If there was anyone who was born to boogie (Marc Bolan notwithstanding), that would be George Thorogood. With a half-century of performing under his belt and 8,000-plus live performances under his belt, Thorogood and his Blasters have been churning out raw-edged blues and ‘50s rock and roll-inspired jams since they first hit the stage on December 1, 1973, at Lane Hall at the University of Delaware.

Currently on the road behind “The Baddest Show on Earth Tour,” Thorogood and company will be bringing its well-oiled brand of rock and roll to The Paramount on May 2.

With 17 studio albums under his belt, two platinum discs and six gold ones, the septuagenarian rocker has a deep canon to dig into.

Furthermore, he’s riding high on the forthcoming release “The Baddest Show on Earth: Greatest Hits Live,” a collection of in-concert performances from 1978-2024 plucked from gigs in Boston, Atlanta, Sarasota and Roslyn.

While Thorogood explains he was approached by the label about putting this album out, he admits he was happy to have them dictate which of his well-known songs, including “Madison Blues,” “Move It On Over,” and “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer,” were included. But there was one song he insisted make the cut for this album.

“I love Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Howlin’ for My Baby,’ and it came to my attention that there were no versions that I’d recorded on any of my albums,” he said. “And while the label was laying the money out to pull this album together, I wanted to make sure ‘Howlin’ for MyBaby’ made the cut.”

Thorogood’s journey to developing a solid relationship with a fanbase went from early exposure opening for The Rolling Stones on their 1981 tour to becoming a quasi-fixture on MTV, where his videos often featured cameos by music heroes like Bo Diddley and John Lee Hooker. Along the way he graced the Live Aid stage in Philadelphia while future tours found him on the road alongside the likes of Brian Setzer, Buddy Guy, ZZ Top, The Allman Brothers Band and John Fogerty.

With so much music to draw from, Thorogood is more than happy to make sure his fans play a major role in figuring out what his set lists are going to look like.

“Before we hit the road, we reach out on social media to ask what people are going to want to hear us play,” Thorogood explained. “We already had a solid idea, but it’s good to see that what we’re thinking is along the lines of what our fans want. It’s only fair to give them a say since they’re the ones who are laying out money to come see us play.”

The middle child of five siblings, George Thorogood’s initial dream was to make his mark on the baseball diamond, going so far as to play semi-pro ball. But as someone who readily admits he’s not cut out for a 9-to-5 gig (“I couldn’t work an office job, especially since back then I was starting my day off at four in the afternoon”), music proved to be a perfect back-up plan whose seed was planted when he was exposed to the Fab Four.

Source: LI Press