ZZ Top | November 24, 2021 | Opry House | Nashville, TN – Concert Review

Review by Shawn Perry

As with everyone else, ZZ Top’s 2020 tour schedule was derailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It should be a celebration of the group’s 50th anniversary – all three of the original members are still out there having a ball playing their unique style of blues-based Texas-sized rock. Then, just as the group was back in action in 2021, bassist and co-singer Dusty Hill died on July 28th, 10 days after his last appearance on ZZ Top.

In the middle of the tour, the group’s guitar technician, Elwood Francis, stepped in for Hill. Tonight at the Opry House in Nashville, Francis was there with guitarist Billy Gibbons and drummer Frank Beard and played the iconic hits from ZZ Top, which were nicely spiced up with blues-tearing detours, transitions and bridges. Hill’s absence was palpable, but the show goes on.

Before ZZ Top performed, Nashville-based Tim Montana and his band, the Shrednecks, served a hot set of sharp-edged country rock. The singer has deep ties to gibbons, which likely helped him land the opening spot, although the arena-sized chops with elegant Montana harmonies and backing singer / acoustic guitarist Molly Brown won over the crowded Grand Ole Opry house.

The band – Montana, Brown, guitarist Kyle Rife, drummer Brian Wolff, and bassist Bryce Paul – are firmly anchored in the Kid Rock and Blackberry Smoke schools, with indirect references to Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young. They’re happy to go beyond a simple label and combine a modern country music salvo with southern rock splendor.

Today’s set included “Be A Cowboy,” with a generous dash of country flair, and the catchy “This Beard Came Here To Party,” a 2013 single with Billy Gibbons. The song gained national notoriety when the accompanying video featured the Boston Red Sox attempting to win the 2013 World Series. The team made it their theme song, which received full MLB support and brought in thousands of new Montana fans.

Another Gibbons collaboration called “Weed And Whiskey” seems to be going down well. Then, out of the blue, Montana and Co. took Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing” for a spin and exceeded the speed limit. “Hillbilly Rich,” raised by a video that caught Charlie Sheen’s attention and led to a future collaboration, also made it into the edit and showed the breadth of a relatively young band. I don’t think this is the last we will hear from them.

The setup for ZZ Top was pretty easy by previous standards. In the past, the band showed a taste for theatrics, from live animals on stage to a series of videos that are pretty standard today. Not so for the top tonight. Provided that almost every of the almost 5,000 seats in the spectacular Opry House offered an optimal view, everything at ZZ Top revolved around the moment, without the visual aids and the large screens. In addition, hundreds of telephone cameras were already documenting the night.

The three members of ZZ Top appeared in no time. Before Gibbons and Francis took their seats, they paid their respects to what was probably a Dusty Hill shrine, which was positioned in front of the left stage wall of the Magnatone amplifiers. As if to say they weren’t under pressure, they rolled straight to Got Me Under Pressure to shake up the audience. One look up, and the whole upper part of the balcony was full of movement.

If you have already seen ZZ Top in concert (a good five, maybe six times here) and you are familiar with its appearance (even non-fans know the beards), Francis immediately looks a bit out of place. Supposedly he has a beard after a beardless life, although nothing compares to the locks of hair that Dusty Hill drops and Billy Gibbons’ chin. Perhaps a hat resembling gibbons would have made the front line look a little more ZZ Top-like on this head of hair. Elwood Francis wasn’t there to imitate Dusty Hill. He didn’t take any of Hill’s lead vocals. He can play bass and sing backups well enough to make you believe ZZ Top is still a viable, functioning band.

The double punch of “Waitin ‘For The Bus” and “Jesus Just Left Chicago” was just as toxic as ever, with gibbons lying on a thick slab of blues-laden notes above Francis’ rumbling bass lines. Drummer Frank Beard – his head bowed, his eyes closed – never wavered from the beat, anchored and yet relaxed, adding sensible and powerful fills at exactly the right time of every ZZ top song. Seeing him and Gibbons end it after Hill’s death doesn’t seem right. Hill knew that. So he asked the band to continue with Elwood Francis. So here they were, playing numerous favorites like “Gimme All Your Lovin ‘”, “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide”, “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Legs” (complete with fuzzy guitars) to keep the party on Keep going.

You can’t go wrong with “Pearl Necklace” (depending on how you look at it); and the track that included “My Head’s In Mississippi”, “Sixteen Tons” and “Just Got Paid” found the band really waist-deep in heavy blues territory. Gibbon’s slide work and Francis on double bass left little doubt that these guys weren’t just here doing makeup shows. You get the feeling of a real connection between Gibbons and Francis, an important determining factor for the future of ZZ Top.

The Stones may have put their “Brown Sugar” on hold, but the top had no problem playing their own “Brown Sugar” to start the encore. The thick and straightforward blues original, released three months before the Stones song of the same name, comes from ZZ Top’s self-titled debut in 1971, and it sizzled immediately when the clock ticked. That kept “La Grange” always a crowd-pleaser, whereupon Gibbons asked everyone for the fourth or fifth time if they were having a good time (he knew it was them). Then he added: “We have to do another one …”

And with that they fell straight to “Tush” with Dusty Hill’s lead vocals booming from the PA. Gibbons, Francis, and Beard played along while the isolated vocal recording of Hill’s final appearance caused both confusion and joy. Without ever saying more than a few words, ZZ Top paid a beautiful tribute to her fallen brother. There was nothing grumpy or macabre about it. It’s possible that some in the audience didn’t even notice. Those who did should consider themselves lucky.

The night before ZZ Top’s Orpy House show, the Rolling Stones ended their US tour, their first without a drummer Charlie Watts, in Florida. Many speculate that this could be the last time for the Rolling Stones. And you have to ask yourself the same thing That little old band from Texas and whether they continue after that first tour without an important original member. It makes you realize that the people in bands like this – over 50 years old and still going strong – aren’t immortal. They are subject to age and decay. You can leave the building without notice. They have to make sure to enjoy every bit more of what they do, each time.