Chris Shiflett's Hometown Holiday Hoedown returns to SOhO

After a two-year break, the Santa Barbara-raised guitarist brings his December homecoming back to State Street on Fri, Dec 18, with Summercamp opening.

For a few Decembers, Santa Barbara had a holiday tradition that didn't involve a parade or a tree lighting. It involved Chris Shiflett coming home and plugging in at SOhO. That tradition is back. Chris Shiflett plays SOhO Restaurant and Music Club on Friday, December 18, his first Santa Barbara show since December 23, 2023, in the same room. The date was announced October 7.

Here's what to know. The show starts at 8pm, with Summercamp opening; Live Nation's SOhO listing bills them as Tim & Sean acoustic. Tickets are on sale through TicketWeb under the show's familiar name, the Hometown Holiday Hoedown. SOhO holds about 300, so this is a small-room night by any measure.

The "hometown" part is literal. Shiflett, best known as a guitarist in Foo Fighters according to Wikipedia, grew up on Santa Barbara's Eastside, and the Montecito Journal has described the Hoedown as his holiday gift to the town. Outside the band, his solo work leans toward country and folk, which is the side of him these shows are built around.

The event has some history now. The Santa Barbara Independent covered the second annual Hoedown on December 15, 2022, with Nerf Herder and Logan Livermore as guests. The next year it grew to two nights, December 22 and 23, 2023, according to Grateful Web. Then 2024 and 2025 went by without a Santa Barbara stop, which makes this year's date a return as much as a holiday show.

The Hoedown has always been a hometown thank-you. After two years away, it reads more like a reunion.

This year's Santa Barbara date is the last stop on a short California run. The Music Universe reports three solo shows: Novato on December 16, Templeton on December 17, and then SOhO on the 18th. Ending the trip at home, in the room where the Hoedown has always lived, seems right.

What's changed since 2023? Mostly the wait. The core idea is the same: a Foo Fighter playing country-leaning songs in a 300-capacity club, a week before Christmas, to a crowd that includes people who knew him before any of that. A room that size is the point. There's no barricade or video screens, and it's close enough to talk to him between songs, which, if past Hoedowns are any guide, some people will.

Shiflett's own shows page has been where fans check for Hoedown details over the years, and TicketWeb has seats now. With 300 spots and a hometown crowd that has been waiting two years, it's not a good one to leave until the week of.

Get your tickets, make a dinner plan on State Street, and come ready to sing along. It's good to have the Hoedown back.

Sources: Chris Shiflett – Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); Tag archives: Chris Shiflett – Montecito Journal (montecitojournal.net); Chris Shiflett's Hometown Holiday Hoedown – Santa Barbara Independent (independent.com); Chris Shiflett Hometown Holiday Hoedown 2023 – Grateful Web (gratefulweb.com); The Hometown Holiday Hoedown shows hit California in mid-December – The Music Universe (themusicuniverse.com); SOhO Restaurant & Music Club events – Live Nation (livenation.com); Chris Shiflett Hometown Holiday Hoedown at SOhO – TicketWeb (ticketmaster.evyy.net)