Sunday night I attended the ZZ Top concert at Budweiser Gardens as a guest of the #BGReviewer program they run via their twitter account @BudGardens. This is my review of the evening.
I hope to bring something a little different to this installment of the #BGReviewer program over some of the previous reviews. I am writing this not as a sound guy (hats off to @LeGiff) or as a die-hard fan who relentlessly campaigned to earn their review (I’m looking at you @BHRaymond). I am writing this as someone who enjoys the band’s music but not someone who would call themselves a huge fan of the band.
First and foremost I have to say a big thanks to the staff at Budweiser Gardens for providing the #BGReviewer program. Their generosity afforded me and my wife the opportunity to see a band that we may not have had the chance to see otherwise while enjoying some tasty refreshments. And the seats? I loved them! One hundred level, 5 rows off the floor, just left of center. It would have been hard for me to choose better seats myself.
The opening act was a band I’d never heard of that goes by the name “JD & The Straight Shot” and are touring in support of their new album (CD? Recording?) “Midnight Run.” 
They are a seven-piece outfit that features a fiddle/violin player, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar, drummer, keyboardist, and vocalist. Whew. That’s a whole lotta people. Some of the band would also change-up instruments and we saw the keyboardist play a mean harmonica as well as the accordion while the drummer broke out a washboard for one song. Sports fans, particularly NBA or NHL fans, may recognize the front man as James Dolan, the CEO of The Madison Square Gardens Company that own those franchises (among others). Their sound, appropriately, is a bluesy-rock that meshes well with ZZ Top’s sound. While one song was a little slow for my taste, I enjoyed the other seven or eight tracks and overall they had a great sound and found at least one new fan in the crowd.
After a brief intermission while the stage crews switched setups the lights dimmed and the giant video wall behind the stage came to life. A pre-recorded video scene introduced the band and the members of ZZ Top, Frank Beard, Dusty Hill, and Billy Gibbons, took to the stage to a thundering applause. After a brief welcome the band launched right into I Thank You. They followed it right up with Waitin’ For The Bus and Jesus Just Left Chicago. I’ll mention the sound briefly here – the instruments were great. Each note resonated throughout the RBC Theatre. I did find the vocals to be a little soft at first and hard to distinguish although it did improve after the first couple tracks. After the three song introduction Billy chatted with the crowd and talked about walking along Richmond and also ending up at Novack’s for some hot fashion. The line of the night had to be Gibbons talking about the band saying “Four decades. Same three guys. Same three chords.” The next track was Pincushion followed by Heard It On The X before going into the first song off the new “La Futura” album called I Gotsta Get Paid. While I had a vague familiarity with some of the songs, others were completely new to me. The next group of songs delved into a more blues style with Vincent Price Blues kicking off the trio. “La Futura” was revisited again with Chartreuse before heading into the final three songs of the evening. We traveled back in time to “Afterburner” and “Eliminator” for Stages, Sharp Dressed Man, and Legs.
The trio left the stage to mass applause and cheers. After a few moments they rejoined the stage having undergone their only costume change for the night, to close out the evening with an encore that gave us Tube Snake Boogie, a La Grange/Sloppy Drunk/Bar-B-Q medley, and, lastly, Tush.
While there may have only been one costume change, there were no shortage of guitar changes. I counted at least 5 different guitar changes including an updated version of the furry guitars from the Legs music video. Speaking of the music video, the stage was dominated by a massive video wall behind Beard and two smaller panels on either side of him. These played a mix of live video from the stage, old music videos, graphics and newly recorded footage for the tour. One of the frequent images on the two smaller were two simple words: “Basic Amplifiers” – presumably in reference to Gibbons’ preference of pure, simple sounds. These video montages were well coordinated although I did find them to be a little distracting. With a band like ZZ Top a lot of the stage presence is made up of sometimes small hand, feet, or arm gestures and I found that I would end up seeing the videos and missed these moments.
While I’ve visited Budweiser Gardens for many other events, including the Prince show last year, this is only my second music performance and first for the RBC Theater arrangement. I enjoyed the coziness that the theater arrangement offers. With a minimal floor section all the seats are nice and close to the stage and binoculars aren’t necessary. Budweiser Gardens even goes so far as to apply RBC Theater seat back covers on the seats as an added touch to draw you away from the fact you’re sitting in part of a 10,000 seat arena.
That little ol’ band from Texas put on a big ol’ show that I happily count as one of the better concerts I’ve been fortunate enough to attend. To Billy, Dusty, and Frank: I tip my hat to you gentlemen. After four decades of playing, recording, and touring you still put on one hell of a show!