Well, it took 25 years, but I was finally able to see Brian Setzer last night! What a show! The guy can still play just as fast as in his youth, and he seems to genuinely be a nice person. The wife loved it. Brian said Fresno had the distinction of selling the show out in under five minutes! It was well worth the money and definitely put you in a happy, Christmas-type of mood! If any of you are thinking of seeing him, I'd highly recommend him!
I seen the Chistmas Show this year too. In NJ, The show was great. Big band with a segment of 3 piece rockabilly. Two hours of non stop fantastic show. Johnny Hatton on upright is amazing. Brian is killer. The new drummer is fantastic. But the sound guy sucked. The whole show is well worth the price, The crowd where I saw it filled the aisles dancing to the show. What did they use for snow?? it looked real.
Oh what fun it is to ride in a 57 chevrolet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUyQdolNop0 Jump JIve and wail http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjNgkl5tuBc&feature=related
See the above link on youtube. He formed a group you may remember, The Stray Cats. They had several hits in the early 80's- "Stray Cat Strut", "Sexy and 17" and "Rock This Town" and the guy is just an amazing musician. He loves what he does, and so do his band members, and it really shows. He has a new CD out - something like "Songs from Lonely Road" or something along those lines- that's got a nice wide swath of musical styles on it- check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qkVZLsde20 Back in his youth- check out the tat's on him when it was "rebelious" to have them.
He puts on a great show... saw him once way back in the 80's with the Stray Cats, and once with the Orchestra... a musicians musician.
I saw the Stray Cats with The Pretenders & ZZ Top a couple of years ago. As much as I like ZZ Top the Stray Cats turned out to be the highlight for me. I was in high school the first time around the Cats.
Back that same year, Stray Cats broke off from the tour, came to Santa Fe, NM and played a 2 hour set, no opening bands. It was quite possibly the best concert I've ever been to. If you've seen "Rumble in Brixton" Their live DVD from a couple years back, it was a similar show, but still worth every penny.
Saw that tour here in So Cal as well. Chrissy can still sing and play that guitar, even if she looks like a Grandma now. ZZ Top, well I can't say anything that hasn't already been said, and Stezer and the boys tore it up. G R E A T show!
Brian lives here in the Twin Cities when he's not on the road. MPLS 40 here on the HAMB has had drinks with him, says Brian's a GREAT guy, who actually does a lot of his own wrenching on his Rods. I keep hoping to see him somewhere here in town. I would bet he's at least a LURKER on here.....
The Brian Setzer Orchestra played our summer company picnic in N. SIoux City in about 1997 when I worked at Gateway. Fantastic show, but most people that I worked with were unimpressed with that type of music. They'd much rather have seen Garth, I'm sure. Setzer was definitely one of Rock 'n Rolls original illustrated men before tattoos became fashion statements.
Confirm that he still puts on a fantastic show- what a great dude. Saw him perform his Christmas Extravaganza in '07- Mesa, Az. It was a colossal performance.
saw him in 96 on the guitar slinger tour with the big band. blew my mind. watching him play santo and johnnys sleepwalk was unreal. great show.
Going to look for the Stray Cats album, with the green and black 56 chevy on it, have not seen it in about 20 some years but it is here somewhere along with the Kenwood turntable and the reel to reel tape recorder!. Would like to catch one of his shows here on the East Coast.
Saw the X-mas show a few years back - it was great and the wife really enjoyed too. The set with just Brian, a drummer and a dog house bass was just rockin'.
As an "'Ol Fart" myself (64) Brian has paid tribute to Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran in many of the songs He plays,and if they are looking down watching Him play,they must be proud!
A buddy of mine went to the Brian Setzer Orchestra Christmas Show at the Warfield in San Francisco on Sunday night (12/20/09) ... he's been going to Setzer's Xmas shows since 2005 ... said this show was even better than past shows.
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