Crowd gorges on 3 bands' feast of tunes

ZZ TOP, STRAY CATS, THE PRETENDERS, USANA Amphitheater, Wednesday

The Stray Cats got back together just in time to play the show of their lives.

The band — drummer "Slim" Jim Phantom, bassist Lee Rocker and guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer — played together on a Utah stage for the first time in nearly two decades and gave a feast of their special blend of rock-a-billy, after a bluesy set from Utah's own Downright Blue.

The Cats even threw in a couple of sweet morsels for their more rabid fans.

One of those tasty tidbits was "Runaway Boys," the band's first hit single that broke the Cats in England in 1981, weeks before "Stray Cat Strut" hit an infant MTV.

The other sumptuous song was the Cats' tribute to rock 'n' roll pioneers Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, aptly named "Gene and Eddie."

Then there was the rapid-fire countdown of "Blast Off" and the cool alley-blues of the aforementioned "Stray Cat Strut."

"Sexy and 17" sounded as fresh as it did 20-odd years ago as did the crowd-pleaser "Rock This Town."

As Phantom jumped on his bass drum and Rocker stood balanced on his stand-up bass, Setzer took off on many flying-fingered solos that brought cheers and smiles from the audience.

The encore consisted of the Stray Cats driving remake of Sonny Curtis-era Crickets' "I Fought the Law."

The show could have easily stopped there, but it didn't.

The Pretenders featuring lead singer/guitarist Chrissie Hynde strutted onto the stage and gave the audience a nice little show that included the uptempo "Don't Get Me Wrong" and "The Adultress," which was sung as a request from an adoring fan.

Hynde and drummer Martin Chambers, bassist Nick Wilkinson and guitarist Adam Seymour found themselves getting down and dirty with the strutting "My City Was Gone" and the cross-over hit "Back on the Chain Gang."

The group even squeezed in "Brass in Pocket" to adoring cheers.

The show could have ended there, but it didn't.

ZZ Top — that little ol' band from Texas — came on and jump started its set with "Under Pressure."

Drummer Frank Beard and bassist Dusty Hill followed guitarist/singer Billy Gibbons' lead as the band dived into a hit-parade of Southern boogie and blues.