ZZ Top + The Ben Miller Band @ o2 Academy, 23rd June 2016
The Ben Miller Band set the tone perfectly with their hillbilly blues style, warming up the crowd on a tropic night in Birmingham which didn’t really need to be any hotter with the sell out crowd at the Birmingham 02 Academy. Temperatures soared as the mature crowd waited for their idols to adorn the stage, a rock blues trio with forty six years in the business hailing from Texas , performing as part of their Glastonbury warm up and better known as the legends that are “ZZ Top“.
Two sparkling monochrome microphones graced their stage symmetry with Billy on guitar and Dusty alternating with Bass and keyboards to stage center with the impressive percussion ensemble of Frank behind them , fans cheered as they royally arrived sporting their trademark beards and shades look, apart from Frank Beard who with his name as apt was the only one not sporting the trademark facial hair.
As the lights dimmed and the opening bars started of “Got Me Under Pressure” echoed within the arena, the crowd cheered followed by radio anthem “Gimme All Your Loving” kept the crowd entertained on their feet from the seated balcony to the ground floor pit waving their arms in the air to its iconic beat and guitar riffs.
Nine songs in and the band mixed it up a little, with so many years in the business and members above the retirement age you could say they weren’t short for hits, with their captivating cover of Jimi Hendrix`s “Foxy Lady” the crowd were in awe and completely blew away with its stomping dirty beat and foot pounding melody before returning back to the hits and “Sharp Dressed Man”
As the night drew to a close and “Legs” graced the finale , imitation beards had been tossed into the crowd from fans on a high wanting more than the fourteen songs they had just witnessed and not ones to disappoint Billy, Frank and Dusty graced the stage yet again for not one but two encores finishing with everyone dancing in the 02 block to Elvis Presley`s “Jailhouse Rock”.
ZZ Top Setlist
Got Me Under Pressure
Gimme All Your Lovin’
Waitin’ for the Bus
Jesus Just Left Chicago
Pincushion
I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide
I Gotsta Get Paid
Rough Boy
Foxy Lady
(The Jimi Hendrix Experience cover)
Catfish Blues
(Robert Petway cover)
Cheap Sunglasses
Chartreuse
Sharp Dressed Man
Legs
Encore:
La Grange / Sloppy Drunk Jam
Tush
Encore 2:
Sixteen Tons
(Merle Travis cover)
Jailhouse Rock
(Elvis Presley cover)
Review: Hayley Clark
Photographs: Dave Musson