11/1/07: ZZ Top
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Artist:
I finally got to see a band that I've been waiting a long time to see. A band not from this era but from the period I know and love called classic rock. That band is ZZ Top.If you couldn't tell from my screenname, I like ZZ Top a lot. I have all of their albums from their debut up to Eliminator. I got into them from hearing them back in the day from riding in car with my dad and listening to the local classic rock station, which will play a lot of them since we're in Texas. So when we saw that they had announced a special show in my hometown for only $25 bucks a ticket, I had to take the opportunity (now-a-days most of their ticket prices range from $70 to $100).We were able to pick up our tickets and get into the venue just before the show was supposed to start (although they didn't take the stage until about 30 minutes later). A lot of the t-shirts and swag were alreadly sold our, and I had to get a size smaller than normal. There was a lot of excitement in the air, from people my age and the many older rock veterans present. And there were cameras around filming some of the fans (the show was being taped for a DVD, hence the last minute annoucement I guess).That little ol' band came out and the place was rockin'. They wore clothes similar to those in the "Gimme All Your Lovin'" music video (I believe); dusty grey suits and cowboy hats. They had six huge white amps stacked on either side of Frank's set that they would project videos onto. And behind everything was a huge stagewide lightboard that would have all sorts of stuff going on. Of course what kept it going was the music. The Reverend Willie G was amazing on the guitar. I've seen Slash and Tom Morello this year, but Billy still beats them both. He mainly played his custom Grestch, although they were having technical difficulties with it during some of the songs, so they brought out Pearly Gates before switching back. Billy also did a good job of entertaining the crowd in between songs with his funny little stories and thoughts.I did have some grievences about the venue. Now I had seen a couple shows there (Nokia Theatre) before and had great experiences there with no issues at all. For some reason, though, on this night they chose to keep the overhead lights on (dimly) during a lot of the show. Now I don't know who was responsible for this, but it was very distracting. Also the speakers could have definitely been turned up more in my opinion. I mean, it's not like I couldn't hear, but this is a rock show; let's get some noise going. We also had to sit up in the second deck of the place (I believe it seats a few thousand, so it's so a huge venue), but that was our fault for not getting tickets a few days earlier. Seeing wasn't the issue there. Everyone else around us, however, was sitting most of the time, though. It's just kind of ackward to be really into it while sitting down.The band played pretty much everything off of Eliminator, as well as a lot of stuff from their earlier albums. All the rockers and some bluesy stuff as well. They pretty much stayed away from anything from their later albums. One highlight of the night was when they went into a cover of "Foxey Lady", which sounded just plain awesome. You'd be suprised how much that song is suited for ZZ Top. Billy brought out his Dean Z and they ended with "Legs". The sound booth was having a lot of trouble with that guitar until the solo, for whatever reason. Of course after leaving the stage they returned for the standard 3-song encore. I'll post the set list in the comments, but I'll bet you can guess what they saved for last.Had a lot of fun at the show. I definitely want to see them again in the future (if it's financially possible of course). ZZ Top still rocks the place.A haw, haw, haw, haw...
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