Topic: ZZ Top Live

These guys are around since 40 years. So it´s astonishing that I saw them the first time yesterday in München. Sure, I always knew them, I didn´t dislike them, but I didn´t appreciate them in special. But since some time I´m buying their old albums and like them very much now. Nonetheless I was a bit sceptical if a whole evening ZZ Top wouldn´t be a bit monotonous.

At first I was astonished how many fans they´ve got. Eva and I were at the venue 1 1/2 hour before the start, and there was already a long, long queue before a huge hall which was sold out on a Tuesday evening. Nonetheless we made it to stand right in front of the stage. Also because a woman - a serious rock fan- had told us that she would never go and see ZZ Top because they are using playback, and we had to check it.

Well, the concert was not in the least monotonous. They played a rich setlist with all their hits, but also a lot of blues, even covering a Muddy Water song. You could see a lot of nice guitars - our favorites were the guitars covered by this white fury stuff. And the two guys - Billy Gibbon and Dusty Hill - were quite charming: two mildly bizzare old guys - actually they are younger than me - with a sense of humour and self-irony, doing in their hinterwald dress a kind of mini Las Vegas show including graceful dancing steps; the stage was neatly arranged with two amp walls (highly aesthetic), in the middle a very impressive drum kit, behind a huge screen with a light show. And they played very well and differentiated in their minimalistic approach.

And what about playback?? We didn´t think so, except for two or three songs, in which the voices were much stronger and younger.....But anyhow: a great evening!!
Günter

Rock On and Keep the Faith

Re: ZZ Top Live

Nice review Günter and it sure sounds like you enjoyed some good old fashioned, down home Texas Blues/Rock cooking! smile

Roy

Joe is the Best!

3 (edited by Gary Ashton 2009-06-10 23:45:44)

Re: ZZ Top Live

Nice review !, I saw them quite a while ago when they were extremely popular in the UK........They played an excellent set and Billy Gibbons can play a mean guitar !

smile

Joe Live In Rotherham....not too long to go now !

Re: ZZ Top Live

Legs is for sure playback on the voice, they play the instruments, but use the voice track and the synthesizer track. I'm pretty sure they use a voice track on Pincushion, and I'm just not sure about Sharp Dressed Man. But the rest of them are 100% I know. I'm okay with it. Like for Legs. Come on, that's their biggest hit, they can't not play it. I would rather have Billy Gibbons lip sync that song than sound utter crap through it. It's not like it's not him singing. He's just getting old and can't sing like that hardly anymore. Now, if they started doing all the songs like that, that would be a problem. But one or two, meh, it's all good. And they still kick ****, that helps.

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make"

My ReverbNation page for Dees & Friends - check us out!
www.reverbnation.com/deesfriends

Re: ZZ Top Live

Wonderful stuff, Günter! Didn't you just have to smile so much during the show? They're simply SO much fun!

I couldn't give a rat's @#&* if they lip sync a couple of vocals. Those "two mildly bizarre old guys" big_smile are not only great musicians, but they are also living rock/blues dinosaurs who have earned the right in my book to do whatever the hell they please. cool

RIP Iron Man

Rock On and keep the Faith

Re: ZZ Top Live

How can you NOT walk out smiling after seeing these two "sharp dressed men" right here ...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25162871@N05/3614563351/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25162871@N05/3614563357/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25162871@N05/3614563361/  .... wink

The show was so much fun (oh yes, the furry white guitars...) and even though the circumstances where a bit annoying it was so worth driving down to Munich for that one. I too couldn´t believe my eyes when I saw the long queue in front of the hall and the kind of audience going to the show ... I mainly thought: "are we queuing to see frickin Britney Spears or what??" After the show it literally took us an hour to get out of the parking lot ... but as I said - it was well worth it.
ZZTop is just a must see and after playing the same songs for what must be decades they still rock. The Muddy Waters tune was my personal highlight along with "La Grange" and "Tube Snake Boogie". They just put on a great show.
Plus: No Band can compare to ZZTop when it comes to "driving-down-the-autobahn-tunes" ....

Eva

Re: ZZ Top Live

It looks like Dusty trimmed his beard a bit. Shock!!! yikes

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make"

My ReverbNation page for Dees & Friends - check us out!
www.reverbnation.com/deesfriends

Re: ZZ Top Live

Eva´s Dad wrote:

the stage was neatly arranged with two amp walls (highly aesthetic), in the middle a very impressive drum kit, behind a huge screen with a light show.

When we saw them in Orlando a few years back, they came out with no amps visible on a huge stage...just this big drum kit in the middle and 2 little bearded guys in panchos. They kicked major a$$ that night for sure!

Nugent opened for them that night, and was amazing in his own right. Just a 3 piece with Ted singing and playing every note. He  didn't miss a single note while jumping around the stage the whole time like he was still 25. He had a huge wall of peavey 5150 stacks across the stage, and then the crew came out and removed everything for zztops minimilist presentation.

