Photo Courtesy of ZZ Top/zztop.com
Death, taxes and ZZ Top. For the past 50 years, music lovers have had the music of Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard, the trio better known as ZZ Top, to soundtrack their lives. Longevity in the music industry is never an easy or certain task, so ZZ Top celebrating 50 years with the same three members is an incredible feat and certainly reason to throw a Texas-sized bash.
That was the case on Wednesday, when the band brought their 50th anniversary tour to the BMO Harris Pavilion on the Summerfest grounds, thrilling fans for over an hour with 14 songs plucked from their immense catalog as well as covers of artists that influenced them. In the new documentary, ZZ Top: That Little Ol’ Band from Texas, the band’s music is described as blues music for partying and the band’s set certainly brought a party-like atmosphere.
Emerging initially through the green fog created by smoke machines, the band quickly fired in the first notes of “Got Me Under Pressure.” They followed that up with a bluesy cover of Sam & Dave’s “I Thank You,” with a slideshow of the band’s history appearing on the screen behind them. The trio’s joyful demeanor certainly left no doubt that they meant it as a compliment to those who had come out to see them.
Two of the band’s albums were prominently featured in the set—1973’s Tres Hombres and 1983’s Eliminator—which makes sense as both were important periods for the band creatively. The band delivered pitch perfect versions of “Waiting for the Bus” and “Jesus Just Left Chicago” from the former.
At one point, Gibbons yelled “I’m the King of Milwaukee!” Gibbons took every chance he could get to interact with the crowd. While introducing “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” he told the crowd to “show it to the drummer a little bit.” He later called Beard the “man with no beard,” a common joke among music fans since he’s the only member without an actual beard.
|
|
On “My Head’s in Mississippi,” Gibbons pretended to gaffe the word Mississippi, culminating with him proudly substituting Milwaukee in its place, before returning the band to the song. During the band’s performance of “Sharp Dressed Man,” Gibbons began posing for fans at the front of stage.
Later, Gibbons told the crowd “it’s been five decades with the same three guys, same three chords.”
The power of the chords was on display plenty, including on “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide.” Midway during the song, Gibbons and Hill playfully took turns soloing on guitar and bass respectively, eventually coming together for a grand finish. The two frequently strutted from one end of the stage to the other, often pointing to the crowd and getting them pumped up.
Some of the tunes such as “I Gotsta Get Paid,” one of the band’s newer tunes, gave Gibbons a chance to fully strut out his talent on guitar. He also showed his ability to play slide guitar on “Just Got Paid,” with Hill cheering on his friend only feet away. It was also entertaining to see the band end the main section of the set with their trademark white fluffy guitars for “Legs.”
One of the bigger surprises from the night happened when they played a cover of Merle Travis’ song “Sixteen Tons.” Gibbons said they had recently played it with Jeff Beck who suggested playing the country song. He said that if they screwed it up, the crowd could just go buy it. But their gritty blues take on the song was fantastic.
The band played two encores—first for “La Grange” and “Tush,” and then a steamrolling cover of Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock.” For the songs, Gibbons played red cigar box guitar (at one point, a stagehand aptly lit a cigar). On “La Grange,” Gibbons started pointing and counting as if to see how many people were there. They’ve certainly come a long way from the one fan that was in attendance at one of their early shows.
Fans that arrived early got to see another classic band with its own longevity feat—Cheap Trick, who has been rocking audiences since 1973—as well as an emerging bluesman from St. Louis in Marquise Knox.
The Rockford, Ill., band quickly made itself at home, offering the crowd a diverse cross-section of their extensive catalog during their hour-plus long set. It was bookended by “Hello There” and “Goodbye Now.” The band’s sound and stage show was at times as flashy and theatrical as its members’ outfits—singer Robin Zander wore a star-studded captain’s hat and was decked out in white while guitarist Rick Nielsen had trademark checkered racing stripes shirt.
At one point, Nielsen gleefully told the crowd, “We’ve been playing Milwaukee since 1973, and we’re not sick of you yet!” He frequently showed off his skills on guitar (including a five-necked guitar for “Goodnight Now”), and the band showed its knack for creating catching rock songs such as “Dream Police.”
Other highlights included “Stop This Game” and “The Flame” with Zander on acoustic guitar as well as the crowd-pleasing “I Want You to Want Me.” There were also some fantastic covers, including their take on Big Star’s “In the Street” (with Nielsen yelling “Alright, Milwaukee, Wisconsin!” imitating the voiceover from “That 70s Show”), a supercharged cover of The Beatles “Magical Mystery Tour” and a cover of The Velvet Underground’s “I’m Waiting for the Man” with twelve-string bass guitarist Tom Petersson on vocals that would make Lou Reed proud.
The best moment of the set happened during “Surrender,” when the band brought out fellow opener Marquise Knox out to play guitar with them. It was gratifying to see the joyful interactions between Knox and the band, especially with Nielsen.
Many in the crowd were pleased to see Knox again, as he (and his band) had gained a lot of new fans earlier with a short but exhilarating set of electric blues in the vein of Muddy Waters. He’s a gifted and charismatic bluesman, something that wasn’t lost on a heavily blues-influenced Gibbons.
