Paradise Casino
Red Rock, Oklahoma
March 8, 2014

By Jeb Wright

Set List:
Rock Party | Who Do You Love? | The Fixer | Night Time | I Drink Alone | One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer | Cocaine Blues | Get a Haircut | Gear Jammer | Move It On Over | 20 Dollar Gig | Bad to the Bone

Encore
Madison Blues

Some say there is nothing to do in northern Oklahoma on a Saturday night, especially on a lonely two-lane highway in the middle of nowhere.  And on most nights that’s true, but not on March 8^th.
 

Nope... on this Saturday night a guy known as Lonesome George showed up at the Paradise Casino in Red Rocks, Oklahoma with guitar in hand…he played it loud, throwing out a sea of sound into the cold and barren night.

Thorogood is a great entertainer and his showmanship skills are top notch.  He makes the audience laugh in between songs and he postures, poses and even spins around during his tunes.  His band is damn good at what they do as well.  It’s a show.  It’s fun.
 

George takes each show seriously, as he knows his fans expect a high energy show that will leave them feeling better than when they arrived.

On this particular evening, however, George was having some vocal problems; his gruff growl was what an American Idol judge might call ‘pitchy.’ Still, he covered it up with his wide-toothed smile and on-stage energy.

The house was not packed.  The set list pretty darn close to every show he has performed for several years in a row, and the shtick and one liners, including calling the crowd ‘muther humpers,’ were very much predictable.

George may be getting a little lazy with his set list and stage time at this point in his 40 years career.  At exactly one hour and twenty minutes, he gave the crowd a fine effort, but there are so many songs that he could have added to take the show over the top.
 

Where is “Born to Be Bad”?  Where is “You Talk Too Much”?   Where is “I Really Like Girls”?  Why can’t we get tunes like “New Highway,” “New Boogie Chillun,” “If You Don’t Start Drinkin’ (I’m Gonna Leave)” and “Rockin’ My Life Away”?

All he would have to do is replace a few of the tunes people don’t know and play fifteen minutes longer and the crowd would walk away on Cloud 9 instead of Cloud 7.
 

The positive aspect of the show is the band performs great tunes with energy, and has fun doing it.  Thorogood and the Destroyers rock out “Who Do You Love?”, “Night Time,” “I Drink Alone,” “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” and “Move It On Over.”  George is never better than when slamming out “Get a Haircut,” and “Gear Jammer” is one a mutha of a song.  Those songs are what Thorogood is all about!

On this night, in Nowhere, Oklahoma there was a rock party and indoor hootenanny for sure.  But it could have been a little longer, a little louder and a little more out of control.

At the end, however, it was George Thorogood and the Destroyers live in concert and…wudda ya know…I left feeling better than when I showed up.