Tag: ZZ Top
0 JEFF BECK AND ZZ TOP TO EMBARK ON NATIONAL SUMMER TOUR
This August will see long time music legends and mutual admirers, ZZ Top and Jeff Beck on tour together for the first time. The tour launches in Missoula, MT on August 8 and will run for five weeks with stops in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Denver, Detroit, Boston and NYC . . . (more dates TBA).
Formatted with musical synergy in mind, stops along the touring routewill offer fans a full Jeff Beck set, followed by a full ZZ Top set, with a finale that joins the English fret master with the Texas rockers for a collaboration each night of the tour.
ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, speaking on behalf of band mates Dusty Hill and Frank Beard, noted that Beck has long been a source of musical inspiration from the time when Beck played in the Yardbirds, the seminal hard blues-based Britrock band. Gibbons commented, “Ever since experiencing ‘Jeff’s Boogie,’ the prospect of performance with Jeff Beck on the deck brings us into focus with the curator of crunch.”
Likewise, Beck has been an enduring fan of ZZ Top, from even before their ascendance in popularity in the 70s and 80s. He remarked, “Ever since Eliminator I thought it would be great to play with ZZ Top,” and went on to declare Billy Gibbons, “The Professor of Grunge.”
This tour is not the first live collaboration between the two camps. Gibbons joined Jeff Beck and his band on stage at the 25th anniversary celebration of the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2009 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, where they performed The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “Foxey Lady” and ZZ Top’s hit “Rough Boy” together. The following year Jeff Beck joined ZZ Top in Lucca, Italy for an extended rendition of the band’s signature piece “La Grange.” This, however, marks the first time Jeff Beck and ZZ Top will have done any sort of extensive touring together.
ZZ Top, formed in the Houston area of Texas in 1969, became a huge national touring act in the 70s and darlings of MTV in the 80s, going on to sell tens of millions of records. Their unique hybrid of dirty blues, hard rock, incorporating new sounds and technology, earned them induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 with Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones doing the honors.
Jeff Beck, a native of London and two-time Rock And Roll Hall of Famer (with The Yardbirds in 1992, and on his own in 2009), helped set the template in the 60s for the solo-heavy, feedback-laden, rock guitar hero archetype. He formed the Jeff Beck Group by the end of that decade with then-unknown vocalist Rod Stewart, eventually going solo, with forays into fusion and beyond in the mid-70s. Beck, like ZZ Top, has continually incorporated new sounds and technologies into his work throughout his half-century long career. Lately, Beck has been working on a new studio album, his first since the 2010 release of the critically acclaimed Emotion & Commotion, which earned him two Grammy Awards and the highest charting debut in his career.
Jeff Beck with ZZ Top Tour Itinerary:
August 8 Ogren Park Missoula, MT
August 9 Chateau Ste. Michelle Woodinville, WA
August 10 Cuthbert Amphitheatre Eugene, OR
August 12 The Mountain Winery Saratoga, CA
August 13 Greek Amphitheatre Los Angeles, CA
August 15 Ironstone Amphitheatre Murphys, CA
August 16 The Joint Las Vegas, NV
August 20 Fiddlers Green Amphitheatre Englewood, CO
August 22 Zoo Amphitheatre Oklahoma City, OK
August 23 Starlight Theater Kansas City, MO
August 24 Verizon Wireless Amphitheater Maryland Heights, MO
August 27 DTE Energy Music Theatre Clarkston, MI
August 28 Ravinia Highland Park, IL
August 31 MGM Grand Theater @ Foxwoods Mashantucket, CT
September 2 Blue Hills Bank Pavilion Boston, MA
September 3 Merriweather Post Pavilion Columbia, MD
September 4 Nikon @ Jones Beach Theater Wantagh, NY
September 6 Verizon Wireless Amphitheater Alpharetta, GA
September 7 St. Augustine Amphitheater St. Augustine, FL
September 12 Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion The Woodlands, TX
More dates TBA
0 Uncle Kracker, ZZ Top & Kid Rock – Cincinnati, Ohio Photo Gallery & Review
End of Summer. Just the thought of it makes me sad, and that is what labor day weekend represents for me. Cincinnati’s last big rock summer rock show of 2013 took place last Wednesday night. Kid Rock brought his “Best Night Ever” to the Riverbend Music Center.
I don’t know if it was the best night ever, but it was certainly one of the hottest. This was easily the hottest concert I have ever attended. The crazy heat didn’t keep the rock fans away. Riverbend was sold out with over 18,000 in attendance.
Uncle Kracker, ZZ Top, and Kid Rock all put on outstanding sets. This was my first time to experience all three bands, and I enjoyed all of them.
