Huntington, Long Island, N.Y. (Wednesday, July 8, 2020 @ 10am) – Due to circumstances outside of our control, George Thorogood & The Destroyers - originally scheduled for September 24th, 2020 has been postponed until September 23rd, 2021. No exchanges are required - all tickets from 9/24/20 will be valid for 9/23/21. For any questions or concerns, you can call the venue at (631) 673-7300 or visit paramountny.com. Since 1975, they’ve sold over 15 million albums, built a classic catalog of hits, and played more than 8,000 ferocious live shows. They broke records with their 50 Dates/50 States tour, delivered landmark performances at Live Aid and on SNL, and became mainstays of radio, MTV and stages worldwide for more than two generations. Through it all, they’ve remained one of the most consistent – and consistently passionate – progenitors of blues-based rock in pop culture history. For the past 45 years, it’s been very good to be....
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Huntington, Long Island, N.Y. (Wednesday, July 8, 2020 @ 10am) – Due to circumstances outside of our control, George Thorogood & The Destroyers – originally scheduled for September 24th, 2020 has been postponed until September 23rd, 2021. No exchanges are required – all tickets from 9/24/20 will be valid for 9/23/21. For any questions or concerns, you can call the venue at (631) 673-7300 or visit paramountny.com.
Since 1975, they’ve sold over 15 million albums, built a classic catalog of hits, and played more than 8,000 ferocious live shows. They broke records with their 50 Dates/50 States tour, delivered landmark performances at Live Aid and on SNL, and became mainstays of radio, MTV and stages worldwide for more than two generations. Through it all, they’ve remained one of the most consistent – and consistently passionate – progenitors of blues-based rock in pop culture history.
For the past 45 years, it’s been very good to be George
Thorogood & The Destroyers. And in 2020, their Good To Be Bad Tour: 45
Years Of Rock will prove why like never before.
“If you’re content, you may as well be dead.” George laughs
with his familiar rasp. “I think everyone has thoughts about retiring, but the
phone keeps ringing. You want me and The Destroyers to come to your town, set
up our gear, wear some badass clothes and play ‘Who Do You Love?’ End of conversation.
Let’s rock!”
For Thorogood and his longtime band – Jeff Simon (drums,
percussion), Bill Blough (bass guitar), Jim Suhler (rhythm guitar) and Buddy
Leach (saxophone) – the power to rock audiences has been both battle cry and
creed from the beginning. “Since I was 17,” George says, “all I wanted to do
was see how far I could go with my guitar, putting my own spin on music I loved.”
After a few hard years as a solo acoustic performer – a period he would revisit
with his acclaimed 2017 album Party Of One – George added a drummer and bass
player in 1974 to form the electric trio he called The Destroyers. Built around
Thorogood’s fiery guitar skills, explosive performance style and a blistering
take on blues rarities, the band began to gain a devout following at college
parties around their native Wilmington, Delaware. It was at one of their earliest
shows that Thorogood had his live performance epiphany. “It wasn’t about the
amount of people we drew, but rather the impression we made,” he remembers. “I
asked myself, ‘Are we reaching them? Do they want more?’ And from the very
first set we knew that we had something special.”
“George had that drive and charisma when we were 11 years
old,” laughs childhood pal and 45-year Destroyer drummer Jeff Simon. “At first,
we just enjoyed playing music. Then we had the thought of maybe making a living
at it. We always believed that if we played great songs and stayed true to
ourselves, people would keep coming back.” The band soon became a sensation throughout
the Delaware Valley and New England club circuit, and in 1976 signed with
Cambridge-based label Rounder Records. Over the course of 16 studio albums –
including two Platinum and six Gold discs on Rounder, EMI and Capitol – Thorogood
and The Destroyers toured the globe, as Rolling Stone once raved, “playing rock
& roll hot enough to melt the polar icecaps and flood the world’s major
population centers.” “We’re on a very short list of bands that are still
having fun doing this,” Jeff says. “And we’re still looking
over our shoulders thinking that somebody will catch us at it.”
Thorogood & The Destroyers indeed remain unstoppable. In
the past few years alone, the band released a top-selling limited edition 7”
single for Record Store Day, saw the re-issues of their legendary Bad To The
Bone, Born To Be Bad and Greatest Hits: 30 Years Of Rock albums on180-gram
colored vinyl, and performed over 70 dates throughout North America on their
sold-out Rock Party Tour. Thorogood himself received the 2018 B.B. King
Award from The Montreal International Jazz Festival, and his Party Of One
album – which critics called “brilliant” (Spin), “electrifying” (Guitar Player)
and “chock full of classics” (Music Connection) – became George’s fastest-selling
disc in over 20 years. “I was meaning to make that record ever since I first picked
up an acoustic guitar,” he says. “It was special and I’m really proud of it, but
there won’t be a Party of One/Part Two. Once it was done, I grabbed my electric
guitar and said to the band, ‘C’mon boys, let’s get back on the road.’”
It’s on tour that George & The Destroyers flip the
switch nightly, delivering what The Toledo Blade calls “a gut-bustin’, guitar-wailin’,
face-meltin’, fiery-tempoed, take-no-prisoners, good old-fashioned lunch-bucket
rock & roll show” that includes their signature hits “Get A Haircut”, “I
Drink Alone”, “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer”, “Move It On Over”, “Who Do
You Love” and the definitive badass anthem “Bad To The Bone”, along with
several surprises. “George has been honing the set list since our bar band
days,” explains 43-year Destroyer bassist Bill Blough. “It’s been a constant
evolution to make it all killer, no filler. We hear our walk-on song, the
lights go down, and something still inherently clicks the second we step on stage.
We feel the audience’s energy and the show just explodes.”
And as in past years, a portion of proceeds from every date
on the Good To Be Bad Tour will benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma
Society. “Now we’re talking about something that’s really important,” George
says. “When I was a kid I remember Robert F. Kennedy saying, ‘Some people see
things as they are and ask why. I dream things that never were and ask why not?’
That still gives me the chills today. Don’t tell me to slow down or turn down,
but if The Destroyers and I can help make a difference in any way, shape or
form, we’re there.”
But after 45 years of rock – and no signs of stopping – can
Thorogood point to what continues to make it all matter? “My highlight is every
night when I walk on that stage and play our hits for those happy people,” he says.
“At the end of the show, the audience is smiling, I don’t see any police and everyone
got their money’s worth.”
More importantly, is it still good to be bad? George
Thorogood instantly flashes that huge grin. “You bet it is,” he says. ”We’ll
always be the baddest band in the land. Expect our best on this tour, because
that’s what you’re gonna get.”
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