George Thorogood &
The Destroyers – 30th Anniversary Tour
Picture: B-
Sound: B Extras: C- Concert: B
A long time ago, I had a debate with someone about the
music of George Thorogood. The question
at hand is what kind of Rock or Blues was he doing, because it was certainly a
rich and hardcore kind. That someone
decided to tell me that his songs were noting but drinking music and I was
missing the point, as if I knew about nothing.
Certainly, any Blues or Country song could enhance (or degrade) one
while they were using alcohol, but this talk was more like “dry drunk” speak
than anything else. Such a reality is
also very limited in scope and idiotic.
Once again, I was on the right track.
A few decades later, here is already the 30th
Anniversary of Thorogood and his Destroyers and not only was I hitting the nail
on the head about his kind of music, but in a time when all the radio and TV
music is so watered down and bad, one can more easily than ever hear that he
and the band are continuing a great legacy in its richest form. This time though, they are not just the
revivers, they are the survivors.
Thorogood’s voice and showmanship are still in tact,
offering a real Rock experience, uncompromised by commercialism and
infantilism. This is the music of a
grown adult male, which is somehow considered “politically incorrect” by the
most radical extremists in that movement.
We call it art. The songs in
this roughly 90 minutes concert are:
1) Long
Gone
2) Who Do
You Love?
3) Night
Time
4) I Drink
Alone
5) One
Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer
6) Don’t
Let The Bossman Get You Down
7) The Sky
is Crying
8) Sweet
Little Lady
9) Greedy
Man
10) Bad To The Bone
11) Move It On Over
12) The Fixer
13) You Talk Too Much (the
1960 Joe Jones classic done fast)
14) That’s Why I Quit
15) Rockin’ My Life Away
To add to the problems the politically correct have with
him, he is a man who can say no and take a stand. This includes songs about the working class, the real concept of
freedom, the dark side of reality and pride.
The Right in this country has problems with this, so as radio
broadcasting degenerates into narrowcasting, a truly great artist like
Thorogood is unjustly neglected. This
great concert DVD is one of the best return of the musically repressed we have
seen in a while, so Thorogood and The Destroyers really have something to
celebrate.
The anamorphically enhanced 16 X 9/1.78 X 1 image is not
bad for a taped program, though the darkness is more than usual and it is an
atmosphere that is appropriate for the Blues.
The Video Black is not bad, but not the best either, but detail
overrides this enough for a decent presentation. The three soundtracks are two Dolby Digital configurations (2.0
Stereo with Pro Logic surrounds and 5.1 mixes), but the DTS 5.1 wins out easily
with rich sound and a better compression scheme that captures the deep bass
best. This is probably one of the best
Blues concerts on DVD-Video sonically to date, but the performance of the
actual musicians and Thorogood offer something rich to listen to. The only extras are three music video clips
that play like additional footage, but the top form in the concert extends to
these clips. Good show.
- Nicholas Sheffo
