![]() ![]() GIBBONS: "Well, it’s a job we enjoy doing but we don’t think of it as 'work' per se, because our work is to play. especially when you’re in your very early 20s."ĪRN: You guys are so cool in concert that it’s hard to tell how much you enjoy a show – has it ever become just a job? Fans hope not. "We didn’t have to think much about it since that kind of thing is usually front of mind. ![]() So we plead guilty as charged, but I think the inspiration and motivation for that was very much a group effort. and the blues is based, in large part, on sensuous innuendo. "You know, what we do is based on the blues. GIBBONS: "Are you accusing us of having a (collective) dirty mind? How did that develop – all three of you or one guy? It just seems too natural. Back then, it was rare for us to look five hours into the future."ĪRN: There always has been sexual references/tension in your songs. We certainly had hope that we’d succeed, yet we didn’t look five decades into the future. "We were just glad to have a outlet where we could bash and thrash. and to make records but we didn’t have delusions of grandeur at all. Our aim was just to get out there and play for an audience. Still does."ĪRN: Did you have any inkling of becoming iconic rock stars in the early days, still playing Texas blues-rock 50 years later? Audiences didn’t exactly know what to make of us back then, but we played loud and crazed, and that usually got a good response. "I’m guessing the three of us came away from that show with at least five more dollars then when we walked into the auditorium. Not sure about the ticket price but 50 cents in 1971 is the equivalent of $3.42 today, so that’s still a pretty good deal. GIBBONS: "Yes, we remember that show and it was fairly well attended, which was notable since we’d actually played to an audience of one around that time. Do you remember that early day concert? That was the year of your first album and some notoriety. 20, 2015, at the Taylor County Coliseum.ĪRN: The story goes that ZZ Top first played Abilene in 1971, performing in Abilene High School’s auditorium. ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons sings during the band's last concert in Abilene on Jan. He adds a propulsion to the songs that is really enjoyable," Gibbons told the Las Vegas Review Journal in October. Hill won't be on stage, a reminder that the years have flowed since the band was founded in Houston in 1969.įrancis, the group's guitar tech guy for 30 years, will be more than capable. But the enthusiasm for a band first seen here in the early 1970s was unchanged. The guys in the band were much older, and so were the fans. On ZZ Top's 25th anniversary, the band skipped Abilene but played Odessa's Ector County Coliseum in October 1994.Ībilene fans turned out in big numbers to see and hear their heroes six years ago. It took from 1984 to 2015 for ZZ to get back to Abilene. Local fans waited years for the band's return. The guys had become sharp-dressed men.Ĭruising down the rock 'n' roll road in style. Their gritty blues-rock had given way to a bigger sound and a string of national hits such as "Gimme All Your Lovin'," "Legs" and "Got Me Under Pressure."Īnd while their first shows here were performed on a stage bare of extras, their 1980s shows were filled with all sorts of props - fuzzy guitars that spun and the headlights of the now trademark Ford Coupe. This was the era of "festival seating," meaning fans on the floor stood. The crowd gathers at the Taylor County Coliseum for the January 1984 show by ZZ Top. The band was on stage here in 1977, apparently back in Texas after a tour out yonder. Their hits at the time included "Francine," "Just Got Paid" and "Whiskey 'n Mama." The third album became "Tres Hombres," and arrived that summer. In a Reporter-News story, the title was given as "Dusty, Frank and Billy" and due in February 1973. The show was ahead of the release of their third album. The ticket price was noticeably inflated, now costing $4 in advance. Their next concert here was in January 1973, at the new Civic Center. One early song performed at Abilene High made the group's first greatest hits album (1977's "The Best of ZZ Top"), "Backdoor Love Affair." ![]() But the signature beards of Hill and guitarist Billy Gibbons came later. ![]() When they first came to Abilene, they were not clean shaven. On that fact alone, ZZ Top has been a huge success. The stories vary but a consistent one is that tickets cost 50 cents for the AHS show.Ĭonsider that tickets to this week's show, which began during the summer and before Hill's death, can cost $100 or even $200, if you really want to get close. ZZ Top is back at the Taylor County Coliseum, where they have played three times since first performing at Abilene High School in 1971. ![]()
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