It used to be the Reverend Horton Heat was a can't-miss draw at Bogart's. For some reason, his last couple of bookings had been up Short Vine at the smaller Top Cat's, and he was packing the place. Thursday, the guitarist and bandleader made a triumphant return to Bogart's, wowing the large crowd with an hour and 45 minutes of his brand of high-energy rockabilly.

        Maybe the opening acts provided the juice to get the Rev back in the big room. Rounding out the bill were the like-minded, fast-rocking Nashville Pussy and the Streetwalkin' Cheetahs.

        Nashville Pussy has long been a Cincinnati cult favorite, dating back to their notorious shows across the street at Sudsy Malone's, where bassist Cory Parks was known to spice up the band's hillbilly-flavored hard rock with her fire-breathing act. Ms. Parks has since left the band, and without her sideshow antics, Nashville Pussy's act seemed a lot more pedestrian. Their 45-minute show failed to transcend Motorhead-styled hard rock, although the crowd showed enthusiasm from start to finish.

        The lesser-known Streetwalkin' Cheetahs, playing a very similar brand of hard rock, had some overt Detroit rock influences, beginning with a band name nicked from the first line of Iggy and the Stooges' “Search and Destroy.”

        The MC5 were the Cheetahs' other great muse. They tossed around White Panther catch phrases like “rock 'n' roll revolution” while hoisting their guitars mid-solo in a way suggesting they've been studying the CD booklet accompanying the Kick Out The Jams reissue.

        What's to be said of the Reverend's set, other than it's the same as it has always been: nonstop, driving rockabilly rhythms executed masterfully by Mr. Heat, upright bassist Jimbo Wallace and drummer Scott Churilla. And, of course, lots of songs about cars.

        Not that lyrical content matters. Songwriting comes in a distant second to his virtuoso playing. The favorite number was “Marijuana,” which for lyrics had exactly one word, a sort of pothead equivalent to “Tequila.”

        Mixed in with the favorites were a bunch of tunes from his new album, Lucky 7, including the first three of the show. They were, by name, “Reverend Horton Heat's Big Blue Car,” “Galaxy 500” and “Like a Rocket,” and they were all about cars.

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