The Stray Cats kicked off their 2026 U.S. tour on Friday in Las Vegas, delivering a rousing 22-song set on the Chelsea on the Cosmopolitan.
You possibly can see video from the efficiency and the total set record under.
Friday’s present marked the primary Stray Cats efficiency in virtually precisely a 12 months, because the band was compelled to cancel its fall 2025 tour attributable to singer and guitarist Brian Setzer’s reported “critical sickness.” However on Friday, these points had been within the rearview, because the Stray Cats ripped by staples equivalent to “Stray Cat Strut” and “Rock This City,” together with early rock ‘n’ roll classics equivalent to Eddie Cochran’s “Twenty Flight Rock” and Santo & Johnny’s “Sleep Stroll.”
A pair of covers immortalized by Elvis Presley — his personal “Jailhouse Rock” and Massive Mama Thornton’s “Hound Canine” — appeared within the encore earlier than the group wrapped issues up with “Constructed for Pace.”
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What Have been Brian Setzer’s Well being Points?
Setzer revealed in early 2025 that he was coping with an autoimmune illness that made it unattainable for him to play guitar. “There isn’t a ache, but it surely looks like I’m sporting a pair of gloves when I attempt to play,” Setzer advised followers. “I’ve seen some progress in that I can maintain a pen and tie my footwear. I do know this sounds ridiculous, however I used to be at a degree the place I could not even do this.”
The guitarist mentioned that amid these well being struggles, he grew to become hooked on Kratom, an over-the-counter natural wellness tonic. However a visit to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, yielded a correct prognosis and put Setzer on the street to restoration.
“One of the simplest ways I can describe it’s, your nerves are like wires, and wires have sheathing on them,” Setzer defined (through Guitar Participant). “Properly, that is coating has sort of eroded, so the wires malfunction. Principally, they lock up my fingers and ft. I can not transfer them. I can not button my pants, not to mention play guitar.”
Progress was incremental. “I used to be in a position to maintain a guitar decide – that got here first,” Setzer mentioned. “It was, ‘All proper, I am greater than midway there.’ After which after I was in a position to fingerpick, when my fingers got here again, then I had the entire bundle.”
A rejuvenated Setzer and Co. now have dozens of exhibits booked by the tip of the 12 months. The primary leg of their just-launched tour will finish on Aug. 16 in Morristown, New Jersey. Following a three-month break, they’re going to hit the street for a second leg that begins on Nov. 9 in Grand Prairie, Texas, and ends on Dec. 6 in Mashantucket, Connecticut.
Watch the Stray Cats Play ‘Stray Cat Strut’ on July 24, 2026
Watch the Stray Cats Play ‘Please Do not Contact’ on July 24, 2026
Watch the Stray Cats Play ‘Rumble in Brighton’ on July 24, 2026
Stray Cats – July 24, 2026, Las Vegas Set Listing
1. “Please Do not Contact” (Johnny Kidd and the Pirates cowl)
2. “Too Hip, Gotta Go”
3. “Runaway Boys”
4. “Double Talkin’ Child” (Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps cowl)
5. “My One Need” (Dorsey Burnette cowl)
6. “Stray Cat Strut”
7. “Gene and Eddie”
8. “Rumble in Brighton”
9. “Twenty Flight Rock” (Eddie Cochran cowl)
10. “Sleep Stroll” (Santo & Johnny cowl)
11. “Cry Child”
12. “Three Time’s a Allure”
13. “My Child Left Me” (Arthur “Massive Boy” Crudup cowl)
14. “When Nothing’s Going Proper”
15. “Deliver It Again Once more”
16. “Blast Off”
17. “I Will not Stand in Your Manner”
18. “Fishnet Stockings”
19. “Rock This City”
Encore
20. “Jailhouse Rock” (Elvis Presley cowl)
21. “Hound Canine” (Massive Mama Thornton cowl)
22. “Constructed for Pace”
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Gallery Credit score: Nick DeRiso
