NIAGARA FALLS ZZ Top is at its pop tune groovin best when Billy Gibbons coaxes his guitar into giving up bluesy, guttural, slightly fuzzed-up tones while propelling catchy, melodic hooks. These, in turn, mesh well with the deceptively simple rhythm patterns provided by Gibbons longtime battery mates, bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard. This formula has worked for decades, propelling tunes like La Grange, Tush, Sharp Dressed Man, and Cheap Sun Glasses and into fan s hearts, minds and toe-tappin feet, not to mention the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Their appearance in Seneca Niagara Casino s Events Center was filled with killer riffs delivered at a volume that, by all rights, should have maimed or destroyed unprotected eardrums anywhere within a couple- hundred feet of their sound system. You could actually hear the band one floor down as Beard s pulsing percussion drove through the seams of closed doors, Hill s bass notes threatened the very foundations of time and space and Gibbons ferociously powerful lead lines soared over the whole sonic concoction like a rocket taking off. Houston, we had liftoff!
Listening to the band roar through crowd favorites like Jesus Just Left Chicago, Heard It On the X, Got Me Under Pressure, and the everpopular I m Bad, I m Nationwide complete with crowd participation on the chorus in addition to touching on some of the aforementioned catalog hits and a powerfully rendered version of Jimi Hendrix s Foxy Lady was proof positive the boys in the band have not really mellowed too much in the last couple years. Well maybe they mellowed out a little bit. Rough Boy, a surprisingly sappy love ballad, was probably the most stultifying bit of lyrical content that ZZ Top has offered up on the concert stage in many a year.
Still, even that had a few moments to recommend it as Gibbons proved that he could make trite material work by simply tossing in a few of his typically well chosen guitar licks to create solos which elevate the mundane into the seraphic. Concert Review ZZ Top Wednesday night in Seneca Events Center of Seneca Niagara Casino and Hotel.
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