Even in front of 5000 people on a stage so big many bands would feel lost on it, it feels like they’re playing at a small neighbourhood bar-b-q. They don’t put up much of a show it seems, apart from tailpipe-shaped microphone stands, a glittering silver backdrop and an extensive light rig, but they capture the audience nonetheless.

Singer/bassist Dusty Hill and singer/guitarist Billy Gibbons move smoothly across the stage. Every now and then taking the same pose but with such natural ease that it cheers you up. They’re loose but they play tight. Because of Frank Beard’s illness there’s a substitute drummer that isn’t introduced. He’s ok but the drum sound is awful.

That’s probably not his fault; the drums sound the way they did at the end of the eighties. Compressed and plastic, very unnatural. And the occasional use of electronic gadgets doesn’t really help. On the positive side, the guitar and bass sound better. They’ve left out the effects they used from the late seventies on. The guitar is clean or crunchy and the bass is deep and round.

In some songs Dusty Hill uses an overdrive on his bass that would make many of today’s grindcore bands jealous. Deep, heavy and dirty. Both their voices are in perfect shape. Hill’s power is intact and Gibbons laziness still works.

It’s a pity ZZ Top chooses to play slow and mid tempo songs only. This makes the set a little monotonous. Still, songs like “Mexican Blackbird” and “Cheap Sunglasses” get the crowd dancing and nodding their heads.

At the end they play their three biggest hits in a row: “Gimme All Your Lovin”, “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Hot Legs”. During that last song Gibbons and Hill play their well-known fur coated guitars. Of course there’s an encore but after the classic “Tush” it’s all over. Time to go home smoothly.

(Review: Walter de Korver
Pics: Sebastien Sam)