setzerville

STRAY CATS SEND US ALL TO HEAVEN!!!!!
My Review of BRIXTON and SHEPERDS BUSH GIGS.

As i might end up writing a book about these two amazing concerts, i've decided to pick out the Highlights that spring to mind....and man, there are SO many!!!

Getting to Brixton was a nightmare....but going with my Wife ( the famous Queen Jewels!), and my good friend Brucie 68, was fantastic because we shared the dream
and experienced a weekend that was absolutely unforgetable!!!

Here is a list of some of the Great people we met from the Hoodoo Voodoo Lounge -
ALISONKITTEN - At last! MARKSTEINSON! TOMMY M!!! LISA! OZ! GARON AND BROTHER! SLIM JEAN! BOB FROM CALIFORNIA AND SISTER! SCOUSE ANDY!
SLAPPER JOHN! DAVE! GILL AND COOL JOOLES!!!
Everyone was so friendly - it felt like lots of long lost buddies were all thrown together by fate....and their love of The Kings of Rockabilly.

OK....on with the shows....

At the end of 'Rock This Town' Brian Setzer suddenly remembered that he hadn't thrown his Gretsch guitar into the air ( which he would normally do before the end of
the song)....so music finished, he threw it high above the stage...and miscalculated his catch, and just managed to grab the guitar neck before the thing smashed to pieces
against the stage!!! Brian's face was a picture of releif! He would always remember that, and so will all the people at Sheperds Bush Venue that night!

We had already had a lot of memorable moments to cherish forever.... Slim Jim Phantom running over to Setzer to give him a drumstick and Brian finishing off a song by
banging the stick against the cymbol!!! Lee Rocker slapping his double bass like a genius in his solo on 'My Baby Left Me'.....and those plucking hands and vibrating
strings were a few feet from my face!!! Both nights the Stray Cats were laughing and joking...i especially liked it when Brian said " TIME TO BE INTRODUCED TO THE
BAND"....and promtly went and shook Jim and Lee's hand!!!! "WELL, THAT'S THAT...ON WITH THE SHOW!" he joked. At the end of 'Eighteen Miles to Memphis'
Slim Jim made the OK sign to Setzer, and smiling like a cheshire CAT he purred " PERFECT!".

I was in the front or second row of fans at both concerts....i just couldn't believe at Brixton that the stage was just feet away! ( I knew at some point that Brian and Lee
would walk to the edge of the stage)....but nothing could prepare me for what happened at Sheperds Bush....The stage was hardly bigger than my lounge back home,
and Setzer's mic was less than ten feet away to begin with! So EVERY guitar solo he did was about six foot away!!!! Near enough to touch hands....which he did with
some front row people at the end of a few songs! So close, INCREDIABLE!!!!! It surprised me how fresh and alive every song was....esp - 'Runaway Boys' - sounded like
they had just recorded it for first time!!! The Cats looked FANTASTIC too! That Slim Jim is SKINNY JIM! Great quiff and never missed a beat! All the leaps in the air were there...and the changing feet on top of drum kit on 'Rock This Town'! Lee wore his glasses more at the Bush gig...he too was outstanding both nights. He lifted that bass
over his head and just kept on playing!!!! Didn't smoke that much either (blimey!) You could tell he was at the top of his game and really enjoying himself. Then there's the
other Stray Cat...whats-his-name? HA! Setzer was GOD!!!!....and that's what i shouted to him three times...but i don't think he heard....so maybe he will hear me in my
prayers!!! lol

At one point at the Brixton gig Brian fancied a lie down....so using the speaker as a bed, he stretched out, head flung back. hands a blur as he expertly twanged that
gretsch without even having to look at what he was doing! I can't wait to see that bit on the dvd when it's released!

Some idiot wanted to give Setzer a beer bath at beginning of both gigs...Brian's guitar and drapes got splattered a little.....he wiped down his guitar, mopped the floor with
a rag ( some stage hands came on and helped him after a while)...and said - "WHAT A WASTE OF GOOD BEER!". The idiot was dragged out over my head by
secretity ( After we all pointed to him and Setzer showed the guy in the strange french costume) ....Brian got a big cheer when he said "THANK YOU and F*** YOU!!!"
I thought the Cats might play 'Lookin' Better Every Beer' after those silly moments of madness by a few drunken yobbos. Still, it didn't spoil the gigs, just added to the
intense atmosphere and boiling over excitement. It was pretty hot in there....at Brixton there were 5 or 6 ladies who had to be crane lifted out of the crowd. Everyone
helped as soon as they could. Everyone also sang EVERY LINE of EVERY SONG with Brian.....and this just knocked the cats for six. You could tell they were totally
in awe of not just the reception they got...but also of the cheering, clapping and shouting with arms in air and whole crowd bopping to and fro in unison on every song!!!!

Brian Setzer thanked all the fans that had stuck with The Stray Cats since 1980. He said they were so overwhelmed that they WOULD PLAY ENGLAND AGAIN!!!!!

Well the coolest Cats in the galaxy gave us a Rockabilly weekend that i will never forget. And meeting so many great Stray Cats fans was yet another dream come
true. So thank you everyone for making an unbeleivable experience even better!!!!!

We didn't get to meet the Cats after the Sheperds Bush gig but I bumped into Briansetzer.com's one and only TOMMY and had some photos taken with him and my
new friends!!! A little later as we were waiting outside at one of the exits, Tommy came out to leave....he smiled at Brucie then he saw me again and he said ..."HEY,
RADIATION STEVE!" It made my day!!!! :clap: :clap: :clap: :rockon: :guitar: