Review | ZZ Top Is Bad, Nationwide, and Bowlside

A super moon reported for cosmic duty on Tuesday night, beaming overhead to honor the finale of the Santa Barbara Bowl. Fittingly, from a musical and alphabetical perspective, the artist of choice was ZZ Top, the best little boogie and wry mischief-making party band outta’ Texas.

ZZ Top’s current “Elevation Tour” stop featured another seasoned band, Night Ranger, whose hour-long opening set provided for a useful study-in-contrast relationship with the headliner. The Ranger, formed in 1982, was the non-ironic band of the night, whereas the Top has always mixed its serious and muscular musical cred with a serious sense of humor and kitsch. It’s a welcome touch, as rock’s in need of levity today.

The Ranger’s two guitarists — Brad Gillis and Keri Kelli — issued gymnastic barrages of fretboard excess, followed by gladiator poses of conquest, as if to say, “I just slayed a baby lion.” By contrast, the Top’s Billy Gibbons went the opposite route, with riffs and solos embodying a pinnacle of taste and tone, in between comedic maneuvers and such gibes as, after a teasing blast of licks, telling the crowd, “don’t get too excited, we’re just making this shit up.”

Night Ranger delivered a tight and punchy set of its kinder, gentler hard rock, from “(You Can) Rock in America” to the hooky arena ballad “Sister Christian,” replete with mass swaying of cell phones lighting up in the crowd. A surprise moment from left field came in the form of a cameo by Chubby Checker, in town for a private birthday function. They met him backstage and talked him into an impromptu run through his iconic proto-rock hit “The Twist,” gently twisting in a conservative suit-and-tie.

Thankfully, ZZ Top has made Santa Barbara a regular stop, with gigs at Chumash Casino, the Arlington, and returns to the Bowl. One local connection is Gibbons’s camaraderie with pick-up guru Seymour Duncan. (For a more intricate Gibbons encounter, catch him in a different trio setting, BFG, at the Lobero on January 24).  

The ZZ Top threesome — with beardless drummer Frank Beard and bearded Elwood Francis replacing the late charter member Dusty Hill — hit the stage, backed by a massive graffitied wall backdrop, and cranked a loose, yet tight 74-minute package of music. The band excels at coloring within the standard Vegas set formula of length, while somehow also giving us a full plate and open bar of music. The setlist added up to a summary of what makes them tick, opening with the pressurized “Got Me Under Pressure” (with Francis trotting out his satirically humungous 17-string bass) and closing with surefire hits — “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Legs” and a closer of “La Grange,” the best little whorehouse song ever.

They also touched on roots of their musical fabric, calling out the R&B gem of Sam and Dave’s “I Thank You” and the country standard “Sixteen Tons,” made famous by Tennessee Ernie Ford but here roughed up and Top-ified.

For my money, the most classic ZZ Top song is “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide,” a mock-boast of a tune with a quirky rhythmic interlude. But the song is also truth-in-advertising. Even at the ripe age of 56 years old, the band is bad, nationwide/globe-wide, and hopefully coming again soon to a Santa Barbara venue near us. 

They still got legs.