ZZ TOP IN NEW YORK’S CENTRAL PARK, July 1974

In the summer months in New York I was once a regular visitor to the Wolman Ice Skating rink in Central Park, not to skate as ice froze only in winter, but to see rock shows at the Schaefer Music Festival, a series of open-air concerts held there during June, July and August. Long before Eliminator cemented their image and reputation as razor-sharp, synthesiser-enhanced, video-friendly purveyors of infectious, fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek boogie, 50 years ago this week I was there to watch ZZ Top for the first time. 

They were an unknown quantity in the UK in 1974, and it wasn’t until a year later that I decided they were worthy of a Melody Maker feature and interviewed guitarist Billy Gibbons. Oddly, as I point out in the review below, they built up a huge following in their home state of Texas before venturing further afield, so much so that they could attract huge crowds in Houston and Dallas but the ice rink in Central Park, which held about 6,000, was only half full. It was the same with Bob Seger, for years a big draw in Detroit but largely unknown elsewhere in the US until ‘Night Moves’ was a hit in 1976. 

It’s highly likely that this was the first ever mention of ZZ Top in the UK music press and for the benefit of our readers I felt it necessary to point out in my review, reproduced verbatim below from MM’s Caught In The Act page, dated July 20, 1974, that ZZ Top was pronounced Zee Zee Top and not Zed Zed Top! 

Such is the size of the North American continent that it’s possible for a band to be idolised in one part of the States but relatively unknown in another. Many acts, both English and American, are well aware of this and plan their tours accordingly, making sure to book the big halls in their best areas and lying low elsewhere. 

ZZ Top (pronounced Zee Zee) are a classic example of this peculiar trait. They come from Texas and down there they can pull in thousands of fans with no trouble. With the possible exception of the Allman Brothers, Zee Zee are the hottest act in the south.

But in New York, Zee Zee are pretty much newcomers to the circuit. Their album Tres Hombres is shooting up the Top 30 and that’s based almost entirely on southern sales. If the great North East conurbations catch on as well, it could be number one in days.

Zee Zee are a powerhouse trio, fronted by a lanky cowpoke called Billy Gibbons who wears a low slung Les Paul, very tight jeans and ten gallon hat, and likes to boogie a lot. Sharing the vocal work with him is a chubby blond bassist with matted beard called Dusty Hill who also wears a big hat, and a skinny bespectacled drummer called Frank Beard who looks rather too fragile to be in among dudes like Zee Zee. 

Basically, they’re a hot boogie band with nothing particularly unusual to offer other than a never-ending supply of energy and riffs to whip up excitement and keep it at a peak for an hour and a half. They’re another case of providing their fans with what they want, simple and without frills.

Last week they played in New York’s Central Park in another of the Schaeffer series of concerts and drew a half-capacity audience on a sultry, hot evening when it was an effort to walk, let alone dance to rock and roll. Below St Louis, of course, they’d have packed in a capacity crowd.

The set took a while to warm up after a somewhat unsympathetic audience had given openers Brownsville Station a less than enthusiastic reception, but Zee Zee reacted strongly to the challenge and basted forth with all the energy of a rocket launch. 

There’s nothing too original about their music and neither did any particular break stand out. Their forte is an unqualified ability to get it on with no messing around at attempts to display individual instrumental ability. Thus, we have Gibbons and Hill, standing side by side, rocking up and down in a timed sequence with all the fury of a pair of Texan stallions.

They won the battle, played three encores which included a medley of 12-bar rockers from the ages, and left everyone dripping with sweat, not least themselves.