I keep a list of every concert I’ve ever been to, and one of the first few concerts I had ever gone to see was ZZ Top with my dad when I was in high school (or maybe junior high). I don’t know because I don’t remember the date, and what I’ve found via google is either 1991 or 1996, but I thought it was 1994. Anyway, I remember my dad and I sitting up left of the stage at UNO surrounded by a bunch of tough biker type people. I really don’t remember at the time knowing many of their songs except for the songs that were made into videos, so when they scheduled a show for Biloxi I was excited to get the chance to see them knowing more of their songs. I still don’t know a lot of their stuff, but I do know my favorite song is “La Grange”. I LOVE playing the song on GHIII (and have since gotten 5 stars on medium).
So on Friday night, I picked up my dad and we went to this BBQ place he had found out about that has a location in Gulfport. It’s been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives (according to the magazine article posted at the door), which means it’s probably the first time I’ve eaten at a DDD blessed place. The food was good, and by that I mean the pulled pork and the banana pudding. I love homemade banana pudding….also sweet tea. Winner.
The ZZ Top show was at a casino, which I generally do not like going to. They seem cool on TV, but actually going to one and seeing people who probably should not be dropping money into slot machines sitting there entranced doesn’t make me feel good. To get to the theatre, we had to walk through 2 levels of casino, which I guess was a planned thing. The theatre was pretty small, and I would estimate about 1250….maybe 1500….people could fit in there. There were three bars that I saw, and all of them were full up with people in line buying drinks about 15 minutes before show time. I thought about getting a drink, but by the time I wanted to go there were too many people in line. Also, the people on our row didn’t really seem to realize it’s easier for people to walk past you if you stand up and make an effort, than just sitting there and hoping no one trips on your knees.
The show started and the sound wasn’t very good. Billy’s mic was all messed up, and Dusty had to sing a few verses, but they eventually got things situated. I knew judging from recent setlists that they saved most of their hits for the 2nd half of the set, and that’s just what they did. Since they were in Mississippi, they did some blues covers, which was cool. People were still yelling out for songs in between though, as if they weren’t going to play “Sharp Dressed Man”.
They had guitars that had gold glitter on the front, and were bright purple on the back. They even still had the synchronized steps and sways going, which was awesome. Billy showed off by playing one handed, which I’m still not sure how he pulled that off. I tried to take some pictures, but unfortunately there was a stage light directly pointed in my direction, so sometimes it was like watching the band play directly in front of the sun.
“Just Got Paid” was amazing, as were the fur covered guitars they used for “Legs”. They saved “La Grange” for the encore, which was alright with me. The last song they did was “Tush” which had about half the theatre standing up. People didn’t stand up much at all except for some people down in the pit section, and even they didn’t stand up until the end. I thought the show was great, but the venue kind of sucked. The sound was just okay, the seats were crowded together (at least there were cupholders), and we had to walk through a lot of casino to get to the theatre. Despite all that, we saw ZZ Top live again and if they came back to the same place, I’d probably want to go again. On the way out my dad and I posed with show posters.
