Review | ZZ Top, Still the Tops in their Boogying Game

Some 54 years down the line, ZZ Top is still a flagship American boogie/blues rock group straight outta Texas, but with stops in Las Vegas, Hollywood, and its own cheeky myth-making brain trust. And such was the core message delivered, steamy and fresh, at the Arlington Theatre last Friday night, where the trio played its latest local show.

In the world according to the Top, things change very gradually, but stay largely the same. Friday’s show was their first local appearance with a new bassist, the sharp-skilled Elwood Francis, replacing charter member Dusty Hill, who died in 2021. The show goes on, as it must.

ZZ Top’s sense of winking, self-effacing showbiz hit us on impact, with Francis playing an absurdly over-endowed 16-string instrument, played only for the opening tune, “Got Me Under Pressure,” for dramatic effect. The band — Billy Gibbons and Francis with jumbo beards and drummer Frank Beard with only a ‘stache — emerged with glittery uniforms, suggesting swanky, spangled variations on Roadhouse chic. The stage set, too, was ironically outfitted, with symmetrical, comically large amp stacks suggesting tiny Mayan temples. Added to this was a starry sky backdrop, which enjoyed a special décor kinship with the Arlington’s own faux starry-sky ceiling.

“Yes, but what of the music?” the reader rightly asks.

Dwelling on the look and attitude of the show and this branded band makes sense when considering its built-in mixture of sincerity and irony in the music itself. Many of the band’s best tunes come equipped with reverse-engineered satirical designs, poking fun at their own mystique while also savoring it, as heard in the rhythmically tricked-out “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide,” and “Sharp-Dressed Man,” as well as their grinning ode to female gams, “Legs,” closing the main set with a tang. They’ve got cheek, and they know how to use it.

For cover songs, the band dipped into the varied stuff of Sam & Dave’s soul classic “I Thank You” and a riff-fueled version of countryman Merle Travis’s “Sixteen Tons,” minus original hitmaker Tennessee Ernie Ford’s polite basso profundo.

Inimitable lead singer/guitarist Gibbons, still charismatic and kicking at age 73, also still commands one of the tastiest and rich-toned (and over-toned) guitar styles in music. His famous tone can partly be attributed to his half-century friendship with Santa Barbara–based custom guitar pickup guru Seymour Duncan, whom Gibbons gave a kindly shout-out at the Arlington.

As they returned for a three-pack of encores — “Brown Sugar” (theirs, not the Stones’), “Tube Snake Boogie,” and their iconic ode to a Texan brothel, “La Grange” — they strategically busted out the bubble machines for extra showbiz pizazz, ZZ-style.

ZZ Top is one of those rock bands skilled at projecting a cut-loose party-all-night atmosphere, while taking care of business, such as clocking in a show at the standard 75-minute mark. “All night long” takes on a new meaning and time frame in the Baby Boomer world. On this ZZ encounter, quality trumped quantity, whetting our appetite for more.