While some bands seem to just go through the motions, ZZ Top, inspired by the enthusiastic crowd response, was focused on delivering everything a concert audience could want in a performance. A good time was had by all.
It's too late to enjoy a Bob Marley concert in Jamaica or hope for a reunion of the Beatles, but ZZ Top returned to the stage at the Bell County Expo Center in Belton, Texas, for the first time in 20 years, and thanks to my old friend Mike, I was there.
We tried to figure out how old ZZ Top must be, since they kicked around a few years before hitting it big the first time in 1973 with their third album, "Tres Hombres," which featured the raunchy hit, "La Grange." The follow-up, "Fandango" and that album's big hit, "Tush," secured their blues rock musical foundation.
After years of touring, they took a long break, and when they returned, bassist Dusty Hill and guitarist Billy Gibbons, without consulting each other, had each grown long beards. Those trademark beards combined with hotrods, leggy women and a new scorching hot sound made them perfect for MTV's arrival in the early
1980s, which in turn made them legends with hits like "Legs," "Sharp Dressed Man," "Gimme All Your Lovin'" and "Cheap Sunglasses."Everybody in Texas, from the young guy working at the Budget counter at DFW Airport to the young-looking mother and her 30 year-old son that we originally thought was her date at Leah's Bar to the granny who lives next door to Mike, was either going or knew someone going to the concert, had seen ZZ Top 20 or 30 years ago, and, of course, love their music.
I figure that I live about as far from Staples Center in Los Angeles County as Mike's Morgans Point Resort house is from the Bell County Expo Center, but whereas my drive would be about an hour and a half to a concert at Staples, we made the trip in about 20 minutes.
The concert atmosphere was like a family reunion or neighborhood block party. One guy sitting in front of us with his family said it was funny how many old hippies he recognized from concerts decades earlier. Then again, everybody in Texas treats strangers like their returning prodigal sons.
ZZ Top did not disappoint, rocking for an hour and forty-five minutes, starting with some old bluesy numbers and ripping through the MTV hits before finishing with "Viva Las Vegas," "La Grange" and "Tush." The almost completely white beards of the front men belied the youthful energy with which they played their music.
While some bands seem to just go through the motions, ZZ Top, inspired by the enthusiastic crowd response, was focused on delivering everything a concert audience could want in a performance. A good time was had by all.
By the way, it turns out all three members of ZZ Top were 57 at the time of this concert.
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