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Hitmakers ZZ Top storm Community Auditorium stage

Rock and roll hall of famers dole out a steady stream of hits to help usher in the return of big-name rock shows in Thunder Bay.

THUNDER BAY – Billy Gibbons has been around a long time.

In 1968, his band opened for the legendary Jim Hendrix, a story he told the last time his new band, ZZ Top, graced the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium stage, more than a decade ago.

Gibbons, Frank Beard and newcomer Elwood Francis, who took over after band co-founder Dusty Hill died last year, were in a no-nonsense kind of mood, keeping the chatter to a minimum as they ripped through a 15-song set that seemed to be over almost before it started.

His voice a stone or two more gravelly than it was during ZZ Top's heyday, Gibbons stopped to chat a couple of times during the set, admitting the COVID-19 hiatus forced upon touring musicians around the world – leading to a two-year delay of Wednesday night's return to Thunder Bay – was tough to take.

“ZZ Top is in the house with you tonight,” he said five songs into the set, which opened with a bang, a rip-roaring rendition of Got Me Under Pressure from their hit 1983 album, Eliminator.

“I'm also just glad to get out of the freaking house. I don't know about you all, but two years went by. I can't tell you what I did. Well, I drank a lot of beer. It was crazy, but here we is and we're going to have a good time tonight.”

Whether it was the high ticket price – the lowest seats in the house were north of $150 – a continuing reluctance to attend large-scale events in tight quarters, or a Thunder Bay concert crowd not willing to take a chance on a show already cancelled twice, it was a subdued audience that took in the first big rock show at the Auditorium since the pandemic's arrival.

A handful stood for most of the show, dancing in place to staples like I Thank You, Gimme All Your Lovin' and Pearl Necklace.

The beardless Beard, who joined Gibbons in 1969, when the band was known as Moving Sidewalks, was his ever-steady self pounding the drums, while Gibbons and the bearded Francis kept to themselves out front, occasionally coming together on stage for a two-shot, a pair of grizzled veterans hamming it up for an audience pent up for ZZ Top's hillbilly blues-rock sound that shot them to the top of the charts and into the Rock and Roll Hall in 2004.

“That's not a pin-on beard. That's the real deal,” Gibbons said, introducing Hill's replacement to the crowd, which filled about a third of the Auditorium seating area.

He later told the crowd he'd spoken to guitar legend Jeff Beck earlier in the day, the two praising each other for their rock-and-roll mindset.

And then Gibbons launched into a cover of Sixteen Tons, a country standard made famous by the long-gone Tennessee Ernie Ford.

The audience ate it up, singing along – well sort of, trying to remember the words of a song that doesn't get a heck of a lot of airplay in Thunder Bay these days.

After trotting out Just Got Paid, Francis swapping out his traditional bass for a cherry red 12-strings and Gibbons switching out his guitar, a familiar riff echoed from the stage, a song everyone in the building knew was coming.

“We can't let the night go by without doing this thing,” Gibbons growled, the audience leaping to its collective feet for Sharp Dressed Man, followed in hot pursuit by Legs, arguably ZZ Top's two biggest hits.

The three-song encore included Brown Sugar, Tube Snake Boogie and closed with La Grange, from 1973's Tres Hombres.

Though not as raucous as their last visit to Thunder Bay, and maybe a little less show than fans were hoping for, ZZ Top delivered mostly as advertised and was well worth the two-year wait.



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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