ZZ Top guitarist vocalist Billy Gibbons (right) and Dusty Hill rock the MTS Centre Tuesday night.
Sure, you can play the blues with long beards, but when you actually want to get down and dirty, the right hat you still need.
And sunglasses. The cheaper the better.
Before ZZ Top launched into some authentic Delta blues at the MTS Centre Tuesday night, bearded guitarist vocalist Billy Gibbons changed into a fedora like his evenly hairy partner Dusty Hill in order to properly perform a cover of Willie Brown's Future Blues.
The shtick got a few laughs and added to the over all feel good vibe that the veteran Texas blues rock trio created during their 95-mintue set for a crowd of 4,000 fans.
The group -- Gibbons, bassist-vocalist Hill and drummer Frank Beard (you know, the one without any facial hair) -- mainly stuck to favourites from the 1970s and singles from the '80s, avoiding any material off their last studio album, 2003's Mescalero, and almost avoiding everything post 1983 entirely.
Not that anyone minded. It was the hits the audience wanted and the hits it got, along with a few covers from the likes of Brown, B.B. King and Jimi Hendrix.
The group took to the sparse stage and launched instantly into boogie-rocker Got Me Under Pressure, from 1983's Eliminator, ZZ Top's most successful album.
Next it was a double shot of tracks from 1973's Tres Hombres, with the mid-tempo Waitin' For the Bus and fuzzy sludge of Jesus Left Chicago, before 1994's Pin Cushion, a gravelly rocker that sounded like a Motorhead homage.
After four decades together, the band is perfectly in synch and there are no surprises. Gibbons and Hill even have some minimal stage moves down, moving their instruments and shuffling their feet together in time. They aren't the most dynamic group to watch, but it's about the music with ZZ Top, and these guys can still play -- Gibbons isn't considered a blues guitar God just because of his collection of customized axes.
The music isn't overly flashy and neither is the stage setup, which featured two sets of speaker cabinets strung together to look like they were tumbling, and a video screen behind the band showing a variety of images from car parts to girls.
The pace picked up during the end of the main set, when the trio of Eliminator hits -- Gimme All Your Lovin', Sharp Dressed Man and Legs -- followed each other in quick succession, with Gibbons and Hill playing their famous furry white instruments during Legs.
They returned for a three song encore, throwing out a version of Viva Las Vegas before the one-two punch of La Grange and Tush.
Straight from the "Those-guys-are still-a-band!?" file, Saskatoon's Wide Mouth Mason warmed up the crowd with a decent, if pedestrian, set of funkified blues based rock highlighted by an electrifying mid set guitar solo from Shaun Verreault.
The frontman announced that the group was about to begin work on a new album with ex Big Sugar/Grady leader Gordie Johnson, who was handling bass duties for the trio.
Sure, you can play the blues with long beards, but when you actually want to get down and dirty, the right hat you still need.
And sunglasses. The cheaper the better.
Before ZZ Top launched into some authentic Delta blues at the MTS Centre Tuesday night, bearded guitarist vocalist Billy Gibbons changed into a fedora like his evenly hairy partner Dusty Hill in order to properly perform a cover of Willie Brown's Future Blues.
The shtick got a few laughs and added to the over all feel good vibe that the veteran Texas blues rock trio created during their 95-mintue set for a crowd of 4,000 fans.
The group -- Gibbons, bassist-vocalist Hill and drummer Frank Beard (you know, the one without any facial hair) -- mainly stuck to favourites from the 1970s and singles from the '80s, avoiding any material off their last studio album, 2003's Mescalero, and almost avoiding everything post 1983 entirely.
Not that anyone minded. It was the hits the audience wanted and the hits it got, along with a few covers from the likes of Brown, B.B. King and Jimi Hendrix.
The group took to the sparse stage and launched instantly into boogie-rocker Got Me Under Pressure, from 1983's Eliminator, ZZ Top's most successful album.
Next it was a double shot of tracks from 1973's Tres Hombres, with the mid-tempo Waitin' For the Bus and fuzzy sludge of Jesus Left Chicago, before 1994's Pin Cushion, a gravelly rocker that sounded like a Motorhead homage.
After four decades together, the band is perfectly in synch and there are no surprises. Gibbons and Hill even have some minimal stage moves down, moving their instruments and shuffling their feet together in time. They aren't the most dynamic group to watch, but it's about the music with ZZ Top, and these guys can still play -- Gibbons isn't considered a blues guitar God just because of his collection of customized axes.
The music isn't overly flashy and neither is the stage setup, which featured two sets of speaker cabinets strung together to look like they were tumbling, and a video screen behind the band showing a variety of images from car parts to girls.
The pace picked up during the end of the main set, when the trio of Eliminator hits -- Gimme All Your Lovin', Sharp Dressed Man and Legs -- followed each other in quick succession, with Gibbons and Hill playing their famous furry white instruments during Legs.
They returned for a three song encore, throwing out a version of Viva Las Vegas before the one-two punch of La Grange and Tush.
Straight from the "Those-guys-are still-a-band!?" file, Saskatoon's Wide Mouth Mason warmed up the crowd with a decent, if pedestrian, set of funkified blues based rock highlighted by an electrifying mid set guitar solo from Shaun Verreault.
The frontman announced that the group was about to begin work on a new album with ex Big Sugar/Grady leader Gordie Johnson, who was handling bass duties for the trio.
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