ROCKTIME PRESENTS
GEORGE THOROGOOD
AND THE DESTROYERS
AT
THE FILLMORE
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.
4/10/03
What a night! This is the first of two reviews, of two shows on the same night. I started at the Avalon Ballroom, quickly checking in to get my photo credentials for George Clinton and P-Funk. After a little break on one of the P-Funk buses, I headed off to the Fillmore with little time to spare. At the venue will call, Elvin Bishop came walking up and he scooped up five all access passes. This was my first clue that he was there for more than some boogie time. As I was heading into the show, the guy in front of me casually brought in Elvin's guitars and said to the security, "Ya know, he brought 'em to get them signed." I'm thinking ya right, Elvin is not going to let George write on his guitars. Sounds like a cover story to me. At this point, I'm ninety percent sure that Elvin is going to play with Thorogood for a couple of numbers at least. The show opened with a fantastic opening act, Joe Bonamassa, and his band ripped. The vocals were powerful and the music flowed with emotion. I was just starting to really dig them and then their set was over.George Thorogood and the Destroyers hit the stage and a drinking crowd got ready to rock. I have only seen George one time, it was at the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, WA. in like 1985, or so. I loved the show, but remember very little other than that. It was probably the third, or fourth time I drank alcohol as a young adult. I had my audio notebook with me this time though and the memories are much fresher. We'll skip right to the fat juicy part of the show which was song number six. The rest of the band lefts the stage and George started his spiel about his landlady and the crowd knew exactly what was a comin'. It was pretty standard, except for the part where he usually says, "So, I get's to the bar." Instead, he says, "So, I headed down to the Fillmore and I went to the bar, and I said "Hey Bartender." And he said, "What?" And I said, "Come Down Here." And he said "Whatchyou want?" And I said "One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer." The band comes from flying out of nowhere right on queue and blew the roof off the joint, and the crowd went nuts. Elvin Bishop came on stage during a lull point in the song and him and george were tearing it up. George started talking about dringking and hangovers and with Elvin still on stage they do a jamming"Don't Let the Boss Man Get You Down." Elvin Bishop leaves the stage and the crowd gives raucous approval of his performance and George says, "That guy's a friend of mine, with a look of exuberant pride. I love Elvin Bishop too, you got to see him do his show. He does this song called, "Fishing," and it's all about fishing, quite a riot!
Next, George comes up to the mike and he says, "What do you say we bust up this joint up?" I'm thinking, oh yeah, The Fillmore staff is going to love that, but nobody broke anything. Everybody was way too busy busting a move. Then they did a rocking little dance number, I think it was called "Sweet Little Lady Of Mine." The ninth song was "I'll Rock Away Your Blues," followed by "Get a Haircut and Get a Real Job." It got really meatty in the set list right about now with "Bad to the Bone." I'm sure the rest of the concert was the best part, but hey, I had to get down the road for three hours of funking out with George Clinton. It was going to be along night and I enjoyed as much of the Thorogood concert as I could. Concert photography for the press is only the first three songs and I had to be there right when Clinton came on stage. I made it with more than enough time and started wishing I had hung out for three more songs. This was a fantastic concert and I was surprised that it wasn't sold out when I got to the venue. It was really cool getting to shake Elvin's hand when I recognized him coming towards me, that was the highpoint of the evening. Thanks for reading and we'll see ya at the shows.
NICK RUNNING
NEW ROCKTIME PHOTO!!! (5/5/03)
NEW ROCKTIME PHOTO!!! (5/5/03)
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