ZZ Top has been performing for over 40 years, and I am still scratching my head why it took until 2013 for me to see them live. Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard & Dusty Hill are all in their sixties, but they can rock with the best of them.
Kid Rock by far surprised the most. His command of the stage is second to none, and his show was a lot of fun. I would go back to a Kid Rock show in a heartbeat.
If you live in the U.S., you still have a chance to catch Kid Rock live. There are a handful of dates left in the U.S. Visit Kid Rock’s site for details.
Check out our photo gallery below!
0 New Hard Rock & Metal Releases For 9/11/2012
9/11 marks the release of the first new ZZ Top album since 2003’s Mescalero.
Check out the full list of releases below!
Neal Morse – Momentum
Threshold – March of Progress
Mystery – The World is A Game
Alastor – Syndroms Of the Cities
Cloudscape – New Era
Circle II Circle – Full Circle – The Best Of
Another Lost Year – Better Days
ZZ Top – La Futura
Hoobastank – Fight or Flight
1 New ZZ Top Album “La Futura” Coming 9/11
The first new studio album from ZZ Top in nine years is LA FUTURA, set for release September 11 by American Recordings. The album harks back to the hallmark raw sound of the band’s formative years and will, inevitably, be considered a return to form on multiple levels. LA FUTURA, produced by Rick Rubin and Billy F Gibbons, the band’s guitarist/singer, finds the legendary group infusing the newly recorded work with the electric blues/roots approach that typified ZZ Top’s earliest work while, at the same time, reaching for new sonic horizons. At its fundament, this is the incarnation of the band whose influence resonates today with such artists as The Black Keys, Jack White, Queens of the Stone Age and many others.
Now celebrating their 42nd year with the same line-up, Gibbons along with bassist/vocalist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard have come up with ten tracks that reflect the band’s intuitive take on rock brought to new, sometimes surreal, plateaus. “We thought long and hard about what this album should be,” commented Gibbons. “We wanted to recall the directness of our early stuff but not turn our backs on contemporary technology. The result of this melding of the past and the present is, of course, LA FUTURA.”
The fact that the new album’s title is in Spanish is a nod to an early ZZ Top tradition manifested in the titles of some of the band’s earliest albums including Tres Hombres, Fandango!, El Loco and Degüello. Known for decades by the sobriquet “That Little Ol’ Band From Texas,” ZZ Top was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Keith Richards in 2004 and has maintained a very active international and domestic touring schedule over the intervening years. They signed to American Recordings a few years ago and have been working on what would become LA FUTURA in spurts since then. Last year they finally entered Foam Box Recordings in Houston, working full time to lay down the tracks that would comprise LA FUTURA. Additional recording for the album took place at Shangri La Studios in Malibu, CA.
The four songs that kick off LA FUTURA, “I Gotsta Get Paid,” “Chartreuse,” “Consumption” and “Over You” debuted last month as Texicali, a digital preview collection exclusively available from iTunes that achieved significant critical and sales success. “I Gotsta Get Paid,” performed by the band in video spots for the Jeremiah Weed line of beverages raised awareness of the song that was inspired by the 1990’s underground Houston rap song “25 Lighters” by DJ DMD with Lil’ Keke and Fat Pat. USA Today named ““I Gotsta Get Paid” its top pick of the week, citing the band for unleashing “its trademark grit and grease in a raw, bluesy rough-and-tumble treatment…” No Depression called “Consumption” “a grinding groove with a bit of Texan funk squeezed into the grooves.” Music Radar analyzed “Consumption,” noting, “The groove is fat, crunchy and full of swagger,” summing the effort us as “ZZ Top crankin’ up some fresh, vital roadhouse blues.”
Also part of LA FUTURA is, fittingly, “Flyin’ High.” The track made its interstellar debut when it was piped into the Soyuz spacecraft at the time of its launch to the International Space Station thirteen months ago. Before it was fully completed, the song was heard onboard at the request of NASA Astronaut Mike Fossum, a long-time ZZ Top fan and intimate who had caught wind of it in an earlier conversation with Dusty Hill.
LA FUTURA also includes “I Don’t Wanna Lose, Lose, You” that has a real garage rock feel while “Big Shiny Nine” is a double entendre tour de force. “It’s Too Easy Mañana” is a down tempo lament, written by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, whose chorus includes the lyric “it’s too easy to feel good.” “Heartache In Blue” includes vocals shared by Gibbons and Hill and can be likened to country blues as reimagined for the 21st Century. The album closes with “Have A Little Mercy,” a down and dirty funky tune, complete with tempo shift, that should serve to underscore the ZZ Top motto that “you just can’t lose with the blues.”
