This show, along with the Rockaplast show in 1980 and perhaps the New Jersery performance in 1980, is probably the most well known and readily available live recording of the band. ZZ played the show in 1983 but came back in 1985 to headline. This show will go down as one of the most poignant, transitional, exciting and experimental concerts in the bands tenure.
Sound: A
Performance: A
Setlist: A
Got Me Under Pressure
I Got the Six
Gimme All Your Lovin
Waitin For the Bus
Jesus Just Left Chicago
Sharp Dressed Men
Ten Foot Pole
TV Dinners
Manic Mechanic
Heard It On the X
I Need You Tonight
Pearl Necklace
Cheap Sunglasses
Arrested For Driving While Blind
Party On the Patio
Legs
Tube Snake Boogie
Can't Stop Rockin
La Grange
Tush
The soon to be obligatory show opener for the next 25 years (with a few intermittent exceptions), "Got Me Under Pressure" is an exciting and energetic piece at this early stage, having emerged as a strong track in the shadow of the Eliminator trilogy and proving to be an exciting show opener. Next up is the band's final performance of "I Got The Six". By this time the boyzz were 36 years old, and the subject matter of the song may be questionable in approach and taste for men well into adulthood. Nevertheless it's fun to hear and notable for it's last public rendition. Following is "Gimme All Your Lovin'" which is great to hear outside of the now custom "Gimme", "Sharp" and "Legs" three in a row trifecta. Despite the possible over-saturation of the song at this point, the crowd is estactic. Billy comments "an old one" just prior to the opening of "Waitin For the Bus" and "Jesus Just Left Chicago". These songs are unremarkable as usual, and have seen little variation in over 35 years of live performances. "Sharp Dressed Men" is brutal in its sonic assualt as it pummels the crowd with thundering bass and lightning fast guitar. Interestingly it appears the song is lip-synched even at this very early stage. From Billy's singing throughout the show it would appear that he could have maintained the high pitch of the song, but perhaps he was unhappy with the way his voice sounded live. It has defienetly been lip-synched for the past 15 years as Billy's voice is no longer clear and clean enough to sing the number. "Ten Foot Pole" follows. This song is an excellent example of the change in the purpose and intent of the band's live show. Beginning in 1983 and continuing aggressively in 1985 the bands live performances shifted from being about the musicical prowness, sound and skill into a focus on entertaining, engaging and dare I say patronizing the audience. In 1981 "Ten Foot Pole" was a powerhouse, culminating in an often 2 1/2 minute plus outro guitar solo from Billy, full of aggressive, fluent and difficult guitar structures and chords. In 1985 the song is performed more as entertainment, a unique type of song to break up the monotomy of a normal song design. The outro solo is rigid and predictable, played the same night after night, and much shorter in length coming in at approx one minute. I imagine this type of change is what people mean when they lament the change from the "old ZZ Top sound" into the clean and polished '80's sound. This show serves as the final performance of "TV Dinners", a good album track but never really convincing live. "Manic Mechanic" is next, fun to listen to but also normal in it's delivery. "Heard It On the X" is very fast as usual, and travels over the audience's head like a tsunami.
What follows next changes this show from special to very special. An isolated performance of "I Need You Tonight" is rendered in all its glory. It has not been played live before, and will not be played live again until 2008 (from my knowledge anyway, if anyone has any performances of the song aside from this show and before 2008 please let me know). In my opinion this version is far superior to the rendition being played live today. Today Billy's voice is gritty and broken; don't get me wrong, it still sounds good in the context of the band's songs, but his voice is very different from how it sounded 25 years ago. This is to be expected, the man is 60 years old. In this version Billy is able to deliver the lyrics in a convincing, bluesy and dynamic form, drawing the listener into the piece much more so than today. The two guitar solos are brillant in their delivery and construction, and are focused on "playing these blues for you" as Billy shouts during the tune. Today's versions feature Billy playing the middle solo with one hand, using hammer-ons and pull offs in an exhibition meant to "entertain" the audience. This does nothing for the purity of the song and takes away from the original intention of the work, which was the familiar formula of singing of ones desire for the fairer sex via lyrics of longing and guitar notes of lonliness. Even though its probably only 4 seconds long, the very end of the song consists of a quick return to the intro, smooth and clean. Awesome song. Awesome live performance.
"Pearl Necklace" follows, and again leaves the listener wondering what could have been if the band was willilng to be more spontaneous by jamming on the outro solo. For the best example of what this song can be see my show review of their 10/16/1983 London show. "Cheap Sunglasses" is performed with gusto. Next up is one of my most favorite live songs "Arrested for Driving While Blind" featuring the "Hit It / Quit It" medley. Despite a very long intro from the group wherein Billy does not break into the lyrics until around the 50 second mark, the song is shorter than normal coming in at just over 7 minutes. Unfortunetely Billy quickly runs through the three hit it / quit it sections. Still great fun to hear. "Party On the Patio" is next, sung in all of its high pitched glory by Dusty. This song has recently proven to be a stretch for Mr. Hill in the recent live performances in the US and Europe, however here its pushed to the limit.
Next is the live debut of "Legs". Unlike today the band makes no effort to hide the synthesizer beat here, which comes through loud and clear and dominants the PA's output. The song is not without problems as Billy apparently cuts the outro solo too short and the plug is suddenly pulled on the pre-recorded synthesizer rythym. Very interesting version to hear. "Tube Snake Boogie" is very enthusastic and is appreciated by the audience. Again a first live performance, "Can't Stop Rockin" is revealed to the masses. It also suffers from an apparent lack of practice as the band has trouble synronizing during the intro. The end of the song however is unique in its structure. "La Grange" pales without the Sloopy Drunk and Bar-B-Que medley, but is very well performed. The perrenial show closer "Tush" brings things to an end.
If one argues the band has two chapters, then this show marks the ending of the first. As mentioned before the band would complete its shift from hard working and skilled musicians to seasoned and experienced "entertainers" in this period, forever resulting in a decline of the bands live performances. "Afterburner" would be released in a little over two months, and the concerts the band would bring to the table in support of the album suffer from an overly polished and predictable composition.
A great show, and a significant moment in the bands history.
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