50/50 Tour Stop: # 49 (Concert # 50)
Date: December 10, 1981
Venue: Las Vegas Troubadour Lounge (aka The Troubadour). 2112 Western Ave. Las Vegas, Nevada. 89102.
Find it on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/QdRnj2tqaHU2
Venue Exterior:
1981:
I have yet to find a good photo of the Troubadour Lounge’s exterior as it looked in 1981. Please send me a message if you know of one.
2019:
Venue Interior:
1981:
Source: Las Vegas Review Journal. June 7, 1981. Pg. 10J.
1982:
Above: The band “Notorious” on stage at the Las Vegas Troubadour Lounge.
1985:
Source: Las Vegas Review Journal. March 15, 1985. Pg. 13e.
Opening Act: Bandit.
Source: Las Vegas Review Journal. December 20, 1981. Pg. 11J.
Poster / Flyer / Handbill: I have not yet seen a poster, flyer or handbill for this show. If you have a copy or any information, please get in touch!
Press & Promotion:
Source: Las Vegas Review Journal. Nov. 15, 1981. Pg. 11J.
Ticket Price: $8.00
Source: Bill Blough.
Ticket Stub: I have not seen a stub to this concert thus far. If you have a scan or a stub for sale, please contact me!
Attendance: Est. 350. The Las Vegas Troubadour Lounge had space for approximately 450 people in 1981. The promoter noted a venue capacity of 350. This concert was sold out.
Source: Bill Blough.
Set List:
- One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer.
Source: Las Vegas Review Journal. December 20, 1981. Pg. 11J.
Was the Concert Recorded? Unknown.
Concert Photos:
Source: Facebook
Source: Facebook
Source: http://www.lvclassicrock.com/LVCR/concerts/concertindex.html
Concert Reaction:
Cathy Senecal of the Las Vegas Review Journal recapped the night of December 10, 1981 at the Troubadour Lounge:
“[It] was easy for me to accept the pandemonium at the Troubadour of Las Vegas on the 49th night of a tour that would make the band the “touringest” band in America… The expected line wound around the Las Vegas nightclub when doors opened about 8:30 p.m. The pushing and shoving was only an indication of what was to come. Inside, anxious concert-goers asked each other what to aspect. “Have you seen George before,” a young woman asked two young men dressed in brown leather jacket with earrings dangling from their left lobe. “Yah, in Wyoming and Los Angeles. He’s best in a small club. He’ll be great.”
The packed house at the Troubadour began edging forward as soon as the opening group, Bandit, exited the stage. When Thorogood burst onto the stage, guitar in hand, spectators clung to the brass railing separating the dance floor from the rest of the nightclub, edged by bouncers end speakers, and elbowed their way past the rows of seats nearest the stage to get closer to the man they had come to see.
As strains of “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer”, emerged from the stage, the crowd became the chorus and the popularity of Thorogood as more than just a bar band shone forth. “I take it you’ve heard the story before,” Thorogood yelled.
On stage he […] gives his best. There’s conviction to the music and at limes you believe it can conquer all, if only for a moment. That’s when you know you’ve seen a good rock ‘n roll show. That Thursday night at the Troubadour he won the plaudits of his audience. Full grown boys and girls clapped, screamed, danced, sang, sweated, and shouted the night away in his honor.”
Source: Las Vegas Review Journal. December 20, 1981. Pg. 11J.
Other Notes: This ad from the UNLV Rebel Yell student newspaper gives a good flavor of what the scene at the Troubadour was like in the late 1970s/early 1980s:
Source: UNLV Rebel Yell. Nov. 15, 1979. Pg. 5.
Fate of the Venue:
Opened in October 1972, the Las Vegas Troubadour Lounge continued as a venue for dancing and live music until 1986, when it changed names briefly to the Wild Hare, then to the Hopscotch Lounge.
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal. Oct. 5, 1972. Pg. 9 & Nov. 6, 1986. Pg. 4C.
50 States in 50 Dates 