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“Somebody lock that back door,” ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons yelled out from the stage at City National Civic in San Jose on Sunday. “Let’s stay here all night long.”
Clearly, “all night long” doesn’t mean what it once did. The famed Texas boogie-rock trio — consisting of Gibbons on lead vocals and blistering hot guitar, Dusty Hill on bass and vocals and Frank Beard on drums — would continue to play for, oh, another eight minutes or so after issuing that bold offer.
They called it quits around 9:15 — which is the time when most bands think about entering, not exiting, the stage.
All told, Gibbons, Hill and Beard played only about 75 minutes.
But it was a meaningful 75 minutes.
Opening the show with “Got Me Under Pressure,” the group ran through the fan favorites at an impressive rate. Seriously, ZZ Top delivered more radio hits in the first 20 minutes of its show — including “I Thank You,” “Waitin’ for the Bus” and “Gimme All Your Lovin'” — than most bands do in entire careers.
. @ZZTop in beautiful San Jose, @SanJoseCivic pic.twitter.com/8fsN2b90Ck
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) January 14, 2019
It was an absolute treat to get to see this Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band performing in a relatively intimate setting like the City National Civic, especially since the venue is one of the very best sounding rooms in the entire Bay Area. Not surprisingly, the crowd was definitely ready to rock with their heroes.
“It’s going to be one of those good nights. I can tell — because you’re bad, you’re nationwide,'” said Gibbons, before playing, yes, “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” from the band’s sixth studio album, 1979’s “Degüello.”
No, stage banter isn’t Gibbons’ strong point. Playing guitar is — which he’d illustrate on numerous songs in San Jose. He delivered some potent blues on “I Gotsta Get Paid,” then followed with gorgeous slide work on “Just Got Paid” and, eventually, some one-handed fretboard magic on “Sharp Dressed Man.”
. @zztop doing their best song (which @phish does an even better job with). pic.twitter.com/0d4Rcu5PNc
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) January 14, 2019
Beard (who, ironically, is the guy in the band without a big beard) also sounded terrific, powering the boogie from the back of the stage, while Hill took the groove in fun directions.
Highlights included a stellar cover of “Sixteen Tons” — yes, the Merle Travis-penned classic that Tennessee Ernie Ford scored a major hit with in the mid-’50s — as well as a heavy duty version of “La Grange” to start the encore.
ZZ Top sounded so good, in fact, that it was a shame the musicians didn’t stick with the plan to play “all night long” — or, at the very least, until 9:45 p.m.
Billy! @ZZTop pic.twitter.com/PFnOIgiC6d
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) January 14, 2019
Set list:
- “Got Me Under Pressure”
- “I Thank You”
- “Waitin’ for the Bus”
- “Jesus Just Left Chicago”
- “Gimme All Your Lovin'”
- “Pearl Necklace”
- “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide”
- “I Gotsta Get Paid”
- “My Head’s in Mississippi”
- “Sixteen Tons”
- “Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers”
- “Just Got Paid”
- “Sharp Dressed Man”
- “Legs”
- “La Grange”
- “Tush”
Here's @ZZTop at @SanJoseCivic … pic.twitter.com/EKnvm91lRS
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) January 14, 2019
