This year marks the 50th anniversary of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees ZZ Top’s 1969 formation in the Houston area. On July 1, they added dates to their already busy 2019 schedule.
The “Little Ol’ Band From Texas” opened their celebratory tour on Friday night (May 17) with the first of three consecutive shows in the Lone Star state, with a concert in Dallas at the Dos Equis Pavilion. Watch a few clips from the 17-song set below.
They’re also releasing a comprehensive 50-song anthology. On Aug. 16, Warner Bros. Records will release Goin’ 50 as both 3-CD and 180-gram, 5-LP sets. A single-CD version with 18 tracks was made available on June 14.
Goin’ 50 spans the band’s entire musical career, from its 1969 debut, and its multi-platinum zenith during the ’80s, to its most recent releases. This new retrospective includes material from each of the 15 studio albums that guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and bassist Dusty Hill have recorded since 1970. Two bonus tracks, “Salt Lick” and “Miller’s Farm,” a single and b-side respectively, were recorded in 1969 by the original incarnation of ZZ Top.
The first disc of Goin’ 50 focuses on the FM radio hits of the ’70s and early ’80s, including “La Grange,” “Tush,” “Cheap Sunglasses,” “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” and “Pearl Necklace.”
The additional disc explores the hits the band released between 1983 and 1991, including six Top 40 tracks: “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” “Legs,” “Sleeping Bag,” “Stages,” “Rough Boy” and “Velcro Fly.”
Goin’ 50 closes with a selection of songs recorded between 1992 and 2016 that find the band returning to its blues roots for fresh inspiration on tracks like “Pincushion,” “What’s Up With That,” “Rhythmeen” and “I Gotsta Get Paid.” The set’s final two tracks, live versions of “Waitin’ For The Bus” and “Jesus Just Left Chicago,” are taken from the band’s most recent release, Live Greatest Hits from Around the World (2016).
On Jan. 28, the band announced the concerts in May in three “Texas towns”–Dallas, Houston and Austin–with fellow classic rock legends Bad Company and Cheap Trick. But those dates, as well as dozens this summer in Europe, are just a warmup to their big celebration.
Watch ZZ Top perform “Legs” on May 17
Before that, they will perform in a dozen European countries over roughly four weeks.
The European tour gets underway in early June in Scandinavian countries and then heads to central Europe, concluding in the U.K. in late July.
Gibbons looked back at the history of the band while looking forward to the European tour. “It’s been 50 years, and I think we’re starting to get pretty good! We’re just as excited to play Barcelona this summer as we were to play Beaumont (Tex.) back in ’69. The beards are, perhaps, a bit longer, but nothing much else has changed and we hope to keep it that way.”
Watch them perform “Sharp-Dressed Man” on May 17
ZZ Top 50th Anniversary Tour Dates (Tickets are available here and here)
Jul 02 – Montreux, Switzerland – Auditorium Stravinski
Jul 04 – Nimes, France – Arenes de Nimes
Jul 05 – Barcelona, Spain – Barcelona Rock Fest
Jul 06 – Argles Sur Mer, France – Festival Les Deferlantes
Jul 08 – Maxeville, France – Zenith de Nancy
Jul 09 – Cologne, Germany – Open Air am Tanzbrunnen Koln
Jul 10 – Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg – Rockhal
Jul 12 – London, UK – SSE Arena Wembley
Aug 16 – Ridgefield, WA – Sunlight Supply Amphitheater (with Cheap Trick)
Aug 17 – Airway Heights, WA – Northern Quest Casino Theater
Aug 20 – Yakima, WA – Yakima Valley SunDome
Aug 21 – Woodinville, WA – Chateau Ste Michelle Winery (with Cheap Trick)
Aug 23 – Irvine, CA – FivePoint Amphitheatre (with Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Aug 24 – Concord, CA – Concord Pavilion (with Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Aug 25 – Paso Robles, CA – Vina Robles Amphitheatre (with Cheap Trick)
Aug 27 – Santa Barbera, CA – Arlington Theater
Aug 28 – San Diego, CA – Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre
Aug 29 – Phoenix, AZ – Comerica Theatre
Sep 01 – Kansas City, MO – Starlight Theatre
Sep 04 – Milwaukee, WI – BMO Harris Pavilion
Sep 06 – Maryland Heights, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre (with Cheap Trick)
Sep 07 – Tinley Park, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
Sep 08 – Sterling Heights, MI – Michigan Lottery Amphitheater
Sep 10 – Huber Heights, OH – Rose Music Center
Sep 11 – Burgettstown, PA – KeyBank Pavilion
Sep 13 – Ocean City, MD – Ocean City BikeFest
Sep 14 – Gilford, NH – Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion
Sep 15 – Camden, NJ – BB&T Pavilion
Sep 17 – Syracuse, NY – Crouse-Hinds Theatre*
Sep 18 – Boston, MA – Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion
Sep 19 – Wantagh, NY – Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theatre (with Cheap Trick)
Sep 21 – Cleveland, OH – Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica
Sep 22 – Louisville, KY – Champions Park
Oct 05 – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park
Oct 06 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion
Oct 09 – Charleston, SC – Volvo Car Stadium
Oct 11 – Cherokee, NC – Harrah’s Cherokee Event Center (with Cheap Trick)
Oct 12 – Manchester, TN – Exit 111 Festival
Oct 13 – Alpharetta, GA – Verizon Amphitheatre (with Cheap Trick)
Oct 15 – Augusta, GA – James Brown Arena (with Cheap Trick)
Oct 16 – St. Augustine, FL – St. Augustine Amphitheatre (with Cheap Trick)
Oct 18 – Estero, FL – Hertz Arena (with Cheap Trick)
Oct 19 – Tampa, FL – MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre (with Cheap Trick)
Oct 20 – West Palm Beach, FL – Coral Sky Amphitheatre (with Cheap Trick)
Oct 25 – Oxon Hill, MD – MGM National Harbor*
Oct 26 – Bethlehem, PA – Sands Bethlehem Event Center*
Oct 29 – Erie, PA – Warner Theatre*
Nov 01 – Madison, WI – The Sylvee*
Nov 09 – Shreveport, LA – Shreveport Municipal Auditorium*
*Added on July 1
Related: Listings for 100s of classic rock tours
Watch the Top perform a couple of favorites in 2018
ZZ Top is notable for having the most consistently stable lineup in the history of rock music. Soon after the dissolution of Gibbons’ Houston psych rock band Moving Sidewalks, he formed ZZ Top, with Hill and Beard from the Dallas-based band American Blues.
Fifteen studio albums, 30 million record sales and 50 years later, “That Little Ol’ Band From Texas” is still going strong, playing timeless hits like “La Grange,” “Legs,” “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Tush” to audiences the world over.
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