The Brian Setzer Orchestra, fronted by three-time Grammy Award-winner Brian Setzer, will appear at Allen Event Center on Friday, December 11 for The Brian Setzer Orchestra Christmas Rocks! Tour.
Setzer is a unique talent with a career spanning more than 30 years, starting with the rockabilly-resurrecting Stray Cats in the ’80s. Now 12 years into his career as bandleader of the 18-piece Brian Setzer Orchestra, he returns to North Texas to wow audiences with music from the orchestra’s new studio album Rockin’ Rudolph, along with music from their three previous best-selling holiday albums and original material.
Soaring through blistering rockabilly and big-band swing, audiences can expect a raucous performance of re-imagined Christmas classics such as “Jingle Bells,” “The Nutcracker Suite,” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” along with original holiday tunes like “Boogie Woogie Santa Claus,” “Yabba-Dabba Yuletide,” and “Dig That Crazy Santa Claus.” Of course, gems from Setzer’s catalog like “Rock This Town,” “Jump, Jive, an’ Wail,” and “Stray Cat Strut” will make the cut as well.
The Los Angeles Times calls the show “a wildly eclectic party…featuring a rocked-up compendium of classic cuts from decades past, plus a sprinkling of Christmas standards tricked out in appropriately swinging settings.”
The Brian Setzer Orchestra Christmas Rocks! Tour
When: Friday, December 11, 8 p.m.
Where: Allen Event Center, 200 E. Stacy Rd., Allen, Texas 75002
Tickets: Reserved-seat tickets are $29.50–$99.50 and are available for purchase online, by phone at 800.745.3000, or at the Allen Event Center box office.
ABOUT BRIAN SETZER
Brian Setzer is consistently cited as one of the world’s greatest living guitarists. Hot on the heels of his success with the Stray Cats, he portrays his idol, rockabilly pioneer Eddie Cochran, in the 1987 film La Bamba. In 2002, Setzer appeared in animated form on The Simpsons, along with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Tom Petty. That same year, Setzer was personally requested to induct Chet Atkins into the 17th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2014, Setzer received the distinct honor of being asked by the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. to donate a replica of his original 1959 Gretsch 6120 “Stray Cat” guitar, joining an elite collection of musical instruments at the museum that includes Dizzy Gillespie’s trumpet and John Coltrane’s saxophone.
