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George Thorogood and the Destroyers & Jonny Lang
The Greek Theatre in LA
7/26/09

The Music -

The lady loves to listen to Jonny Lang and she got what she asked for. Mainly she bought the tickets for just him but I was lucky because I sure do like G. T. and his Destroyers. For an opener he played a solid hour and fifteen (or might have been thrity minutes). Now I'm not that familiar with his music but he knows what he is doing with that there guitar. And his band backing him up was sensational. The lady would definately recommend anyone to go see him play and I guess I would too. I would like to say that Deaner's facial expressions are better but Jonny Lang does give him a run for his money. I told the lady when I take her to see Ween for her first time she can't say anything about Deaner's (or Gene's) facial expressions (since Jonny does the same thing).

But then the G.T. and the Destroyers came out and he was pumped for this show. He was moving and dancing during the show, it was really good to see him getting into it. Also they even had a cool stage set up with lights and some minor video. Now most of the time I had seen him it was just stripped down but this was different. Mainly they played most of their classics, a new tune off a new album coming up, a Howling wolf song and Cocaine Blues (by Johnny Cash). The sound was right and the band supporting him was on fire. At one point (I'm pretty sure) his young daughter came out on stage and played right next to him. It's what I expect when I see G. T. play and I have plenty of times up at Summerfest in Milwaukee. I recommend this combo this time around if you like Blues/rockabilly roll. If too commercial for you then I can understand staying away, but if not, they really tore up the joint at the Greek. But do expect his normal sets of popular songs with a little spice added in.

EDIT: He did play a full show, about 2 hours and even the Greek turned the lights on him so he did go past the curfew.

The Venue -

This was the first time I've been at The Greek. Fucking awesome place. I do like it more then Alpine Valley in Wisconsin because it's more intimate (smaller). Not a bad seat in this place. Now I will be going to Red Rocks to see Ween but I will say right now it's my favorite venue as of now. Beautiful landscape around it, they light it up just perfect when the sun goes down, large restrooms, it's in a National Forest Preserve (Griffith Park) and lots to do there. Now usually the park doesn't allow drinking but I think they are easier on that rule before a show (and only in that area - SO BE CAREFUL IF YOU DO BECAUSE THEY CAN TICKET YOU). But if you have never been to this place I highly recommend it. A 20oz Heineken for about $12 which is a little bit more then $6 a beer, but I've paid more in different venues through out LA. Also for Bud it was 8 or 10 dollars. In other areas of the venue they had a larger selection of beers but they seemed to have cost more. So rip off? Sure, but I like to drink and money never stops me.

The Audience -

I turned to the lady and said, "So who invited the morgue?" Now I had a feeling that this would be the case since the average age was early-50's. For some reason the older generation has slowed down a bit and have lost their edge. Most were suburban types, plus construction workers, rather then bikers and rocker types. Also more hippies then I expected too. This kind of shocked me but I've had the pleassure of seeing them in the city which made the Harley. But when I see G. T. and I've got a belly full of beer I hope to jam hard. Well, I couldn't and the lady kept me in check which was good because I would have mouthed off or something dumb. So the audience did suck but the show was on fire and they couldn't stop me from bopping in my seat.


So in retrospect, I would give this combo a recommend as long as you enjoy that type of music. Only hope the crowd is wanting to rock for you.