PHOTO: OWEN O’ROURKE
By BILL BROTHERTON
LYNN — George Thorogood is still b-b-bad to the bone.
Forty years after Cambridge-based Rounder Records released his debut album, rough-and-tumble Thorogood brought his throwback “Rock Party” to Lynn Auditorium Wednesday night. The 67-year-old Delaware native has been doing basically the same show for ages, but it’s still a high octane Chicago-blues-and-rock-and-roll blast. Even more impressive, he’s been doing it with the same band — the Destroyers (drummer Jeff Simon, bassist Billy Blough, rhythm guitarist Jim Suhler and saxophonist Buddy Leach) — for much of that time.
Thorogood and band ambled onstage to the sounds of “Eve of Destruction,” the ’60s doomsday protest song. “How Sweet it is,” barked Thorogood, and the fivesome kicked into a ferocious “Rock Party.” “And away we go,” said Thorogood, continuing his Jackie Gleason fetish, before roaring into Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love,” the Sonny Boy Williamson/Willie Dixon classic “Help Me” and “Night Time,” which is also a highlight of J Geils Band shows.
Usually at a concert, this curmudgeonly contrarian gets upset when people stand and block my view. Wednesday night I was royally pissed that audience members in front of me were sitting down. How is that possible? This music is tailor-made for jumping, jiving and dancing. Indeed, a large group was shaking it at the back of the house.
Thorogood’s 60-grit-sandpaper voice delivers each tune with power if not nuance. He’s mastered his comical, self-deprecating Mr. Wonderful shtick (“Who do you love? I hope it’s me”) and he’s an absolute master on guitar, alternating between a pair of vintage Gibson ES-125s he’s dubbed “Blacktooth” and “White Fang.” His slide playing is forceful and formidable on his cover of Hank Williams’ “Move it on Over” and his own “Bad to the Bone” and “Born to Be Bad,” which closed the 90-minute show.
The audience was drunk with joy singing along to “I Drink Alone” and “House Rent Blues”/”One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer.” (I once took a dear friend to a Thorogood show at Great Woods during the first week of his sobriety. Bad idea!) “Lynn, Massachusetts’ best-kept secret,” said Thorogood, who clearly was pleased with fans’ support. “Get a Haircut” also got a rise out of audience members.
The Brooks Young Band was a simpatico opening act. Young, a Marblehead resident, has a raspy, bluesy voice and is a fine guitarist, influenced no doubt by opening for BB King at his many New England gigs. His rockin’ bandmates are first-rate. Covers of the Rolling Stones’ “Miss You” and Muddy Waters’ “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man” were blistering, twin-guitar blues jams. An appreciation for Eric Clapton was evident in a cover of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (Clapton played lead guitar in that Beatles favorite: you can look it up). The opening song, “We Were Young,” was excellent and made me wish Young performed more original material.
