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Sunday - 6/22/08 
Aberdeen, MD still, but a bit later in the evening
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the Official Critiquing

Well it's official- ZZ Top still rocks and/or rolls. These three guys sure know how to play the same three chords over and over in different arrangements to make a boatload of loot. But seriously, they were real good in concert. Musically tight and outrageously cool with their multi faceted Hootin’ Houstin Texan-accessories.

Before I get to the Z'sters, a band called Blackberry Smoke opened up for them with all of their Les Paulish Humbucklings. True southern rockers they were, in the undying style of Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers, 38 special, and a host of similar bands who can't seem to come up with their own defined style. After the Blackberry Smoke cleared, Blind Melon took the stage. I was less than impressed with their name, and them, as were the majority of the audiencical participants. The lead singer, who actually died, excuse me, he didn’t die onstage for all to see when I was there …the new lead singer (who is currently alive) was holding up the microphone trying to coerce the audience to sing along to no avail. Could it be that no-one there knew your songs because you filled such a slight niche in the mid 90's that only a die hard fan would possibly remember you? Oh, my mistake. They did play one song I knew. It was the one that went "All I can say, is my life is pretty plain" and their setlist followed suit. Let's move on to the meat and stack of potatoes of the evening, my good ole' boy friends, ZZ Top. They emerged onstage menacingly to a backdrop of heat lightning which penetrated the dark southern skies. The crowd went much wilder than expected, and I think they were a little taken aback by all the raucous. Or maybe it was the $6 margaritas everyone was downing. There was a line halfway to the parking lot for those things. At any rate the crowd went nuts when ZZ finally hit the stage. 

According to the local radio-head-station promoting the event the crowd
numbered nearly 10,000 and we all whooped and hollered with ZZ’s on-set.

I was duly impressed with them. They were as tight as ever, possibly because they've been doing the same thing over and over since the beginning of time, or at least for the last 35 years according to the lead singer/guitarist. But nonetheless they were magnificently in practice. They sauntered back and forth onstage with a harrowing coolness that tends to confound me.

- WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG FOR A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT -

I’m watching the local news and they just said George Carlin
died yesterday. That is awful news. What a great comedian.

“Have a nice day”, George….

Back to ZZ, though a bit sadder….

Sigh, For a power trio they were pretty darn powerful let me tell you. Much more powerful than any Blackberry Smoked Blind Melons in the area, and there were 12 of those hanging around.

ZZ’s performance was quite monumental.

Where did that come from?

Sorry, that’s classified.

Moving on..

They dominated the stage as the wailing masses swooped and swayed to the music.

(Their guitars weren’t as fuzzy at this show, but their beards surely were)

The lead guitarist/singer, Mr. Billy Gibbons, was dead on, but not quite dead yet. His guitar playing was pristine, and his vocals were only slightly shaky due to his somewhat elderly nature I imagine. He undoubtedly dominated the outfit. The outfit of a sharp dressed man. He was, and is (for the time being) a true band-leader both musically and spiritually. The renowned legend and quite dead Jimi Hendrix once admitted that Billy was one of his favorite guitarists, which is quite the compliment in any era. Billy’s signature false harmonics pierced through the audience like poison darts from an aboriginal dart gun. I didn’t like that analogy…and neither did the audience…Billy’s signature false harmonics echoed through the dusty hills like the shrill call of a lone hawk. There, that’s a lot better befitting the Houston Gruesome Expanded Twosome. Mr. Gibbons also yanked out his signature “Playing with the rest of his fingers along with his guitar picking, but not fingerpicking as such” technique many a time throughout the evening. Especially during Cheap Sunglasses, and Nationwide.

He’s bad…yeah he’s bad…Nationwide.

The bassist, Dusty Hill, was also spot on.

Oh wait a minute, that’s not THE Dusty Hill, that’s just a regular
old Dusty Hill stolen recklessly from google’s image search.

The bassist, a Mr. Dusty Hill, was also spot on.

At one point he did a tapping thing on the bass (using both hands to plunder up and down the bass neck for any of you lay-people out there) It was largely a gigantic moment. He must have had some kind of octave effect going, or his fingers were larger than the largest of sausages, as the resulting bass-thumping resounded through the era with a reckless low-end abandon. He didn’t do an extended bass solo as such that I could see, hear, or feel, but this brief tapping moment was larger than all other bass solos ever played combined. Well maybe it wasn’t that big but it was quite thunderous nonetheless.

(are you catching on to my writing style yet?)*

The drummer, a Mr. Frank Beard, was as solid as they come.

Frankly, Beard, I find it quite humorous that Mr. Frankie is the only one not sporting any outlandish facial hair of any sort. It’s safe to say that among the band members, he’s the only one with any hope of getting a GilletteÒ endorsement.

Mr. Beardless laid down a solid groove the rest of the band rocked to all night long. At one point Mr. Billy threatened to do just that…play all night. He exclaimed during a much needed break- “We’re going to play till the sun comes up…Two days from now!!” but we all know he’s too ancient for any of that. In fact, Billy and the rest of the band are so old that they are actually suspended from the above staging with wires. If the part-time roadie puppeteer had lapsed for even one moment the trio would come crashing to the floor in a lifeless heap. In fact, this is Billy in real life-

He needs his mobility scooter to venture more than 14 inches away from his bed.

At the start of the show he bounded onstage with his walker.

All silly jesting aside, and although ZZ Top is getting
up there in years, they still have some licks left in them

Legs licks

(I apologize to any bricklayers, plumbers, or Carpenters on that last gag)

I am hereby…

-ELIMINATED-

* :-)