Charlottesville, VA 2011-05-31 Show Review

Well I attended tonight's show in Charlottesville in person. Very interesting performance, not necessarily for the best of reasons.

First, the formality of the set list:

01) Got Me Under Pressure
02) Waitin' For the Bus
03) Jesus Just Left Chicago
04) Pincushion
05) I'm Bad I'm Nationwide
06) Future Blues
07) Rock Me Baby
08) Cheap Sunglasses
09) My Head's In Mississippi (snippet)
10) I Need You Tonight
11) Hey Joe
12) Brown Sugar
13) Gimme All Your Lovin'
14) Sharp Dressed Man
15) Legs
16) La Grange
17) Tush

To clarify: - no Just Got Paid. No new songs. No different songs. And no break / encore.

Concert began around 8:00. Outdoor pavilion. Very, very hot. Probably about 92 degrees in the beginning, with 90%+ humidity. Crowd was very into the performance, with the vast majority of the audience standing for the entire show.

Stage set up largely unchanged. Frank had the skull kit on display. Texicali shirts worn by Dusty and Billy with Future Farmers of America badges. Alley Kat presented the blues hat, Billy's wife Gilligan was no where to be seen. Some new choroeogrophy during "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide".

Billy seemed to be frustrated with his guitars / tuning at several points during the show. He walked over to the soundmen stage left after Pincushion and pounded his fist on the table, seemingly unhappy about the PA. And prior to "My Head's In Mississippi" he requested a new guitar from Elwood, announcing his current axe was out of tune. Any tuning issues were likely due to the heat and humidity, which can wreck havoc to guitar strings.

All members appeared trim and fit. Billy skinny as usual, perhaps less animated than in recent years. Dusty's beard has returned to an above average length and his hair is particularly long, much more so than in many years. Frank was very reserved, chain smoking as usual, and making no effort to acknowledge the crowd.

Throughout the show one had the sense the band was in a hurry. Billy did not introduce himself or Frank, and only Dusty was acknowledged after Nationwide, which featured very fluently bass work showcasing Dusty's still potent skills. Billy did little jamming in between songs and did not "play" with his guitar in between tunes as he usually does as of late. The lack of "Just Got Paid" was highly disappointing as this song always proves to be the highlight of the night. This hurry culiminated in the encore "performance". After Legs Frank left his drum stool and Dusty sat down his bass. Both began to walk backstange. Billy however motioned to Elwood and was immediately supplied with his regular axe and relieved of the furry guitar. He then launched into "La Grange". Dusty and Frank quickly hurried back to their respective instruments and joined in. The version of "La Grange" was the absolute shortest I have every heard. I'm serious - I have over 350 ZZ concerts in my collection and have attended many shows as well. This version was under three minutes - I know this because I recorded the song on a video camera. I have never heard a version under 4 minutes 15 seconds before. No "Sloppy Drunk" or "Bar B Que". They then launched into "Tush". Regular version with no real fan fare or screaming from Dusty. Last note played and Frank walks down and bows with Dusty and Billy. They then leave the stage. "Exercise is Good for You" begins playing but only for approx one minute. The crowd chants "ZZ Top, ZZ Top" to no avail. They do not come back. The audience was stunned. Even I was surprised. I checked their schedule on the official site and it shows Charlotte on 06/02, only 6 hours away and not for two days. I have no idea why they were in such a hurry, but the people who suffered were the fans.

This is the EXACT same set list as the last time I saw the group, which was LAST YEAR. Except they didn't play "Just Got Paid" and destroyed "La Grange". I will not be seeing the group again until they stop insulting me and their fans.

In the name of all the lifetime fans, the true followers and the true believers, our only hope lies in the still lingering anticipation of a new album. ZZ has truly reached a staleness, a passive and dismissive spectacale, a parody of themselves and their once intimidating and engaging presence. We can only hope they recover from this lowest of lows and reclaim perhaps 10% of their former glory.