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Saw Setzer last night


mrjamiam

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The Brian Setzer Orchestra is doing their Christmas show, and I caught them last night in Huntsville.  I wouldn't characterize myself as a rockabilly fan, but it was a good time - Brian mixed up rockabilly and big band swing with a few swinging Christmas songs mixed in.  I believe he played three Gretsches all night, a main orange one (or so it appeared from my seat quite a way back) with a substantial buckle rash on the back, a green one (that was supposed to be Christmas green but was instead "something that dripped out of your radiator green") and a red one for the encore.  Amps looked like a blonde Bassman and some Fender tweed combo, but what do I know?  He ripped it up regularly, but I thought one of his best sounds was when he played "Running Down a Dream".  He didn't say anything about why, but I suppose we all think it was a tribute to the late, great Tom Petty, especially because he played "Wichita Lineman" right before it, and we lost Glenn Campbell not too long ago.  No "Back Home Again in Indiana", though.  The encore was their interpretation of "The Nutcracker Suite", for which they brought out a double-wide sheet music stand for Brian, with a triple-wide score on it.

The unbilled opening act was "The Texas Gentlemen", a very Fender-y quintet.  The two guitarists and the keyboardist sang, and the guitarist who played slide sounded a lot like Willie Nelson, especially on one song mid-set.  Overall they were sort of a jam band-y Americana sounding act.  They did a nice Link Wray "Rumble" lead-in and outro to their closer.

Overall, not a bad way to enter the season.  I'll catch them again if they come back.

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He/they played my town just a week ago. I passed since I’d seen the show just a couple years ago. He’s pretty damn incredible. 

I really wish he’d tour more with a smaller band doing a non Christmas show but that would probably mean smaller crowds, venues, and guarantees for him. 

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Wish he'd bring the Christmas show to the UK, but I suppose logistically there's not much swag to be made from it when that many people would need to travel.  I'd like to think we'd make it to the US to catch one of the shows at some stage.  I saw him at Shepherds Bush Empire, yikes, 2001/2002 and it was 100%, just amazing.

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1 hour ago, planetgaffnet said:

Wish he'd bring the Christmas show to the UK, but I suppose logistically there's not much swag to be made from it when that many people would need to travel.  I'd like to think we'd make it to the US to catch one of the shows at some stage.  I saw him at Shepherds Bush Empire, yikes, 2001/2002 and it was 100%, just amazing.

But when he does tour with a smaller band or there's a Stray Cats reunion it's almost always in EU/UK. :wacko: :lol:

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I had front row tix last year and my wife got very sick the day of so I gave them to my local luthier. He was blown away by the show and brought me back a cool T-shirt. Sadly Setzer didn’t come to my area this year. I wanna see him.

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He's been one of my favorites since the early 80s. I still remember the excitement of getting and hearing the first Stray Cats album (the Dave Edmunds produced import, not the US release Built for Speed). I got to see the Cats at Cantrell's in Nashville in 82 right before they started to gain some traction in the states. Cantrell's built a tent off the back to maximize the crowd. We got there hours early to make sure we got a place in the front, which we did. Still ranks as one of the highlights of my concert experiences.

A few years later, he came to Louisville in support of his first BSO album. He played at a small-ish place with the whole orchestra. I bet there were less than 100 people there, but that did nothing to reduce the energy. Again, I spent the entire show right at the front and even got to meet him very briefly after the show.

He came back to Louisville last year with his Christmas show, which we attended. Our seats were good, but not great. Still, even after all these years he rocked the place from start to finish. I would not hesitate to see him, in any iteration, again.

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I've seen the show 3 times over the years, and I'd go back in a heartbeat.  He really does it right.

The Mavericks and Chris Isaak also do pretty ass-kicking holiday shows too if Setzer isn't in your area, but I think Setzer's the best.

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On 12/3/2017 at 5:11 PM, Steve Haynie said:

Brian Setzer is one of those guys I have yet to see, and regret it every time I miss his show. 

Make a point of going, it's great.  I've seen the Christmas show twice (and also once during his 90s Big-Band revival period and once as the Stray Cats in the early 80s), and would go again in a heartbeat.  During the 9 years that I lived in Tampa, he never came through, but always hit Denver.  This year, I'm finally back in CO, and he skipped Denver and hit Tampa.  Go figure.

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7 hours ago, LordsoftheJungle said:

He's swinging through Albuquerque next week, I just need to get over the $300 to $400 per ticket price,,, ouch!

You must be looking at tickets on a reselling sight? They make their website look an awful lot like the venue or Ticketmaster’s sites, they also are the first results in a Google search over Ticketmaster/venue sites. 

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10 hours ago, Stike said:

You must be looking at tickets on a reselling sight? They make their website look an awful lot like the venue or Ticketmaster’s sites, they also are the first results in a Google search over Ticketmaster/venue sites. 

 

Wow, it's true, that site was reselling tickets with gigantic markups. Of course the primo seats are gone but there are some decent ones left in the wings...

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3 hours ago, LordsoftheJungle said:

 

Wow, it's true, that site was reselling tickets with gigantic markups. Of course the primo seats are gone but there are some decent ones left in the wings...

Those bastards are tricky!

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