ZZ Top is currently on an extensive tour of European concert halls and festivals that kicked off earlier this week at Moscow’s Crocus Hall with other dates in Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Norway. The band will embark on a string of U.S. dates thereafter, highlighted by a rare New York appearance at The Beacon Theatre the day after the release of LA FUTURA. A major multi-tiered marketing campaign will coincide with the release of LA FUTURA, bringing the good news that, at long last, there’s a new ZZ Top album to the nation and the world.
LA FUTURA track listing:
- I Gotsta Get Paid
- Chartreuse
- Consumption
- Over You
- Heartache in Blue
- I Don’t Wanna Lose, Lose, You
- Flyin’ High
- It’s Too Easy Mañana
- Big Shiny Nine
- Have a Little Mercy
ZZ TOP Tour Dates:
September 7 – Scarborough, ME – Scarbourough Downs
September 8 – Mansfield, MA – Comcast Center
September 9 – Big Flats, NY – The Summer Stage at Tag’s
September 12 – New York, NY – Beacon Theatre
September 14 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center
September 15 – Maryland Heights, MO – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
September 16 – Sevierville, TN – Smokies Stadium
1 ZZ Top – Live in Germany 1980 (2011)
The most powerful three-piece rock band from Texas, ZZ Top have released a new live CD, Live in Germany 1980. The music for this live CD was recorded long before top 40 hits and videos that shot them to fame on MTV. This CD shows the band in fine form, and shows just how powerful their earlier songs are.
Some of my favorites in this live set are “Thank You”, “Cheap Sunglasses”, “Beer Drinkers & Hellraisers”, “La Grange” The Elvis cover “Jailhouse Rock” and “Tush”. There really isn’t a band song in this awesome live set.
For a band that has been rockin’ for over 40 years, I can’t believe that I haven’t seen ZZ Top live yet. Live in Germany 1980 proves to me that ZZ Top is not only a great live band, but was highly influential on many of the bands that I listen to today. I hope that I get a chance to see them play live before they call it a day.
If you are familiar with the DVD, Double Down Live, then you already have an idea of how cool this CD is. This concert was filmed for German television’s popular Rockpalast program and released on DVD as Double Down Live in 2009. The music is now available on CD for the very first time.
If you are a ZZ Top fan, you should not miss Live in Germany 1980. It does not disappoint!
Rating: 
Out of 10
Track Listing:
- El Deguello
- I Thank You
- Waitin’ For the Bus
- Jesus Just Left Chicago
- Precious And Grace
- Manic Mechanic
- Lowdown In The Street
- Heard It On The X
- Fool For Your Stockings
- Cheap Sunglasses
- Arrested For Driving While Blind
- Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers
- La Grange / Sloppy Drunk / Bar-B-Q
- Dust My Broom
- Jailhouse Rock
- Tush
ZZ Top is:
Billy Gibbons – Vocals & Guitar
Dusty Hill – Bass & Vocals
Frank Beard – Drums
2 Enter to Win ZZ Top’s Double Down Live!
WIN A COPY OF ZZ TOP’s DOUBLE DOWN LIVE 2 DVD SET FROM HARDROCKHIDEOUT.COM!
ZZ Top will be releasing Double Down Live, the first historic concert performance ever to be approved for release by the band. Clocking in at just under two hours, this double dose disc delivers twenty-eight years of hard rock, blues, and boogie – ZZ Top Style! The package hits stores on October 20th through Eagle Rock Entertainment.
Disc one, filmed in 1980, is dubbed “DEFINITELY THEN” and is packed with 22 early ZZ Top classics from their Tres Hombres and Fandango! albums, including: “La Grange,” “Tush,” “Cheap Sunglasses,” “Tube Snake Boogie,” and more, many of which remain in their live set to this day. This concert was captured at the Grugahalle in Essen, Germany for the Rockpalast TV series. The concert took place hot on the heels of the release, 30 years ago, of their classic Deguello album (it features 9 of the 10 songs from it). The show found ZZ Top in the era prior to the band’s discovery of sequencers and synthesizers and epitomized the down ‘n’ dirty take no prisoners attitude of “that lil’ ol’ band from Texas” nickname. To this day, this disc is a true best of ZZ Top in the seventies.
Disc two, subtitled “ALMOST NOW,” was shot during their European tour in 2008, includes 11 performances, interview clips, and backstage footage to create the ultimate ZZ Top on the road movie.
