Well the power came back on and the house is back in order so I journeyed on out to the beaches of Virginia.
Venue I have to admit was pretty cool. Right on the Atlantic, the stage was literally 100 feet from the water. Beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. Also very mild temperatures for this time of year, low 80's (F) with no humidity. Couldn't ask for better conditions.
Turns out ZZ was taking part in a major Labor Day festival. Bad Company and Blackfoot were to play later in the day and the next day was to feature Little Feat and several other acts of interest. Tickets were cheap too, $15 face value.
Once again River City Gang opened - they opened earlier this year for the Charlottesville show and I believe last year in Portsmouth. They are more country music in style and somewhat enjoyable. Significant contrast to ZZ - River City is a young, hungry, eager up and coming band who work hard to get the audience involved and often plug their songs and album. I can't remember the last time Billy named one of ZZ's albums on stage.
River City came on at 3:00 pm sharp. Played a long set, till about 3:45. Then they thanked the audience and wrapped things up. Two minutes later they came back and told the crowd they were asked to play a little longer. A faithful rendition of the Stones "Honky Tonk Women" brought things to a final close.
ZZ hit the airwaves at 4:05. I have to say this was the loudest outdoor concert I have ever heard. Dusty's bass practically made the sand jump. Crowd was pretty into it and stood the majority of the show. Very unique audience by the way, mostly beach goers who were there for the festival as a whole, not just ZZ. Not a single ZZ hat or T-shirt was to be found. Again this is Labor Day Weekend so the beach and the city were swarming with people, very crowded everywhere. In light of so many casual fans the audience did not truly come alive until the Eliminator trilogy was reeled off.
Dusty was pretty animated and even lead the audience in some rhythmic clapping. No lite-brite, but two large video screens assisted those with a poor stage view. At one point a close up on the video screen showed an extremely bored and distracted looking Frank Beard - if I wasn't used to this type of demeanor and nonchalant attitude I would be worried that he was about to leave the group. But knowing this is just how he is I suppose it is good that some things never change. Also I don't remember seeing him smoke a single cigarette or drink any Tab, but then again I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention.
Crowd left happy having spent the past hour and ten minutes basked in sunlight, blues rock and alcohol and orderly dispersed into the streets, alleys and boardwalks of the jovial city.
Can't go wrong for 15 bucks!
ReplyDeleteSo it sounds like it was 20 degrees cooler and a lot less humid than Charlottesville - so the boys weren't gasping for oxygen and in danger of dropping!
Dusty was also animated, but Frank lit up early when we saw them last week - I can't comment about the Tab.