06/05/12 Richmond, VA Show Review

Setlist:

- Thank You
- Bus
- Chicago
- Pincushion
- X
- Gimme
- Vincent Price
- Heaven, Hell or Houston
- My Head's in Mississippi
- Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers
- Stages
- Sharp Dressed
- Legs
Encore:
- La Grange (with Sloppy and BarBQue)
- Tush

Random thoughts somewhat composing a paragraph review:

Missed opener Gretchen Wilson...Three Doors Down is talented but not my cup of tea...ZZ came on at 8:50 PM...unseasonably cold weather, low 60's (F), usually low 70's (F) at night...Outdoor venue, filled to the maximum, likely 10,000 or so in attendance, great to see...Wide range of ages in the audience, very enthusiastic...Band's tour buses were parked beside the left side of the venue, Dusty's trailer in plain sight behind his impressive means of transportation...Gang of Outlaws intro theme, pretty cool, went over well with the crowd...Opened with Thank You, crowd loved it, Dusty's vocals too low in the mix ( a complaint throughout the show)...Straight into Bus/Chicago, Dusty's bass very loud and prominent,  a good thing...Billy missed quite a few notes / bad chords / late chord changes, but only on the first few songs, after Chicago he improved (significantly)...Pincushion, ever a part of their arsenal, sounded good and featured a confident outro solo from BFG...X was cool to hear again, crowd recognized it right away and sang along...Gimme in an unusual position, very nice to hear this outside of the other Eliminator hits...Vincent Price, simply fantastic, extremely cool and dynamic solo from Billy - almost thrashing in nature - quick leads interlaced with power chords - highlight of the night, crowd more or less did not know what song it was but were very happy with the end result as noted by the applause...Heaven, Hell or Houston, great to hear as a dedicated ZZ fan, great boogie solo from Billy and awesome vocals true to the El Loco sound...Mississippi - finally played in it's entirety, great extended solo and powerful drumming from Frank...Beer Drinkers was confident in its swagger and the band obviously enjoyed jamming to it, audience banged their heads up and down in a sign of approval...Stages surprisingly was greatly appreciated by the fans both young and old, young kid beside me was playing air guitar the whole time, many have questioned this being included in the show but it is played very well...Sharp again had a strong solo from Billy...Legs unremarkable...as usual very short encore wait, maybe 2 minutes...Customary La Grange but Sloppy and BarBQue was great to hear again...Customary Tush, Dusty sounded good but still too low in the mix......

Highlights:
- After getting warmed up Billy really came alive. Some of the best playing I have heard from him in a long time. Awesome. Vincent Price, Vincent Price, Vincent Price...
- Dusty's vocals need to brought up, appears he can still sing well so why not let the fans hear him?
- Set list is a welcomed refreshing change. If you have not seen the band in a few years go this year
- Billy was making Elwood work at the beginning, motioning to him and speaking to him during songs multiple times
- Frank was steady as ever, pounding away and keeping the beat
- Pablo failed to catch the pint of liquor which crashed to the stage floor, but failed to break. Strange...
- Dusty, during the middle part of the set, hung out close to the drum riser, grooving away
- Set list needs another Dusty song
- Frank's dog made his appearance during the band bow

*** Texicali ***
I Don't Understand...
...Why no mention, absolutely no mention, of Texicali was made. No physical EP available for sale, no new songs played, no mention from Billy about the release. Why not? This was the same day the EP came out. The fans were soaking up every moment of the band's performance and were putty in the band's hands, why not push the new songs, they could have sold out of copies at the show and many more would visit iTunes when they got home.
This makes no sense. I am not a publicist and don't claim to be, but to me not promoting your new work is crazy.

Overall:

Great show, fantastic playing from Billy, band is having a great time, set list is nice in its changes.
Go see them this tour if you can.