Brian Setzer’s Rockabilly Riot

I love Rockabilly as I’ve already written about and The Stray Cats were my first real exposure to the genre.  Last night, Robin & I got to see an absolutely amazing performance from Brian Setzer fulfilling a long time dream of both of ours. This was no bloated 80′s revival tour, this was two solid hours of kick ass rockabilly and I mean kick ass.  As Robin said to me with a huge grin on her face in the middle of the show: “SMOKING!!!”

These guys were on fire coming out of the gate with some killer riffs and booming beats that just kept going.  There was only a brief pause or two and a quick acknowledgement of the crowd.  You could tell these guys loved playing music and they were having a ball.  The action did not stop until about 50 minutes into the show when the bass player and the drummer quietly left the stage and Brian slowly played to a stop.  He switched out his guitar with one that he said he bought when he was 17 and playing in the Stray Cats.  He slyly said with a big grin “If I’m going to play some Stray Cats songs, I better bring out another Cat” and out came Slim Jim Phantom the drummer from the Stray Cats.  They played a set consisting of their hit songs and some rockabilly classics and they sounded perfect.

Throughout the night, musicians (Two Bass Players, Two Drummers, One Piano Player) came on and came off as the songs progressed.  It was a Rockabilly rave up and the crowd was loving it.  There was a dueling bass players bit towards the end where the two very enthusiastic players were having a slap off.  They were joined at the end by Brian playing a stand up bass himself and for a few minutes the crowd was treated to three stand up bass players making music together.

Brian Setzers Rockabilly Riot show was  loud, fast and we loved every single minute of it.  It was a perfect way to end what has been the most memorable year of live musics that I have ever had.