Riki Rachtman Snags Extreme, Tom Keifer, Sebastian Bach + More for ‘Cathouse Live’ Festival
In the late '80s and early '90s, Hollywood was hopping with some of the top hard rock and metal acts and right at the center of it was the Cathouse, a weekly nightclub show backed by MTV Headbangers Ball host Riki Rachtman. Now Rachtman is reviving the Cathouse name to bring back many of the rockers who populated the club show over the years for a special 'Cathouse Live' concert.
The event takes place Saturday, Aug. 15 at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in Irvine, Calif. with Extreme, Tom Keifer and Sebastian Bach leading the way. You'll also see performances from Dokken, Faster Pussycat, Stephen Pearcy, Saigon Kick, Gilby Clarke, Dangerous Toys, L.A. Guns, Junkyard, Trixter, Autograph, Black 'n' Blue, Tracii Guns, Enuff Z' Nuff, BulletBoys, Bang Tango, Jetboy, Pretty Boy Floyd, Tuff and Little Caesar. Plus, there's an all-star jam set to take place at the event as well.
The performances will be spread out over two stages. There will be VIP Meet and Greets, a vendor village, a chopper motorcycle show, tattoo shops, go-go dancers and much more.
Rachtman says, "I recently started a Cathouse Hollywood Facebook page and everyone was asking, 'Why don't you do another Cathouse?' I loved the idea and mentioned it on Twitter. So many bands told me that they wanted to be a part of it. Then I knew I had to bring back on a much larger scale. It was too big for a club, so we decided to do a festival."
He goes on to add, "The music scene isn't what it was like back then--that type of decadence. We’re going to bring the debauchery of the Cathouse back to Southern California! SoCal needs this kind of rock festival so people will have the chance to go out, have fun and enjoy a great rock show in all its excess. Cathouse was a very successful weekly nightclub for six years, so we’re trying to pack all those years of Cathouse into one night for Cathouse Live. All I want is for those who go to have a good time and say, ‘That was the BEST ROCK FESTIVAL EVER.’”
Former Ratt frontman Stephen Pearcy recalls, “I remember the Cathouse very well … used to go there when off the road with the Ratt tours in the ‘80s. Anything and everything went down there. Great jams, good stories in my book about that place. Everybody was somebody or thought they were, and trashed. You knew you had a good time there when you couldn't remember what you did there the next day! Myself, Riki, Fred Coury, Tracii Guns, Taime [Downe] and a couple others created a jam band called P.I.G. (Partners In Grime). We only did a few shows, got a bus, went out and had a great time. Places like the Cathouse will never happen again. Those were the days."
Tickets for the Cathouse Live festival at Irvine Meadows go on sale this coming Friday (May 15) at 10AM PT. For further details and to see the various ticket packages and VIP opportunities, click here.
Cathouse Live 2015 Concert Poster