What: Stray Cats

Where: Pacific Amphitheater, Costa Mesa

When: July 1

Concert review by George A. Paul

Stray Cats were a few songs into their 21-song set on Thursday night at the Pacific Amphitheatre when lead singer/guitarist Brian Setzer mentioned that the band last played there six years ago. “I think we sound better now,” he said proudly.

Indeed. The veteran New York rockabilly trio came across tighter than ever amid an exhilarating 80-minute concert for the OC Fair Summer Concert Series. Several fans decked out in old school rock ‘n’ roll attire populated the audience (one guy and gal could easily have been extras in some cast of “Grease”).

Setzer - a former Indian Wells resident who partially recorded The Brian Setzer Orchestra’s 2002 album Boogie Woogie Christmas in Palm Springs - has put out two solo albums (The Devil Always Collects, Gotta Have the Rumble) since Stray Cats released the solid studio effort 40 in 2019.

The Stray Cats live album, Rocked This Town: From LA to London, arrived the following year. Bassist/vocalist Lee Rocker and drummer/backing vocalist Slim Jim Phantom also had new solo album projects appear during the intervening period.

In the first of two Costa Mesa shows, Stray Cats appropriately took the stage to Eddie Cochran’s “C’mon Everybody.” The band opened with a rousing “Too Hip, Gotta Go,” from 1983’s US gold-certified album Rant ‘n’ Rave with the Stray Cats. It was the first of many examples of Setzer’s dexterous work on his Gretsch guitars. Lee Rocker vigorously thumped away on a cowhide painted upright bass, among three he would use. Phantom did cool drumstick twirls.

Before the twangy, sinister vibe of “Runaway Boys,” Setzer noted how it was the first song they ever did. For the uninitiated, the tune was an international hit single (UK #9, 1980) before America took notice.

A snappy “Three Time’s a Charm” off 40, fit well alongside the older material. The OC crowd sang along loudly to a fun “Stray Cat Strut,” the group’s biggest domestic hit (US #3, 1981). The latter is its most streamed song on Spotify, currently at 37 million, and was recently featured in the Hulu series “The Great” starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult.

All three guys gathered at a microphone stand to sing the opening line of Gene Vincent’s “Be-Bop-a-Lula,” which figures prominently in the jaunty Vincent/Cochran tribute “Gene and Eddie.” Setzer’s lightning guitar solo here was a wonder.

Rocker, a Laguna Beach resident, said he was pleased to play a hometown gig before taking lead vocal duties on the song he penned for 40, “When Nothing’s Going Right.” And Phantom, recalling Stray Cats’ early days, said the Pacific Amphitheatre was a better place than NYC’s once infamous, tiny and dingy music club CBGB (talk about an understatement!).

Other standouts came fast and furious in the set’s back half, including a fiery “(She’s) Sexy+17,” where Rocker and Phantom sang the main chorus; the hyperkinetic “Blast Off!” with its humorous outer space lyrics; a cover of Cochran’s “Summertime Blues” (dedicated to Fifties/Sixties guitar pioneer Duane Eddy, who died last April); Setzer’s low croon and the group harmonies on the effusive “Bring it Back Again” and signature hit “Rock This Town,” where Setzer ventured to the sides of the stage as he did throughout the evening.

On select songs, Rocker dragged his heavy bass around to be in closer proximity to his bandmates. Stray Cats finished the show with a thunderous “Rumble in Brighton” and the lean “Built for Speed” – a title that still describes the musicians too.

Upcoming tour dates:

8/3 Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, San Diego

8/5 Red Butte Garden, Salt Lake City

8/6 Mission Ballroom, Denver

8/8 Bluestem Center for the Arts Amphitheater, Moorhead, MN

8/9 Ledge Amphitheater, Waite Park, MN

8/10 Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana, Gary, IN

8/12 Rose Music Center at the Heights, Huber Heights, OH

8/13 Artpark Amphitheater, Lewiston, NY

8/15 Rooftop at Pier 17, New York, NY

8/16 Ocean Casino Resort, Atlantic City, NJ

8/17 Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater, Bridgeport, CT

Archival live photo by Suzie Kaplan