He's more of an actor than he lets on, too. The personas of Thorogood's well-chosen, familiar covers - the devil-may-care 22-year-old with a cobra snake for a necktie of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love"; the had-it-up-to-here old dog of Hank Williams' "Move It On Over" - each fit around his spare tire like a tailored suit. His spirited romp through Johnny Cash's "Cocaine Blues" made us wonder if anyone over at Charlie Sheen was having half as good a time as both the band and crowd were here. (Apparently they were. Huh.)

Thorogood's own songs held up to the same benchmark, though. Yes, there was "Bad To the Bone," teasing and pleasing with the lyric altered to "make a Texas girl squeal" as the 1982 video screened behind him. Watching Thorogood shoot pool with Bo Diddley in that clip always makes us think of the scene in Trading Places where Diddley tells Dan Aykroyd, "In Philadelphia, it's worth 50 bucks"; as many times as we've seen/heard them both, the movie and the song never seem to get stale.

Even better were "Haircut," an unlikely collision of Muddy Waters and T. Rex, and our favorite, the surly "I Drink Alone," which Thorogood introduced by announcing "Welcome to the hangover hotel." During John Lee Hooker's "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" - timed out at an anemic nine minutes - Thorogood enhanced his bartender-blues soliloquy with a request for the audience to please not drink and drive.

That's about it, really. All in all, the show was a little too well-scrubbed for the blues. But not for good-time party music. Responsible good-time party music.

Personal Bias: Shakespeare, Bo Diddley and George Thorogood are all fine by us.

The Crowd: Astonishingly free of River Oaks socialites, college students, or scenesters of any sort. And digging every last drop.

Overheard In the Crowd: "How much did you give her?" (before the show); "I'm gonna get some pussy, brah" (at the end)

Random Notebook Dump: Christ, has this just been an hour?