George Thorogood & The Destroyers are currently celebrating 50 years on the road, Before the do a summer tour the legendary John Fogerty, they are headlining their own shows. That included stop at the OLG Stage in Niagara Falls, Ontario this past Wednesday night. Even though its been 13 years since the band has released any new music, the band continues to tour on their incredible legacy. My 1st introduction to the band was over 40 years ago with songs like “Bad to the Bone” which were ruling the MTV video charts. Fast forward to 2024; The Destroyers are currently constructed with original member Jeff Simon on drums, Billy Blough on bass, Buddy Leach on saxophone and Jim Suhler on rhythm guitar.
The band took to the stage and went into “Rock Party” off of 2006’s ‘The Hard Stuff.’ An appropriate song to get the crowd warmed up and get the juices’ flowing. Thorogood’s playing isnt traditional as he uses a thumb pick and uses his other fingers to pick the strings. That make his sound and tone very unique. There was a lot of times throughout the set where Thorogood and The Destroyers took the songs down a a different road. They were played at various tempos as there was a lot of jams incorporated within the songs themselves. For “One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer” Thorogood stated; “this is his public service announcement while announcing to the crowd, Don’t Drink and Drive!” There was a lot of times during the songs where Thorogood interacted with the crowd while playing. Thorogood’s’ playing is still spot on but what really surprised me was his vocals. His voice as a strong as ever. It was amazing how well he sounded at 74 years young. Shows at the casino are usually a mixed crowd of people who really want to get up and dance and others who are comfortable just sitting and enjoying the show that way. I can say our section got up and moved to the groove especially when “Get a Haircut” came on. It pretty much stayed that way throughout the rest of the set. At the end, the band continued to play as Thorogood exited. He came back with a different shirt on that depicted a Canadian Flag on it. He stated that “they been coming here since 1978 and we always want to express our sincere gratitude that the Canadian Crowds give us!” They then tackled “Gloria,” the song that has been covered by many bands (maybe The Doors version to be the most well known), and truly made it there own. It was fun song for everyone to take part in singing the title. They closed the set with a song that isn’t played much by Thorogood and The Destroyers in “Born to Be Bad.”
This is the first time in 14 years I seen Thorogood and thought he & his band were terrific. Yes, at times you wish he would have just basically played the song the way it was meant to be played but overall, his voice and playing were still at top notch levels for me.
Setlist:
Rock Party
Who Do You Love? (Bo Diddley cover)
Mama Talk to Your Daughter
In the Night Time
I Drink Alone
One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer (Amos Milburn cover)
Cocaine Blues (Roy Junius Arnall cover)
Gear Jammer
Get a Haircut
Bad to the Bone
Gloria (Them cover)
Move It On Over (hank Williams With His Drifting Cowboys cover)
Born to Be Bad
We would like to thank Steven Cahill from the Fallsview Casino Resorts for the credentials to review the show.
