George Thorogood & The Destroyers rock Beaver Creek

George Thorogood & The Destroyers’ ‘Bad All Over the World — 50 Years of Rock’ comes to the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek with a warning: This will be a loud rock and roll concert. The high-energy, rockin’ show stems from Thorogood’s blue-collar, hard-working upbringing.

He and drummer Jeff Simon — the other original member of the Delaware Destroyers, which morphed into George Thorogood & The Destroyers — were raised to give it their all, every day.

“(I was taught) if you don’t do a good job, you’ll get fired. You have to work every day to keep your job,” Thorogood said. “If we don’t play great, they’ll go see somebody else.”

From the band’s first gig, the musicians captivated audiences with their high-energy shows. With every performance, he goes into it feeling like it’s the biggest night of his life.

“We’re (still) putting a lot of energy in it,” he said. “You’re only as good as your last gig.”

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Early success came in the form of a three-piece band delivering covers they loved, like “No Particular Place to Go,” “Madison Blues” and “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” at The University of Delaware. Thorogood didn’t even own an electric guitar when Simon booked the next gig, so he bought a Gibson ES-125 from a pawn shop. The band was unnamed, too; they took their name from a piano player at Howlin’ Wolf sessions called “Destruction.” And, they’re repertoire was limited.

“We must have played ‘One Bourbon’ three times. It may have been a bit unpolished and primitive, but we were connecting with the audience in a major way. From that first show, Jeff and I knew we were onto something,” Thorogood wrote in his bio, adding over a phone interview, “As long as you can deliver interesting material, (the audience responds). The audience dictated to us (what to play) — some songs didn’t go over, but from the get-go, we were solid.”

He credits three elements to the band’s 50-year success: good songs, energetic stage presence and Simon’s “powerful attack on the drums.”

They’ve kept the energy up through more than 8,000 performances, rocking whatever house they’re in.

“People may love our records, but our live performances leave the ultimate impression,” he wrote in his bio.

The band has revived obscure blues, country and R&B songs by reinventing them with classic hits like “Who Do You Love,” “Boogie Chillum'” and “Move It On Over.” Then there’s the originals like “I Drink Alone,” “Gear Jammer” and “Bad to the Bone.”

“I don’t know how to play any other way. I’m limited in the style I have — I’m no Taj Mahal or Paul McCartney — so therefore, I’ve stuck with how we do it,” he said, and as his bio points out, “Our heart and soul have been in this from day one, and I think audiences have always respected that. Maybe that’s why we’ve never gone out of style.”

Though he’s proud of the band’s past accomplishments, including two certified platinum and six certified gold albums, acknowledgements like the B.B. King Award, the MMP Music Award, being inducted into the Mississippi Music Project Hall of Fame and the University of Delaware’s Medal of Distinction, he prefers to stay in the present rather than look back on the past or predict the future.

“Right now, I’m digging the present. You never know what the future is going to bring. I hope people that have seen us can expect what we’ve done in the past and a new and improved (version),” he said, adding, “Jeff is even more in the present than me. He cannot think of the past because he thinking of the (present gig). If you come to a show, wear your safety belt to our show, and wear it when you get home.”