This is one of a series of posts expanding on my 50 States in 50 Dates blog by documenting the global touring adventures of George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers and the earlier years of their career.
Quick Links:
- May 22, 1986 – Cincinnati Gardens. Cincinnati, OH.
- May 23, 1986 – Cincinnati Gardens. Cincinnati, OH.
Cincinnati Gardens.
Date: May 22 & 23, 1986.
Venue: Cincinnati Gardens. 2250 Seymour Avenue. Cincinnati, Ohio. 45212. USA.
Find it on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/NRj9gr9HKozHn7Rh8
Venue Exterior:
1950s:
2016:
2021:
Venue Interior:
Opening Act: There were no opening acts for these concerts.
Source: Cincinnati Enquirer. May 23, 1986. Pg. C1.
Poster / Flyer / Handbill: I have not yet seen a poster, flyer or handbill to promote the Destroyers’ concerts at the Cincinnati Gardens in May 1986.
Press & Promotion:
Above: Concert listing for the first Destroyers’ show at the Cincinnati Gardens in 1986. Initially, only the May 22nd concert was announced. A second show on May 23rd was added soon after. This listing also has an incorrect ticket price of $15.50. Source: Cincinnati Post. Apr. 24, 1986. Pg. 7B.
Source: Cincinnati Enquirer. May 4, 1986. Pg. G3.
Source: Cincinnati Enquirer. May 11, 1986. Pg. H4.
Source: Cincinnati Enquirer. May 20, 1986. Pg. B4.
Ticket Price: $13.50.
Ticket Stub:
Above: Used and unused concert tickets (in two different formats) for the Destroyers’ May 22, 1986 concert at Cincinnati Gardens.
Above: Unused concert ticket for the Destroyers’ May 23, 1986 concert at Cincinnati Gardens.
Attendance:
- May 22, 1986: 2,583.
- May 23, 1986: Unknown.
Cincinnati Gardens was re-configured to have a maximum audience of 3,760 for these concerts. The venue typically had a capacity of 10,000 people for large events at this time.
Source: Cincinnati Post. May 23, 1986. Pg. 7B & Cincinnati Enquirer. May 23, 1986. Pg. C1.
Set List:
May 22, 1986:
- Intro Music: William Tell Overture.
- Who Do You Love?
- I Drink Alone.
- New Boogie Chillun.
- Move It On Over.
- One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer.
- Alley Oop.
- Bad to the Bone.
- The Sky is Crying.
- No Particular Place to Go.
- Willie and the Hand Jive (encore).
The Destroyers played 19 songs in the span of 1 hour and 55 minutes during their May 22, 1986 concert at the Cincinnati Gardens.
Source: Cincinnati Post. May 23, 1986. Pg. 7B & Cincinnati Enquirer. May 23, 1986. Pg. C1.
May 23, 1986:
- Who Do You Love?
- Bottom of the Sea.
- Night Time.
- I Drink Alone.
- One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer.
- Alley Oop.
- Madison Blues.
- Bad to the Bone.
- The Sky is Crying.
- Reelin’ and Rockin’.
Source: “Thorogood Live” LP track listing.
Were these Concerts Recorded? Yes! The Destroyers’ concerts on May 22nd and 23rd, 1986 were recorded by the Westwood One “Concertmaster II” (aka “The Bus”) mobile recording studio for release as a live album. The music from the May 23, 1986 show became the album “Thorogood Live”.
Above: The Westwood One “Concertmaster II”. Source: Billboard Magazine. Nov. 23, 1984. Pg. 17.
Above: “It is about time we documented this tomfoolery!” George Thorogood discusses the recording of “Thorogood Live” on Westwood One’s ‘Line One’ call-in show. Of note, recording engineer Dale Peters from Westwood One was the bass player in the classic rock group The James Gang. Source: Billboard Magazine. Sept. 13, 1986. Pg. WO11.
Above: Front and back LP covers for the European edition of “Thorogood Live” that was manufactured in Holland for distribution in France. This particular copy was sold in Israel and has extra retail labels written in Hebrew.
Above: Front and back of the 8 track tape version of “Thorogood Live” available through the Columbia House music subscription service in the United States.
Above: Paper insert from the Italian cassette version of “Thorogood Live”.
Above: Paper insert from the USA cassette version of “Thorogood Live” manufactured by RCA Music Service under license from EMI America.
Above: Paper insert from the New Zealand cassette version of “Thorogood Live”.
Above: Paper insert from the Australian cassette version of “Thorogood Live”.
Above: Paper insert from the UK cassette version of “Thorogood Live”.
Above: Promotional ad for the album “Thorogood Live” from the front cover of Billboard Magazine. Source: Billboard. Aug. 2, 1986. Pg. 1.
Above: Dot screen album cover templates for “Thorogood Live” from EMI America. In the days before full color newspaper and magazine publishing, images needed to be broken down into grids of tiny black and white dots that would simulate grey tones when viewed on the printed page. These dot screen templates could be cut out and glued down to create an ad for your local store or to accompany a newspaper’s review of the album, for example.
Above: Two retail posters issued by EMI America to promote sales of “Thorogood Live” in record stores.
Concert Photos:
Above: “Thorogood Live” concert photographer Jeffrey Henson Scales.
