Digital Diversion

© 2012 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook.

© 2012 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook.

© 2012 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook.

© 2012 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook.

The good Reverend Horton Heat must love the Bay Area because after his show in Santa Clara, he parked his tour bus on Divisadero in front of the Independent and, as of Saturday night, it didn’t look like he was going anywhere. Where else are you going to find a 50-something year old man packing in a diverse crowd full of punks, greasers and cow pokes all there to listen to songs about cars, booze, women and other things the experts say are generally no good for you. Jim “Reverend Horton Heat” Heath, that’s who.

The floor loaded up while openers Swingin’ Utters warmed up the room for the godfather of psychobilly. The band opened with Marijuana off of “Smoke ‘em If You Got ‘em” and from there followed an uncharacteristically straight road through the Heat catalog, two songs from each album at a time. The Rev looked liked he’d been spending some time in the gym and sounded even better as his hands slam-danced across the fretboard of his hollow-body Gretch.

Jimbo was in his zone as he slapped away on his standup and by the fourth song, the crowd dancin’ and a shakin’. Finally deviating from the 2-song-per-album them, they brought the Heat back to the beginning with Psychobilly Freakout which suffered a resurgence after its inclusion in the Guitar Hero franchise. Wrapping the night up with an encore of Toothbrush, Bales of Cocaine, and Big Red Rocket Of Love/Folsom Prison Blues made for an appropriate ending to his Bay Area stand.

Don’t miss out on Reverend Horton Heat when he comes through your town. You can find tour dates here.

© 2011 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook for access to exclusive photos.