The Stray Cats have cancelled their 2025 North American tour after frontman Brian Setzer was forced to withdraw due to a “serious illness.” Setzer, 66, revealed the decision in a heartfelt message to fans, saying his current health has made it impossible to perform.
“I’m heartbroken to share, due to serious illness, I am unable to perform and very regrettably have to cancel our Stray Cats tour,” Setzer said. “I know this affects so many people and I am devastated to have to deliver this news. I’ve been trying everything I can to go on and do these shows, but it is just not possible. I’ve been looking forward so much to being on stage with my band mates again and playing for all of our amazing fans, and I’m gutted.”
The tour was to have kicked off with shows in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, and Rockford, Illinois, before crossing the country through November with scheduled stops in Las Vegas, Cincinnati and Wheatland, California. Refunds will be available at the original point of purchase.
The cancellation comes only months after Setzer publicly disclosed that he was battling an autoimmune disease that has affected his ability to play guitar. In February, the rockabilly legend told fans that while the condition was not painful, it left his hands feeling numb, as if he were “wearing a pair of gloves” whenever he tried to play.
“Towards the end of the last Stray Cats tour I noticed that my hands were cramping up,” Setzer wrote on social media earlier this year. “I cannot play guitar. There is no pain, but it feels like I am wearing a pair of gloves when I try to play. I’ve since discovered that I have an autoimmune disease.”
Setzer said he was receiving treatment at the Mayo Clinic, adding optimistically, “I know I will beat this, it will just take some time.”
The illness marks another difficult chapter in what has otherwise been a storied and resilient career. Formed in 1979 in Massapequa, New York, The Stray Cats – Brian Setzer (vocals, guitar), Lee Rocker (bass) and Slim Jim Phantom (drums) – brought rockabilly roaring back into the mainstream in the early 1980s. Their 1981 breakthrough album Stray Cats and its US counterpart Built for Speed produced timeless hits like Rock This Town and Stray Cat Strut, reviving the vintage swagger of 1950s rock for a new generation.
After the band’s initial split in the mid-1980s, Setzer launched The Brian Setzer Orchestra, earning Grammy Awards and widespread acclaim for modernising swing music in the 1990s. The Stray Cats would reunite several times over the decades, most notably for their 40th anniversary in 2019, releasing the album 40, their first studio effort in 25 years. That record proved the chemistry between Setzer, Rocker and Phantom was still electric, blending their trademark upright bass slaps, twanging Gretsch riffs and rockabilly rhythms with renewed energy.
Just days before the cancellation announcement, The Stray Cats released their first new material since 40, a double single featuring Stampede and a cover of Eddie Cochran’s Teenage Heaven. “Jim and I cut both songs in Minneapolis at Terrarium Studios,” Setzer said in a statement at the time. “Stampede was an instrumental that I wrote lyrics for, and Teenage Heaven is one of the few Eddie Cochran songs that has not been covered to death.”
Lee Rocker added, “Stampede has the drive and intensity that brings me back to our first album, and Teenage Heaven is a classic Eddie Cochran song that we put our Stray Cats magic on. The Cats are back and better than ever.”
Now, however, the band’s future touring plans are uncertain. There has been no indication yet as to whether the current health issue is a progression of Setzer’s autoimmune condition or an unrelated illness.
For now, Setzer remains focused on recovery. “I love you all,” he told fans earlier this year. “I know I will beat this.”
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