On the evening of December 1st, 1973 at The University of Delaware’s Lane Hall, a guitarist, a drummer, and their rhythm guitarist set up on the small bandstand. Though the three-piece band had barely rehearsed, guitarist George Thorogood and drummer Jeff Simon had been bashing out covers of songs they loved – including ‘No Particular Place To Go’, ‘Madison Blues’ and ‘One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer’ – in suburban Wilmington basements since they were teens. The Lane Hall audience was wary at first. “Then it was like somebody flipped a switch,” Simon recalls. “Everybody hit the dance floor all at once.”
“We had the place rockin’,” Thorogood says. “From that very first show, Jeff and I knew we were onto something.” Five decades, 15 million albums and more than 8,000 performances later, few bands can still rock the house like George Thorogood & Destroyers. And for Thorogood, Simon, and long-time Destroyers Bill Blough, Jim Suhler and Buddy Leach, their Bad All Over The World – 50 Years of Rock Tour will be a celebration like no other.
But when asked to pick a career highlight, maybe one night over the past half century that changed everything for George Thorogood & The Destroyers, he shakes his head, flashes a huge grin and heads off to soundcheck. “My highlight is when I step on that bandstand,” Thorogood says. “The promoters invited us, the fans came to hear us, and we’re ready to rock. Every night I play for people can be the biggest night of my life.”