Jannus Live in downtown St. Petersburg was the place to be on Wednesday night. The holiday themed rave up cleverly billed as “Horton's Holiday Hayride” made a whirlwind stop at the cool outdoor courtyard venue and damn, was it a hell of a good time.
The package tour/holiday revue boasted some pretty heavy hitters led by dynamite headliners and hell raisers, The Reverend Horton Heat. Fronted by the affable and good-spirited guitar wiz James C. Heath (aka The Reverend), the newly expanded four-piece outfit came to have a good time…and to ensure that the jovial crowd in attendance did too. Whether whipping out psychobilly barnburners, revved up Christmas tunes or blues-inspired rockers, the electrified quartet did not disappoint a soul in the joint. Plenty of dancing, swinging, bopping and fist pumping action was happening during the band’s rip-roaring set.
A stage adorned with decorated silver Christmas trees set the tone of the holiday themed extravaganza and the band made sure to jam some holiday-inspired selections into the lengthy set list and did so in a hurry. Opening with a sizzling, instrumental, guitar-heavy version of “We Three Kings,” the Rev, wearing his trademark ear-to-ear grin showed us in an instant that he was here for one reason: to have fun and play some rock and roll. Sporting a red velvet jacket and string tie and looking more like a country fair auctioneer than a hotshot guitar slinger, Heat showed off his mind-blowing arsenal of guitar chops quickly and often.
Revisiting old favorites among the holiday selections, the band hit a fever pitch early on when they launched into the rollicking “Psychobilly Freakout” from their superb 1990 debut album Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em early in the set ensuring that this wouldn’t be a typical stuffy, mundane holiday concert.
Shifting gears, genres and styles often, the band, featuring longtime standup bass wild man Jimbo Wallace and recently acquired ex-Brave Combo drummer Arjuna "RJ" Contreras kept the pace up all night long and delivered a fiery set that kept the audience rapt for the duration. Rounding out the sound was lively piano and organ player Matt Jordan who added Jerry Lee Lewis-like flair to some of the night’s more swinging tunes and threw in lots of charm and pizzazz along the way too.
The Rev’s unmistakable raspy voice was in fine form for surprises like the boogie-woogie style version of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” that he labeled a “cheesy Christmas song.” The familiar holiday classic transgressed into a honky-tonk number that featured a saloon-inspired piano break courtesy of Jordan’s handy keyboard work. And, in a wink, the band again sped things up and launched an all-out assaulting version of their kickass romp from 1994, “The Devil's Chasing Me". And, in the name of sheer showmanship, Jimbo, on cue, lowered his large bass to the ground, slapped it and plucked it while on the ground while the Reverend climbed on top of it and delivered his sizzling licks while standing on the massive instrument. Yeah, it was that kind of night. The music was loud and fast and the band was tight and wound up. Oh, and the Rev and Jimbo switching instruments to deliver a red hot version of Chuck Berry’s “Run Run Rudolph” was pretty epic itself. Jimbo has the chops to unleash his own guitar attack too as he proved ever so well on this total highlight.
In a surprising and welcomed surprise, the band was also joined for a segment of their set by exquisite rockabilly vocalist Big Sandy (nee Robert Williams) whose smooth, commanding, golden pipes did plenty to add to the excitement the Rev and his cohorts were conjuring. Sifting through his own material with former backing band The Fly-Rite Trio and more current accompanist’s The Fly-Rite Boys, Sandy, dressed in dapper black suit looked and sounded like an authentic throwback to the heyday of 50s rockabilly. Another Chuck Berry nod came when Sandy delivered a smooth, sailing version of Chuck’s “Havana Moon” and dedicated it to “the Cuban sandwich I had for lunch.”
More hijinks came with the Reverend’s rendition of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” which was played to the tune of the “Batman” theme, a smoking version of his own “400 Bucks” and a snazzy version of the Motorhead classic, “Ace of Spades.” Wrapping with an encore that included the lounge-inspired “It’s Martini Time” and a reprise of Big Sandy’s fine vocal stylings, the crowd was spent and elated after the exciting thrill ride that only The Reverend Horton Heat can whip up.
Warming up the night was renowned Texas-based singer and picker, Junior Brown. Playing his trademark “guit-steel” concoction of an electric guitar fused with a lap steel guitar, Brown and his deep, bellowing voice kept the audience entertained in anticipation of the Reverend’s headlining set. Featuring his own three piece band, including rhythm guitarist, wife and longtime collaborator, Tanya Rae Brown. Criss-crossing through blues, Texas swing, rock and roll, country and surf-rock, Brown delivered a thoroughly enjoyable hour-long opening set that featured plenty of his well-known songs like “Highway Patrol” and “My Wife Thinks You’re Dead” as well as plenty of selections from more recent albums.
Sadly, a super early start time for legendary California punk/rockabilly upstarts The Blasters prevented me from catching their set but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Luckily, at least, Blasters drummer Bill Bateman came out for the encore to play drums for the Rev but, needless to say, this already perfect night would have been even more of a memorable event by adding the mighty Blasters to the list of killer bands witnessed.
