not a review, it's a story...

zz top - brooks and dunn

 abuse

ZZ TOP and Brooks and Dunn
Saturday, Sept. 6, 2008
Walnut Creek

You blink and summer is gone but in a futile attempt by all of those that
celebrate this season they try  to hold on to it just a little longer so
everyone has a Major Event. From what I’ve heard the Raleigh Wide Open 3
was all it should have been but I didn’t get custody of the clone in the
divorce so you can’t be in two places at the same time and with my ZZ Top
bumper sticker and key chain it was a no brainer for me to go with
“That Little Ol’ Band From Texas”.

Although tonight with the double bill being Brooks and Dunn there was a
lot going on from the Land of the Yellow Rose and you would think that a
good portion of the entertainment value of the evening would be
The ROCK Contingent verse the Country Cowboy/Girl Crowd and with that
reasoning you became immediately aware on entering the parking lot that
the Country count might be higher but those type of Events normally start
earlier than Rockers are use to.

It is the day after the tropical storm and as normal the humidity was
spiking but everything else was as good as you could even pay for and with
a long uphill climb it was breezy and sunny on the WQDR Deck which is
always strange to me since 99 percent of the time it 96rock’s Deck and it
makes it feel like someone has broken into my house and is throwing a party.
But that’s ok, the party comes with Free Beer and perpetual H-Raisers like
Big Mike are always there.

It was time to go down the hill now which is much better on the legs and
lungs than the reverse direction to hit the 10th row center which wasn’t
as close as sometimes but with all those Brooks and Dunn Fan Club Members,
Country Mega-Tix holders and the ego ramp, (runway stage), cutting through
the center of the prime area I was plenty happy.

As one of the Rockers in attendance it was nice that Brooks/Dunn was the
opener and as normal they brought all the bells and whistles with them, I
can only image how badly the stage hands back must hurt after manhandling
all that was on stage to behold.

There were circular light structures hanging over the stage, each with a
large silver skull of a steers head, three huge vertical diamond vision
screens at the back of the stage that were used for individual images or
together as one large screen, on each side of these was a rack of
spotlights and lighting with more steer head images intermingled with it
all. When everything was cut on at one time I’m sure they had to crank the
generating capacity of Sharon Harris up a couple of notches to make it all
go.

Brooks and Dunn:
Cowboy Town
You Can't Take the Honky Tonk Out of the Girl
Hillbilly Deluxe
Neon Moon
Put a Girl in It
She Likes to Get Out of Town
Believe
Red Dirt Road
Mama Don't Get Dressed Up For Nothing
Ain't Nothin' 'Bout You
Only in America
Play Somethin' Country
My Maria

Encore:
Brand New Man
Boot Scootin' Boogie

After country time was over we were hanging in the pavilion area and there
were quite a few people leaving, Country people rustling their way back to
the truck to do the rest of their Saturday night and you see this happen with
its competing music types, when theirs is done, indifferent takes over to the
other. In a way that removed the unfaithful and left what remained only those
that were Ready to Rock.

I was wondering how the staging would transition from B/D to ZZ and I didn’t
once think that the Skull Steers Head Theme was dead-on for all involved, just
throw some different video on the screen and have at it.

The thing that is always amazing is when there is a group of only three people
and it sounds better and larger than some acts with a dozen or more up there
helping them do it. And they have the theme that sells down to something better
than rocket science with those beards, hats, glasses and clothes; it’s the
perpetual disguise that can forever keep them young.

When the two guitar players, Frank Beard, (bass), and Billy Gibbons, (lead),
stand up together side by side and do their movements all in the same motion
it looks like something out of a video that’s playing in your mind.

The major color theme on their videos tonight was black and white with many
racing images flying past that made you feel like you were on a thrill ride
that was in the screaming downhill portion of its run; you were moving yet
standing still.

Of course they had the white fuzzy guitars from the video but this ’08 edition
didn’t have them twirling around which was disappointing as the crowd would
have lapped it up like the cold beer.

Brooks and Dunn came out to do two songs with ZZ Top with the second being
“Jailhouse Rock” and the whole place was rocking like Elvis in prison clothes
then the white lights were shining bright so I turned to look back at the venue
and it was a jamming house full of Rock and Rollers and from the looks of it
more than a few of the Country Crew might have to reconsider their allegiances
and convert to the true faith of Rock. All the Country Singers really want to
be Rock Stars anyway.

ZZ TOP
Got Me Under Pressure
Gimme All Your Lovin'
Waitin' for the Bus
Jesus Just Left Chicago
I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide
I Need You Tonight
Goin' Down to Mexico
Just Got Paid
Sharp Dressed Man
Legs

Encore:
La Grange
Tush
Tube Snake Boogie (with Brooks & Dunn)
Jailhouse Rock
 
…fnLEE
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