ZZ Top put on a satisfying but brief show last night in what I still call the Keystone Center.  Most of the crowd were old enough that I'm pretty sure they also remember the place being built, which happened around the same time as the band's earliest hits such as "Tush", which they did not play....the only disappointment apart from their standard short set.

After getting the sound fine-tuned and losing the fuzzy muddiness of the opener, "Got Me Under Pressure", the band launched into their usual series of hits played with great skill on the guitar and a volume level topped only by AC/DC.  The hits kept coming including a few curveballs.... like the old  Merle Travis number "16 Tons" which was a huge hit for Tennessee Ernie Ford before anyone in the band was born.  They dug deep, reaching back to their second disc for "Brown Sugar" [not the Stones song] and touching upon the lesser-known "El Loco" for 2 songs.  That disc preceded their huge early 80s hit LP, "Eliminator" from which they played 4 songs.  They also represented the classic "Tres Hombres" with the one-two punch of "Waitin' for the Bus" and "Jesus Just Left Chicago".

New bassist, longtime crew member and the late Dusty Hill's replacement Elwood Francis sounded fine on bass but did not share lead vocals as Dusty did.  He probably felt comfortable there.  He was photographed in the afternoon leaving a local weed store across 18th Street from the venue.

Lead man Billy Gibbons added a little humor when he pretended to forget how to say Mississippi and finally just said Brandon instead.

It was a fun show and it's not their fault that Cheap Trick had other commitments for part of this tour, a situation that was known over a year ago. Understandable for a tour that was first planned to take place 3 years ago.  ZZ played their usual hour and a quarter minimum headlining slot [actually about 1:13 including 3-song encore but I am not a stickler] and split.  Hey, they're over 70 now and they have been doing it like this for well over 5 years. The whole shebang was done before 9PM when most headliners hit the stage.

Great review Matt and not one remark on those crazy beer line ups. LOL!

How many people were there?

I would say there may have been 1500 people there. Obviously, if Cheap Trick were on the bill there would have been 3000+ there. Btw...  thanks for your review Matt, it was spot on! 

Thanks, Johnny.  Thanks, Frank.  I didn't even try to get a beer.  I knew what the lines would be like.

Size of the crowd: I estimate 2000, [ZZ] tops.  The place holds over 5000 and it wasn't that full.

Frank, I was there with my nephew Kenny W, who I think you know.  It was worth the drive from Winnipeg, but I knew they'd play an hour and a quarter show.  They did it the last 3 times I saw them, and they ain't gettin' any younger.  Billy is 72 now.