Track listing:
Disc One – Definitely Then 1980
1) I Thank You
2) Waitin’ For the Bus
3) Jesus Just Left Chicago
4) Precious And Grace
5) I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide
6) Manic Mechanic
7) Lowdown In The Street
8) Heard It On The X
9) Fool For Your Stockings
10) Nasty Dogs & Funky Kings
11) El Diablo
12) Cheap Sunglasses
13) Arrested For Driving While Blind
14) Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers
15) La Grange
16) She Loves My Automobile
17) Hi Fi Mama
18) Dust My Broom
19) Jailhouse Rock
20) Tush
21) Tube Snake Boogie
22) Just Got Paid
Disc Two – Almost Now 2008
1) Got Me Under Pressure
2) Waitin’ For The Bus
3) Jesus Just Left Chicago
4) I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide
5) Blue Jean Blues
6) Heard It On The X
7) Just Got Paid
8) I Need You Tonight
9) La Grange (with Sloppy Drunk & Bar-B-Q)
10) Hey Joe
11) Tush
Double Down Live is out October 20th!
Enter your name and email address to below, to enter the drawing!
1 ZZ TOP ANNOUNCE TWO UK SHOWS WITH SUPPORT FROM STEEL PANTHER
That little ol’ band from Texas – the legendary ZZ Top have announced that they will be returning to the UK to play two very special shows with support from the one and only Steel Panther.
After an unforgettable main stage performance at this year’s Download, Rock’s sharp dressed men will return to the UK this October to play two very special headline shows at Wembley Arena and Wolverhampton Civic Hall. ZZ Top have been together for 40 years and never once has their line up changed, they are one of the only bands with a career span of this magnitude to be able to lay claim to this distinction and boy does it show, not only were they inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, they were ranked number 44 on the VH1 ‘100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock’. Since the 80s they have had a string of massive hits, spawning some of the best and most instantly recognisable singles within the Hard Rock genre – ‘Gimme All Your Loving’, ‘Sharp Dressed Man’, ‘La Grange’ and ‘Legs’ to name but a few.
Support for these shows will come in the axe shredding, spandex wearing, spawn of your mum and the devil – Steel Panther who not only played a jaw dropping set at Download this year but also played An incredible sold out show at the 229 Club in London. Known for their outrageous stage presence and gargantuan guitar riffs, the band have been entertaining fans and scores of rock and entertainment VIPs with their raucous antics via L.A.’s longest running heavy metal show on the Sunset Strip for nearly a decade.
This is going to be one of THE rock shows of 2009 – fact. You’d be seriously insane to miss it.
ZZ TOP
Plus Steel Panther
OCTOBER 2009
TUESDAY – 27 WOLVERHAMPTON CIVIC HALL
WEDNESDAY – 28 WEMBLEY ARENA
http://www.steelpantherrocks.com/
http://www.myspace.com/steelpantherkicksass
3 New Sammy Hagar CD in November
A new Sammy Hagar CD is on the way in November. XM Radio interviewed Sammy Hagar at the Rock the Bayou festival. Sammy mentioned that he plans to release a new CD in November. Some songs are already done, including one that Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top sings on.
Sammy mentioned that he has a couple of unreleased songs from his project, Planet US that he plans to put out, Peeping Through A Hole and Vertigo. I am not sure if this will be on the new record or released seperately.
1 ZZ Top Signs to American Recordings
ZZ Top has signed a new record deal with Rick Rubin’s American Recordings imprint through Columbia, Billboard can reveal.
The veteran rock trio is planning to hit the studio with Rubin producing, for an album more in keeping with “La Grange”-era ZZ Top than its pop-friendly ’80s sound, according to manager Carl Stubner.
The band recorded for Warner Bros. for the first 20 years of its career before shifting to RCA in the mid-1990s. ZZ Top’s last album, 2003’s “Mescalero,” has sold 103,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The hope is that with Rubin’s guidance, the band can enjoy a commercial and critical revitalization along the lines of prior Rubin clients Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond.
For his part, Stubner, who began managing ZZ Top a year-and-a-half ago, has worked to increase ZZ Top’s visibility via an increased focus on licensing and TV appearances, including the finale of “American Idol” this spring.
“We thought this was a great brand that was kind of dusty,” he says. “My goal was to polish it and do certain things they hadn’t done before.”
To that end, Eagle Rock earlier this month released the first ZZ Top live DVD, “Live From Texas 2007,” which debuts this week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Music Video chart.
The band begins a European tour Friday (July 4) in Oporto, Portugal, which will be followed by 18 co-headlining North American dates with Brooks & Dunn. In the fall, “our plan is to go do smaller theaters, like 3,000-seaters for a low-dough ticket price. Then we’ll go finish the record.”
Courtesy of Billboard.com
