines, commenting is no longer available on this story. If you’d like to share your thoughts on this story, click here to get information on contributing to The News’ opinion pages.