Brian Setzer (with The Stray Cats)

Brian Setzer brings The Stray Cats to Ovens Auditorium on Friday, November 20, as part of the band's 2026 Cross-Country Tour. It's the rockabilly trio in full: Setzer on guitar and vocals, Lee Rocker on double bass, and Slim Jim Phantom on drums. The show starts at 7:30 PM.

If you're not familiar with the name, Setzer is the guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who founded The Stray Cats and has sold 13 million records. He's a three-time Grammy winner, and he's often credited with bringing rockabilly back into the conversation in the 1980s and swing in the 1990s. Beyond the trio, he leads the nineteen-piece Brian Setzer Orchestra, so this is the leaner, rockabilly side of his work.

His career has taken him well beyond the stage. He played rockabilly pioneer Eddie Cochran in the 1987 film La Bamba and was animated in an episode of The Simpsons in 2002. He performed at the White House in 2006, and in 2014 he donated a replica of his original 1959 Gretsch 6120 'Stray Cat' guitar to the Smithsonian Institution. He's widely cited as one of the world's greatest living guitarists and carries a line of elite Gretsch signature model guitars.

This Charlotte date is one stop on the band's 2026 Cross-Country Tour, so they'll be playing the same set they're taking across the country. The show is at Ovens Auditorium, 2700 E Independence Blvd, on Friday, November 20, starting at 7:30 PM.