In the pre-Photoshop days of yesteryear, photo manipulation was a far more complex undertaking that required craftspeople with specialized knowledge and skills. As you can see in the images below, graphic designer Peter Shea and art director Henry Marquez from EMI Records hired Daniel Catherine of Color Special Effects, Inc. in Los Angeles to alter the photos taken by Jeffrey Henson Scales of the Destroyers performing at the Cincinnati Gardens in 1986. These changes included adding a “movement effect”, combining images, and “masking” parts of photos to feature or remove specific elements.
Above: Cardboard Kodak film box containing the film negatives, prints and transparencies used to make the “Thorogood Live” album cover, retail posters and other items.
Above: Daniel Catherine’s hand written summary of the special effects work ordered by EMI for the “Thorogood Live” album cover.
Above: This sequence of images shows how the front album cover for “Thorogood Live” was constructed from the elements of at least two photographs. The hand of an audience member holding a fast food drink cup was removed from one photo. Other hands and arms from the photos were combined into a tight new grouping and re-positioned to fill the bottom-right corner of the image. If you look closely at the source images and the final album cover, the right hand and forearm of a person wearing a wristwatch and a shirt with a yellow sleeve appears twice.
Above: This sequence of photos shows the process for creating the main image used on the back cover of “Thorogood Live”. A cropped version of the third photo – with the boldest colors and the largest glow from the yellow stage light – was ultimately used.
Above: This sequence of photos shows the process used to create one of the “Thorogood Live” retail posters. Bassist Bill Blough and Jeff Simon’s drum kit were removed from the photo of George Thorogood playing guitar. The stage lights from a wide shot of the Destroyers performing were inverted left to right, rotated 90 degrees, and positioned to fill the left side of the poster.
Above: Beta and VHS box covers for the “Thorogood Live” video EP from Sony, as well as a print of the concert photo used for the packaging. The video EP includes concert footage from two Destroyers’ shows in Seattle, Washington from August 1986.
Above: Concert photos from the back of the “Thorogood Live” album cover. Steve Chrismar is wearing a red shirt, red headband and dark shoes in some photos and a dark shirt and light color shoes in others, suggesting these photos are from different nights at the Cincinnati Gardens.
Above: Concert photos from the back of the “Thorogood Live” video EP VHS (l) and Beta box (r) covers. The video EP includes footage from Seattle, Washington, but the photos on the outside packaging are from the Cincinnati shows in May 1986. The photo at top left with George Thorogood holding his guitar in the air does not appear on the LP cover, so is unique to these video releases. Of note, George Thorogood is cropped out of the top photo and the silhouette of Jeff Simon is cropped out of the bottom photo on the Beta cassette packaging.
Concert Reaction:
Cincinnati Post reporter Larry Nager filed a positive review of the Destroyers’ opening concert at the Cincinnati Gardens on May 22, 1986:
“If his show at Cincinnati Gardens tonight goes as well as Thursday night’s, George Thorogood will leave town with a great live album. He couldn’t have asked for a more enthusiastic audience...
Why anyone would want to record a live album at the Gardens remains a mystery. Acoustically, it’s Cincinnati’s worst concert facility, with an echo that seems to go on forever. But the Gardens’ low-tech sound is perfect for Thorogood’s greasy boogie-rock. “The world’s original six-man quartet,” as he calls his five-piece group, mixes the classic styles of John Lee Hooker, Chuck Berry, Hound Dog Taylor and Bo Diddley. The result is a bluesy, hard-rocking stew that kept the older crowd dancing in the aisles throughout the hour-and-55-minute show…“
Source: Cincinnati Post. May 23, 1986. Pg. 7B.
Cliff Radel of the Cincinnati Enquirer also had positive things to say about the Destroyers’ concert at the Cincinnati Gardens on August 22, 1986:
“It’s Thursday night. The Cincinnati Gardens’ stage is set. The crowd of 2,582 is out of their seats, on their feet and rocking. The tape is rolling. A concert album is in the works…
For two years shy of a decade, Thorogood – a summa cum laude graduate of the Chuck Berry duck-walking, buzz-sawing school of guitar playing – has been putting on some of the best shows in his business.
“I program them like a DJ,” Thorogood said on Monday. “It’s-bam! bam! bam! – one song after another. There’s never a dull moment.”
That’s how it went Thursday night as Thorogood, the Destroyers and their special guest, Cincinnati’s own H-Bomb ‘Exploding with Talent’ Ferguson, tried to capture on tape the cheeky exuberance they put into every song. If they didn’t get it Thursday night, they’re going to try again tonight, same time, same place. Anybody who likes to feel good should catch this show. No excuses will be accepted.”
Source: Cincinnati Enquirer. May 23, 1986. Pg. C1.
Other Notes:
Above: “Thorogood Live” was certified Gold (500,000 copies sold) by the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) in December 1986. The album was certified Platinum (1 million copies sold) in April 1995. Source: RIAA.
Above: Bluesman H-Bomb Ferguson performed with the Delaware Destroyers both nights at the Cincinnati Gardens.
Above: The “Thorogood Live” concerts were a benefit for Cincinnati’s Freestore Foodbank. This photo shows the Cincinnati Freestore Foodbank’s location at 112 E. Liberty Street in 1985. You can donate to the Freestore Foodbank c/o freestorefoodbank.org
Above: Souvenir program from the Destroyers’ May 1986 concerts at the Cincinnati Gardens.
Above: Front and back of concert t-shirts with the “Thorogood Live” logo and branding. These shirts were sold at Destroyers concerts in 1986 and 1987.
Fate of the Venue: Cincinnati Gardens closed in 2016. The building was demolished in 2018.
50 States in 50 Dates 
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