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REVIEW: Thorogood's boogie-woogie blues a huge hit

Rocker, best known for songs like Bad to the Bone and I Drink Alone, draws 1,200 for long-awaited Thunder Bay return.

THUNDER BAY – George Thorogood’s been bad to the bone since the day he was born and showed no signs of letting up in his long-awaited return to Thunder Bay.

The king of boogie-woogie blues brought his Rock Party tour to the Community Auditorium stage on Tuesday night, where 1,200 fans greeted the bandana-wearing, guitar-slinging, Delaware-born Thorogood and his band of Destroyers with reckless abandon.

Well, eventually anyway.

It is, after all Thunder Bay, a notorious seat-sitting crowd if ever there was one.

At 68, Thorogood’s still as cheeky and mischievous as ever, grinning between songs while dishing out double-entendres with a wink and a nod.

The 90-minute show began with an empty stage, their own take of Barry McGuire’s ‘60s anthem Eve of Destruction prepping the audience for what was yet to come.

The set list was short, just 12 songs long, but what he lacked in quantity, Thorogood, dressed in a black T-shirt and black jeans, made up for in quality.

For one, he’s not afraid of playing his hits, the songs that made him famous.

Two songs in, he caught the crowd’s attention, ripping into a blistering version of Bo Diddley’s classic Who Do You Love, which 40 years ago he made his own.

“And away we go,” he shouted, the familiar riff echoing off the Auditorium walls.

Shot Down bled into Night Time and then the fun began.

Thorogood made his name in the ‘80s on songs like I Drink Alone, which cemented his reputation as a rock-and-roll badass and has lived on classic rock radio for more than three decades.

“Welcome to the hangover from hell,” he said as the familiar riff instantly gave away what came next.

His booze-enthused set list continued with a 10-minute version of One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer, a song first made famous by Thorogood’s blues idol, John Lee Hooker.

“I take it some of you have heard this story before,” he crooned, the crowd clapping in unison and singing along word for word.

“Well, you’re going to hear it again, mother-humpers.”

Like any musician worth his salt, Thorogood named dropped his current city any chance he got.

“I go in my room and pack up my stuff and I go, down to the Tuesday night rock party at the Community Auditorium in Thunder Bay, Ont.,” he said, ad-libbing the song’s opening.

“Thunder Bay, world’s best-kept secret.”

It shouldn’t come as a surprise just how tight Thorogood and the Destroyers are, given they’ve been playing together for decades. The band, which has sold more than 15 million albums and performed more than 8,000 shows, includes drummer Jeff Simon, bassist Bill Blough, guitarist Jim Suhler and saxophonist Buddy Leach.

Not for a single second did it seem like anyone was going through the motions, taking the audience yelling out their own preferred set list most of the night in stride.

For the most part, Thorogood was more than willing to oblige – on his own schedule, of course.

“It took us 40 years to get up here and we’re going to enjoy every sweet second of it,” he said. “This particular run, it’s our 40th anniversary of coming to Canada. With that in mind, I feel like showing off a little bit.”

“You do that,” shouted one fan, as Thorogood set the stage for Gear Jammer and Get A Haircut, his most recent radio hit that brought the Auditorium crowd en masse to its feet to sing and dance along.

He closed with Tail Dragger and Move it on Over, returning with Born to be Bad, his lone encore performance.

Though it’s been awhile since Thorogood graced a Thunder Bay stage, to the delight of the rock veterans in the crowd, he promised this won’t be his last performance in the Lakehead.

“I’m coming back to Thunder Bay until the day I die,” he said.



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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