6/15/2023 0 Comments Zz top videos![]() It also retains the band’s sense of humor, as evidenced by this couplet from “Chartreuse,” a classic blues shuffle whose lyrics suggest a mash-up between Louis Jordan and Spinal Tap: Chartreuse, that color just turns me loose / Better than magenta, better than puce / You got a shade that gets rid of the blues / Don’t you know I like a big caboose. The band’s latest album, 2012’s “La Futura,” is its first in nine years and a solid return to form. With the band’s MTV- and Top 40 Radio-fueled days of playing in arenas now two decades past, ZZ Top performs in smaller venues and is all the better for it. Under the surface, though, the group displays an expert command of nuance, adding understated touches that provide a richness and depth few other blues-rock trios dream of, let alone achieve. Their songs sound basic and straightforward, which in large part they are. Their no-nonsense music favors passion over frills and revels in a deceptive form of simplicity. Opening the concert was Samantha Fish, a bluesy guitarist of considerable skills.Gibbons and his band mates, bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard, remain a blues-rock powerhouse. To follow "La Grange," ZZ Top let Hill do the singing via recording as Francis, Beard and Gibbons played "Tush," and the fans got exactly what they were looking for, which wasn't much more than a boogieing good time. ![]() The 4,000 fans loved the MTV favorites (especially the boogieing "Sharp Dressed Man" and the hard-charging "Legs") and even earlier hits, including 1973's snaking "La Grange," which, with lit-up carnival rides spinning behind the stage, created the kind of rush that some men might have experienced at the brothel for which the song is named. "It's an electric guitar, it might help if you turn it on," Gibbons announced, then mockingly ordered: "I told you to stay in the car." He did get off a good line when his new guitar tech brought out a fresh instrument but failed the final step. ![]() On Friday, there was less winking and leering humor in Gibbons' manner and patter. He was a good foil for Gibbons, as well, manifesting obvious camaraderie and a willingness to jam.įor "Legs," ZZ Top continued the tradition of playing guitars covered in fake fur but didn't spin them like Hill and Gibbons used to do in unison. He helped Beard provide the perfect rhythmic rumble. Both were dressed in black jackets and slacks, although the star's outfit was all sparkly.įrancis has a bass, and he knows how to use it. In Wayzata, he went hatless, showing off his freewheeling cloud of Brillo-y curls, pushed backed by a red headband that matched Gibbons' kerchief. Like Gibbons, he's toothpick thin, with the requisite cheap sunglasses and beard - silver compared with Gibbons' strawberry blond. Gibbons' raspy voice was often coarse but still effective, sounding suitably macabre on a bluesy reading of the country classic "16 Tons."īeard was once again solid on his big kit with its two bass drums.įrancis, whom Hill tapped as his successor, is a 30-year member of the ZZ Top family. Overall, this concert was 100% more satisfying than ZZ Top's last Twin Cities gig, at the 2019 State Fair, when the trio seemed rushed because of an impending rainstorm.Īs always, Gibbons was in command on guitar, delivering licks in various mutated styles of the blues - Delta, Texas, Chicago, heavy, fast, slow, boogie, shuffle, gritty - and even punkish Chuck Berryesque riffs on "Pearl Necklace." In fact, the band seemed refreshed, which was noticeable on the opening "Got Me Under Pressure," a 1983 MTV hit, when Gibbons and Francis grooved together.įrom the jump, this was a winning night. There was nothing sad about the Rock Hall of Famers' appearance Friday night at the Wayzata Beach Bash less than two months after Hill's passing. With longtime guitar tech Elwood Francis stepping out on bass, ZZ Top still has three distinctive beards with frontman Billy Gibbons and Francis, as well as clean-shaven drummer Frank Beard. Bass man Dusty Hill had the beard, shades and hat that visually defined ZZ Top.Īfter he died on July 28, there was no question that the little ol' blues band from Texas - which had never had a personnel change in 52 years - would continue.
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