James Zap to open for George Thorogood and The Destroyers on Monday!

Party Rocker George Thorogood and The Destroyers bring their “Rock Party Tour” to The Ridgefield Playhouse on July 24. Local musician, James Zap kick off the rock party!

George Thorogood and The Destroyers bring their “Rock Party Tour” to The Ridgefield Playhouse – in their only area performance!  The Ridgefield Playhouse and Pepsi Rock Series Powered by xfinity presents George Thorogood and The Destroyers “Rock Party Tour 2017” on Monday, July 24 at 8 p.m. performing classic hits and music from new solo album “Party of One.” 

George Thorogood and The Destroyers have amassed an unmatched catalog of hits that includes “Who Do You Love”, “I Drink Alone”, “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer”, “Move It On Over”, “Get A Haircut” and the ultimate badass anthem, “Bad To The Bone.”    In 1973, a barely-out-of-his-teens Wilmington guitarist piled his gear into the drummer’s Chevy van to play their very first gig at a University of Delaware dorm. More than 4 decades, over 8,000 live shows, and some 15 million albums sold worldwide later, that same maverick guitar-slinger is still making electrifying music, still thrilling audiences, and still the most bad-to-the-bone performer in rock! 

It’s their powerhouse live performances that have made GT&D legendary: from unforgettable appearances on SNL and Live Aid, to the opening slot on the Rolling Stones’ historic ’81 tour, to their own record-breaking 50/50 tour, or any of their current 100+ shows per year, George and his longtime band – Jeff Simon (drums, percussion), Bill Blough (bass guitar), Jim Suhler (rhythm guitar) and Buddy Leach (saxophone) – remain among the most relentless and relevant classic rock acts on tour today. 

Even as Thorogood prepares for the release of his first solo album, the new tour promises to raise the bar, rock the house and tear off the roof like never before!  Kicking off the night is special guest James Zap - he’s not your typical acoustic-guitarist-in-the-back-corner-of-a-bar set. James’ enthusiasm and energy are contagious! If you’re looking for an entertaining, self-deprecating musical good-guy, look no further!  Make it a great night out with dinner and a show - Visit Luna Rossa (90 Danbury Road, Ridgefield) and enjoy a special 3-course pre-show menu when you show your ticket! The band is also putting their talents to work by helping The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) to help find cures and ensure access to treatments for blood cancer patients, $1 from each ticket sale of their “Rock Party Tour” will be donated to LLS.  Make it a great night out with dinner and a show - Visit Luna Rossa (90 Danbury Road, Ridgefield) for a special 3-course pre-show menu when you show your ticket!

For any kid growing up in the ‘60s, the first sightings of live rock & roll on TV were mind-bendingly seismic. “Ask Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, John Mellencamp or Chrissie Hynde, and they’ll tell you the same thing,” George says. “The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Rolling Stones on Shindig -- we all saw that and said, ‘That’s it. That’s what I want to do.’” Almost immediately, teens across America, including the suburbs of Wilmington, Delaware, started to put together bands. “I didn’t know how to play guitar then, but the band up the street needed a singer,” he remembers. “And because I knew the words to a bunch of songs, I said I’d give it a try. The first show we ever played was a party for my twin sisters’ birthday. I was 15 years old and got paid $20. That was the day I became a professional rock performer.”

By his early 20s, Thorogood was a solo acoustic player in the Robert Johnson/Elmore James vein. “As long as someone was listening, I knew things could fall into place,” he says. “I started doing pretty good for a solo act. I wasn’t making a fortune, but I was opening for people like Hound Dog Taylor and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. I was getting a lot of positive feedback from some very heavy blues people, and all of them advised to put together a band.” George called high-school pal and drummer Jeff Simon, and with the addition of a second guitar player – a trio modeled after Hound Dog Taylor’s HouseRockers – the now electric three-piece piled into Jeff’s Chevy van and headed north. “Boston was where the action was,” Thorogood explains. “We hooked up with a decent booking agent and started playing gigs throughout New England and the Delaware Valley. I knew that if we just kept playing, our sound would come out naturally. And it did. Audiences loved us. The acts we were opening for, like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, loved us. We were playing great, but we couldn’t earn more than $200 a night.” Through it all, the big brass ring remained a record deal. “We made demo tapes and sent them around. Every major label passed. Then in 1976, a guy saw us playing in a bar in Boston who knew someone at a folk label called Rounder Records. Oddly enough, they were in Cambridge. I’d never heard of them, and they were my last shot.”  George Thorogood is a featured artist of media sponsor 95.9fm The Fox.

          “We’d released a few blues records, mainly field recordings, but George was as electrifying on stage back then as he is now,” says Rounder Music Group Vice President of A&R Scott Billington. “It was the same time that punk rock was becoming popular, and it was the right time for someone to come along with a true back-to-basics approach. George was so passionate about the music he played and the musicians he respected so much, whether it was John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed or Hank Williams. Like the British Invasion before, he brought these songs to new audiences and made them come alive in a whole new way.”  From a birthday party in Wilmington to concert stages around the world, it’s been one of the most credible and uncompromising rides in American music. Today, one badder-than-ever guitar-slinger and his band are back to play like they still have something to prove. For George Thorogood and The Destroyers – as well as for millions of fans old & new – the Rock Party starts now!

          For tickets ($90), call the box office at 203-438-5795, or visit ridgefieldplayhouse.org.  The Ridgefield Playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT. 

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Submitted by Ridgefield, CT

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