So the new official ZZ page has been really pushing the upcoming tribute album. I will be honest and say that I have never cared for these types of records, and found even the Zeppelin tribute album "Encomium" to be pretty boring. Its just never as good as the real thing. Maybe this release will be different you never know. And I suppose it is a good thing to pass the time until the new album comes out.
Aside from the tribute things are pretty quiet. The group continues the casino circuit, playing very short shows clocking in just over 70 minutes. "Future Blues" has become the sole "blues" number and things are rather formula driven. The band has got to be tired by now so you can't really blame them, but then again they agree to do these endless tours so...
Anyone else think the band could tremendously benefit from a dedicated and driven manager who is concentrated solely on ZZ Top? A younger, more energetic Bill Ham would do wonders for helping the band focus their energy into only those ideas and activities that benefit; never thought I would complain of over saturation but maybe taking a year off and then going back to the drawing board would be a good thing for band and audience alike. Everyone deserves a day off. Young fans are imperative to the health of an enterprise, which a modern band is, and the endless stream of baby boomers (who the majority of appear to have endless amounts of discretionary income to throw at multiple shows ever year) don't do anything but create a sense of complacency and predictability. Led Zeppelin hasn't existed in 30 years yet has millions of young fans - why not ZZ? Time to hit the drawing board.
It’s kind of interesting that we’ve been waiting for the new ZZ album, and then the tribute album shows up first. Some of the clips sound good, and some sound not so good.
ReplyDeleteThis tour only has a few more weeks, but they could still tack on even more dates.
I met a few teen and 20-something fans at the ZZ show this summer, most of who were with parents or older relatives. I got the impression that the younger fans were really excited about ZZ and weren’t dragged kicking and screaming by their parents. Some of the younger fans seemed really keen on the older Pre-Eliminator material, but I didn’t think to ask if they like (or knew) Rhythmeen, XXX, or Mescalero. Who knows? Maybe the Facebook and Twitter presence of ZZ may even draw in more new younger fans.