Ted Nugent Ignites The Grove Of Anaheim With a Ferocious Revival of Baby, Please Don’t Go
On June 30, 2011, at The Grove of Anaheim in California, Ted Nugent delivered a blistering live performance that reaffirmed his enduring bond with American blues and hard rock tradition. Among the highlights of the evening was his explosive rendition of Baby, Please Don’t Go, a song whose lineage stretches back to the earliest recorded electric blues.
Originally recorded in 1935 by Big Joe Williams, Baby, Please Don’t Go became one of the most enduring standards in blues history. Its raw structure and emotional urgency made it a foundation piece for generations of rock musicians. Decades later, the song found renewed life through The Amboy Dukes, the Detroit based band that introduced Nugent to a national audience. Their 1967 debut album, The Amboy Dukes, featured the track as the group’s first single, helping establish their early psychedelic and hard edged sound. The recording also gained broader cultural traction when it appeared on the influential compilation Nuggets, which documented pivotal garage rock recordings of the 1960s.
By the time Nugent performed at The Grove in 2011, Baby, Please Don’t Go had become more than a cover in his repertoire. It was a cornerstone of his live identity. Nugent had previously recorded a searing concert version for his 1978 breakthrough live album Double Live Gonzo!, a release that significantly elevated his commercial profile. That version later appeared on major compilations including Great Gonzos! and The Ultimate Ted Nugent, underscoring the track’s importance within his catalog.
The Grove performance demonstrated how Nugent continues to reinterpret the song within a high volume, high intensity framework. His guitar tone remained aggressive and saturated, emphasizing rapid fire phrasing and extended solo passages. While the original Williams recording was driven by Delta blues grit, Nugent’s approach reflected decades of arena rock evolution. The tempo was muscular, the amplification commanding, and the delivery unapologetically forceful.
What distinguished the 2011 performance was not reinvention but reaffirmation. Nugent leaned into the song’s primal structure, using it as a vehicle for sustained guitar improvisation while maintaining its recognizable call and response dynamics. The audience response suggested familiarity and loyalty, as the track has been a recurring fixture throughout his touring career.
At The Grove of Anaheim, a modern concert venue known for hosting established touring acts, Nugent’s performance bridged blues history and hard rock spectacle. Baby, Please Don’t Go, first cut to acetate in 1935, continues to echo across stages more than seven decades later. In Nugent’s hands on that June night in California, the song stood not as a relic, but as living, amplified tradition.