LIVE REVIEW: The Reverend Horton Heat in Worcester, MA (04.16.26)
Texas-based rockabilly band Reverend Horton Heat played in Worcester at Off The Rails. Despite the band’s lead singer, Jim Heath, constantly stating that it was Saturday, the band played on Thursday night. In terms of presentation, the band was on point. Heath walked on stage wearing a fancy, sparkly black suit and wielding a custom Gretsch electric guitar with his name on the pickguard; the rest of the band wore black button-up shirts and black pants. Overall, the band maintained a strict black, white, and red color scheme. From the props, to the clothing, to even the instruments, there was not a single color seen on stage that wasn’t black, white, or red.
One prominent thing I noticed is that the band didn’t have any roadies. The band’s drummer was the one on stage tuning Jim Heath’s guitar and making sure the volume was good. The band had a lot of back-and-forth banter throughout the show, but a quote that stuck out to me came during a moment where Jim Heath mentioned how long his bassist, Jimbo, has been with him. He started talking about all the different eras they’ve been through, and he said, “We ain’t dead yet, we got a lot of eras left in us.”
Even as a group of older men, they had an incredible amount of energy on stage, showing that age has not slowed them down. At one point on stage, the bassist turned the double bass on its side, sat on it to play, and the lead singer stood on it while continuing to play guitar. That is certainly an incredible move you will not see at any other concert you attend. They definitely made a lot of jokes on stage. The drummer was talking about all the times he got kicked out of Applebee’s, since that was the only bar they had in Texas, and he mentioned getting kicked out during lunchtime. He said, “Hey, you can’t drink all day if you don’t start early”. Overall, the theme of the night seemed to be reminiscing about the times they spent as a band and showing that they still have energy and aren’t planning on going anywhere anytime soon.
Reverend Horton Heat has three more New England area shows this weekend, playing in New Hampshire tonight, Vermont tomorrow night, and Connecticut on Sunday night, for details and tickets click – HERE.
Featured image by: Ayden Lassell
