OMG! Last night was amazing! My first time seeing Brian Setzer live, it was even more awesome that I had hoped for. I really had the best time, it was such a great night!

Front man for 80s rockabilly sensation The Stray Cats, Brian and the boys were part of the massive rockabilly resurgence during the 80s and can be credited for practically being the reason rockabilly went on to survive, especially in the UK, US and Australia.

The Stray Cats toured in 2009 but alas I was too poor at the time to be able to afford to go. Which really sucked because one of my friend’s bands was supporting them!! But I was damn sure I wasn’t going to miss out this time and I’m SO glad I didn’t!

Supported this time on his Rockabilly Riot tour by Melbourne sensation Lanie Lane, I was excited to see this girl live. Only vaguely familiar with her music I had liked what I heard but was interested to see if it would carry across live.

I was EXTREMELY pleasantly surprised – she is actually even better live! She is quite amazing and apparently she’ll be back to play in May so you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be along to that! Her sound is very unique, a careful fusion of pretty much everything – western, surf, blues, mexicana, swap, voodoo…the list could go on. Sounds like a bit of a motely mix but it REALLY works! On the way out I picked up her album on CD and vinyl and I can’t wait for her to come back in May!

But of course, it was then time for the one we’d all be waiting for…the one and only Brian Setzer! It was so exciting when he came out on stage and for the first few songs I was feeling totally surreal. I’m not usually one to get all gaga over stars but as I stood in the crowd and watched I just kept thinking to myself, I can’t believe this is actually happening!



About halfway through the set Slim Jim Phantom, the original drummer from The Stray Cats, came out and joined Brian onstage and it was so cool to see them rocking out! For older dudes they sure could move and they certainly still had all the girls in a tizzy! And play, oh how they can PLAY! They played all the favourites including Runaway Boys, Fishnet Stockings, Sexy and 17 and even covered a Johnny Cash song – SO COOL! And then I couldn’t believe my luck, they played the one song that I was hoping so hard that they would play – the Stray Cat Strut!!! I was in heaven!!

They were joined by a young bass player from Melbourne (imagine scoring that gig!!) who looked like Johnny Depp straight out of Cry Baby! BE STILL MY BEATING HEART!! Such talented musicians, they swapped instruments and were playing on some beautiful pieces of equipment including a lime green metal flake guitar and matching pinstriped bass with an awesome carving of the rockabilly figure from the tour poster as the scroll at the head of the bass – SO FREAKING COOL!!

They finished up with an all in, rousing rendition of Rock This Town which is listed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 most important songs in the history of rock and roll. Seriously, it was AH-MAZING!! I wish I could re-live it all again, but I will have to settle for rocking out in my tour t-shirt which I bought after the show.

It was a fantastic night and I had such a wonderful time! It was so great to see everyone and so lovely to hear all the kind words and get so many hugs. But best of all, The Man was there and we got to enjoy this experience together. And what an experience it was! One we’re sure us and the rest of the crowd at The Tivoli will never forget.