Brian Setzer hunched over his boxy Gretsch hollowbody – feet spread, hair hanging over his eyes – and pulled out a twangy burst of notes. His hot Rockabilly Riot band – second guitar, standup bass and drums – thumped a freight train rhythm. "Blue Moon of Kentucky" was leaving the station, and all four players were grinning as they hung on for dear life.
Boy, did they seem to be enjoying themselves.
Setzer, the rockabilly-reviving Stray Cat of the '80s and swinging orchestra leader of the '90s, has been commanding stages around the world for 35 years. Elvis Presley's recording of "Blue Moon of Kentucky," the model for Setzer's performance, is more than 60 years old, and the Bill Monroe original is older still.
But so fervently did Setzer and his band pound out the standard Sunday night at Pier Six Pavilion, where they were first up in a double bill with George Thorogood & The Destroyers, that they made it utterly new. It was like that throughout a 14-song set of rockabilly covers and originals: Men playing like a gang of teenaged boys, scarcely able to contain their glee as they conspired to unleash a secret new sound on an unsuspecting audience – a sound they knew was going to slay the crowd.
And it did. Setzer is a rockabilly polyglot, fluent in the styles of Scotty Moore, Cliff Gallup and Carl Perkins, among other masters, and facile in country, jazz, surf, rock and shred. He drew on all of them to rev new life into "Great Balls of Fire," "Folsom Prison Blues" and "Rock This Town."
Other highlights included his solo interpretation of "Sleep Walk," the 1959 lullaby by Santo and Johnny, turned inside-out with cascading arpeggios; the haunted house riffs with which he opened "Drive Like Lightning (Crash Like Thunder)"; and "Fishnet Stockings," with a cute quotation from "Rock Around the Clock."
What Setzer is to rockabilly, Thorogood is to the electric blues of John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf and others: A guitar-blazing revivalist whose enthusiasm and showmanship make the music fresh. On Sunday, he dropped a swampy, tremolo-drenched E, let it throb, declared "And away we go," and launched into his definitive take on Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love."
Thorogood, from Wilmington, Del., is something of a local act; he managed to work Eutaw Street and other Baltimore references into the music. He has a great, rubbery face – he looked at times a little like a bigger, tougher Mick Jagger – and appeared to have a great time leering, preening and popping his eyes at his often off-color commentary.
If you see Thorogood – and you should, he's great fun – take a look at his right hand. Instead of using a flat pick, like virtually everyone else, Thorogood sort of rubs the strings of his Gibson hollowbody with his fingertips. It's odd to see, and a difficult way to generate power, but power wasn't a problem Sunday, as he worked the Destroyers through the pile-driving "I Drink Alone," "Get A Haircut" and "Gear Jammer."
The Destroyers, a couple of whom have been with Thorogood since the '70s, were as tight as ever; particularly satisfying was the guitar version of the Strangeloves' 1965 garage stomper "Night Time," which hit like a punch in the face.
Brian Setzer Set List
Rumble in Brighton
Vinyl Records
Stray Cat Strut
Nothing Is a Sure Thing
Stiletto Cool
'49 Mercury Blues
Great Balls of Fire
Drive Like Lightning (Crash Like Thunder)
Slow Down/Folsom Prison Blues
Blue Moon of Kentucky
Runaway Boys
8-Track
Fishnet Stockings/Rock Around the Clock
Let's Shake
Encore
Sleep Walk
Rock This Town/Train Kept a-Rollin'
George Thorogood and the Destroyers
Rock Party
Who Do You Love
The Fixer
Night Time Is the Right Time/Train Kept A Rollin'
I Drink Alone
House Rent Boogie/One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer
Get a Haircut
Gear Jammer
Move it on Over
Tail Dragger
Bad to the Bone