That was a fun night.

Re: ZZ Top Live

Hey I'm getting a little concerned by these references to "two mildly bizarre old guys" - what happened to Frank Beard??

"The recently formed Edinburgh Blues Club has identified an appetite for the personal communication between musicians and audience that the blues long ago perfected." The Herald Newspaper (Scotland)
http://www.edinburgh-blues.uk

Re: ZZ Top Live

Greenose wrote:

Hey I'm getting a little concerned by these references to "two mildly bizarre old guys" - what happened to Frank Beard??

Of course the beardless Mr. Beard was sitting behind his huge drum kit - hardly to be seen, giving a very solid base. No indication of bizzareness to detect.
Günter

Rock On and Keep the Faith

Re: ZZ Top Live

Deezer wrote:

It looks like Dusty trimmed his beard a bit. Shock!!! yikes

He complained bitterly that by getting older his hair was getting a bit fuzzy.
Günter

Rock On and Keep the Faith

Re: ZZ Top Live

Hi Gunter,

My journey into ZZ Top reads a little like yours - I knew nothing pre- Eliminator until Joe played a few tracks like Brown Sugar and Blue Jean Blues on his Planet Rock show. Then I started to discover the real ZZ Top.

I envy you and Eva - I have yet to see them live, and while they have several dates in Germany, the only one in the UK is their headline appearance at the Download Festival this weekend. Now I ain't sittin through hours of metal in a muddy field for no-one thank you very much. I'm far too delicate these days lol

I guess I'll just have to settle for the DVD again.........

At least I've persuaded the guys in our band to let me loose on Sharp Dressed Man - and we're working on Gimme All Your Lovin' for our next gig - great fun hitting those pinched harmonics. Now I just gotta work on the beard. lol cool

Ian

Please be in no doubt that this is the REAL ME! Beware imposters........................

13

Re: ZZ Top Live

Make sure you record that one Ian! We wanna see it (including beard!!) ... smile

The very first ZZTop album is excellent. When we listened to it on the way home I was trying to find out who else did "Brown Sugar" (not talking about the Stones song of course) ... I just couldn´t remember. Maybe I was just dreaming ...

Eva

Re: ZZ Top Live

It's Frank Beard's 60th today!  I saw them way back in the 70's as a headliner.  This certain band named KISS opened and needless to say the crowd was stunned.

Awestruck

Re: ZZ Top Live

Eva´s Dad wrote:
Deezer wrote:

It looks like Dusty trimmed his beard a bit. Shock!!! yikes

He complained bitterly that by getting older his hair was getting a bit fuzzy.
Günter

We don't get older Günter, we just get better, like a fine wine.  And eventually, we turn to vinegar and then are very nice a a crisp salad! lol

Nice pictures Eva! No video?

Roy

Joe is the Best!

Re: ZZ Top Live

ZZ Top are great. Saw them twice last year. Billy Gibbons is in my alltime top 3 guitarists. You can't go wrong with these guys.

When I was a child I spoke as a child, But all I heard was how I should get ahead,
Now growing up it ain't anything but all This indecision with these debts and doubts
And worries hanging over my head. When I was a child I spoke as a child,
I wish I could remember what I said.

Re: ZZ Top Live

Thanks to Keith on FB for the heads up!

ZZ Top To Celebrate 40th Anniversary On VH1 Storytellers

ZZ Top celebrates their 40th anniversary with the same lineup on an episode of VH1 Storytellers taped at Chicago's Congress Theatre on March 31. "VH1 Storytellers: ZZ Top" premieres Saturday, June 27 at 10:00 p.m. on VH1 and will air on VH1 Classic and Palladia, MTV Networks' high-definition music channel on Saturday, July 4 at 9:00 p.m.

The Texas trio answers questions from the audience, renews one couple's wedding vows, and tells the stories behind such hits as "La Grange" (about the real "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas") and "Sharp Dressed Man."

Also in the hour, guitarist Billy F. Gibbons talks about the band's travails as opening act for Janis Joplin and bassist Dusty Hill shows off his Walter Brennan imitation. The episode will feature the band revealing the inspiration and stories behind such classic hits as "Just Got Paid," "Jesus Just Left Chicago," "Gimme All Your Lovin'" and "Tush."

RIP Iron Man

Rock On and keep the Faith

Re: ZZ Top Live

I was lucky in that when I was at school it was around the time that "My Head is in Mississippi" was in the UK charts (about no 34), my and a friend were talking and he said that he had quite a few ZZ Top albums on tape, so I got into them back then and knew their early work like Deguello. Great stuff! smile

"The recently formed Edinburgh Blues Club has identified an appetite for the personal communication between musicians and audience that the blues long ago perfected." The Herald Newspaper (Scotland)
http://www.edinburgh-blues.uk