PinK Gelatine!: ☠ Stray Cats Farewell European Tour 2008!

Rockabilly power trio the Stray Cats, with Brian Setzer on guitar and vocals, Lee Rocker on slap bass, and Slim Jim Phantom on drums performed 2 shows in Amsterdam this summer. The first one on August 25 in the worldwide known venue Paradiso which is actually an old church building in the center of Amsterdam, a fantastic intimate atmosphere with a small audience.

The opening act was a rockabilly trio as well (what else????), Buzz Campbell and Hot Rod Lincoln. They really worked their butt off to warm up the crowd that was already warmed up for the Stray Cats…but they put up a terrific rockin’ performance. And when they finished their drummer handed me his drumsticks which I treasure as a souvenir….. Also the crowd was great, rockabilly cats and kittens everywhere, sideburns and pompadours and a lot of Bettie looks all around….and all of them in the mood for good old rock’n roll the Stray Cats way….

As soon as the three guys from Massapequa entered the stage the crowd was rocking and rolling when the first notes of Rumble in Brighton were coming out of the amps…this tour also brought some first ever live versions of songs like Gina and Sweet Gene Vincent which had never been performed in front of an audience before. The guys gave the audience everything they asked for and even more, a terrific show with sparks flying off, in which you could really see those three guys on stage enjoying themselves to the max as well as their audience.

The second show the band did in the Netherlands was also in Amsterdam but in a much bigger venue called the Heineken Music Hall. And also at this show Buzz Campbell and Hot Rod Lincoln did the warm up, even better than they did in Paradiso….

When the cats came on stage the roof went of off the building for the next one and a half hour, and the encore was extended to 4 songs instead of the 2 they did in Paradiso…. All in all the performed two superb shows, in a terrific entourage…. It only makes you sad to think this could really have been their farewell tour…..and we might never be able to experience this again……