George Thorogood & The Destroyers At MTelus

We're a little bit backed up on getting my concert photographs up here on The Old Blog.  I suppose we will catch up at some point, but this would be a good time to remind you that my concert photographs can be seen in a much more timely manner by visiting V13Media, which you can do by following the link.  If you'd like an even more direct route to my photographs, you can visit my personal page over there but using the following link.  There is this magical sweet spot that seems to get created when two genres mix and create something magnificent.  Take a pinch of Chuck Berry’s Rock and Roll, add in a dash of John Lee Hooker’s Blues and what you get is the hard driving and toe tapping musical mélange that is mastered by George Thorogood and The Destroyers.  They were at a sold out MTelus in Montreal back in July as part of this year’s annual Jazz Festival.  There wasn’t very much jazz being played on this night, but that’s not really what the packed house was looking for anyway. They wanted some down and dirty rock and roll so that they could shake, rattle and roll the night away. Played to the stage by Barry McGuire’s classic ‘Eve of Destruction’, the band are then introduced wrestling style as “World Champions of Rock and Roll!”  It didn’t take much more than that to get everyone up in the gallery to join their fellow rock fans on the floor by jumping to their feet.  Our headliner, George Thorogood, hasn’t lost any of his energy, or good nature, despite being 75.  I hope to have that much energy when I get to that point.  He opened his set with” Rock Party”, a rather appropriate choice as that was exactly what we were all there for.  A rock party for the ages.  Even the venue got in on the fun, offering up a special one bourbon, one scotch and one beer trio for $23.  That song, of course, got a huge reaction, but loudest cheer of the night had to be the opening riff of “Bad To The Bone”.  The between song banter was great as well as George Thorogood was obviously having a great time.  The love-in between artist and crowd lasted all the way to the final notes.  This crowd had been waiting almost six years since George Thorogood & The Destroyers last visited.  Both ‘The Plague’ and other medical issues had kept George away, but he was back and the crowd lined the street waiting to get in.  There were more than a few disappointed fans who tried to buy some last minute tickets while I was picking up my pass.  Once inside the building, George Thorogood & The Destroyers made everyone forget the long wait.   They absolutely lived up to their ‘Baddest Band In The World’ billing.   All of the photographs were taken at f/3.2 while using various different shutter speeds, ISO settings and focal lengths.  Here are the rest of the photographs that I took of George Thorogood & The Destroyers while they performed on the MTelus stage.

If you would like to find out more about George Thorogood & The Destoryers, you can do so by following the link to their website.  If you would like to see the photographs that I took of Alastair Greene, who performed earlier that evening, you can do so by following the link.  A big thank you goes out to Adam Conde of Formax Entertainment, Maria Brunner of Insight Management and Christopher Gonda of V13 Media for getting me a pass to shoot the show.  It is very much appreciated.  George Thorogood & The Destroyers will be touring through to September.  Don’t miss your change to get rocked by The World Champions of Rock and Roll when they come to a town near you.