Melbourne got lucky on Sunday. The original date for the Joe Cocker and George Thorogood A Day On The Green show fell victim to Cyclone Yasi. It was a complete wash-out.
Luckily, the organisers were able to tag a make-good date at the very end of the tour.
That meant a “Red Eye” flight out of Perth were they had played the night before. Cocker, Thorogood, Diesel and The Dingoes finished up the Saturday night show in Western Australia, hopped on the last flight out of Perth and flew across a continent and two times zones and drove to the Yarra Valley, a few hours outside Melbourne to do the Sunday show.
It was well worth it.
This would have to have been one of the best A Day On The Green line-ups ever. The Dingoes had recently reformed for these limited shows after 30 years and their sound just fell back into place. To hear ‘Way Out West’ and ‘Boy On The Run’ for the first time in decades was indeed a treat.
Diesel rocked. As he has evolved through the years the sound has changed from pop rock to blues and now Mark Lizotte is one of the finest musicians in this country. Old hits like ‘Don’t Need Love’ and ‘Cry To Me’ were totally reinvented while songs from the new E.P. like Neil Young’s ‘Cinnamon Girl’ paid homage to his early influences.
I reviewed Joe Cocker a few weeks back when he played The Palais. Read the review here
I really want to focus on George Thorogood & The Destroyers. Thorogood was on fire on Sunday afternoon
The George Thorogoood & The Destroyers sound goes directly back to John Lee Hooker. There were no ‘white boy’ influences in the middle.
Thorogood was out to party at A Day On The Green and it didn’t matter that he was on stage at 5:30pm. Only two of the songs came from his 21st Century albums. This was a show for the long-time fans. “I promise I will do everything in my power to get arrested tonight,” he told the fans. “If someone is going to go to jail for rock and roll it might as well be me.”
The setlist for George Thorogood A Day On The Green was:
Rock Party (from The Hard Stuff, 2006)
Who Do You Love (from Move It On Over, 1978)
Night Time Is The Right Time (from More George Thorogood and the Destroyers, 1980)
I Drink Alone (from Maverick, 1985)
One Bourbon One Scotch One Beer (from George Thorogood and the Destroyers, 1977)
Get A Haircut (from Haircut, 1993)
Bad To the Bone (from Bad To The Bone, 1982)
Move It On Over (from Move It On Over, 1978)
Tail Dragger (from The Dirty Dozen, 2009)
Madison Blues (from George Thorogood and the Destroyers, 1977)
