“Hello, Wembley!” Says Shane Greenhall, as if he has dreamed of it all his life. “We are Those Damn Crows.”
And that’s kind of what you need to know, from the club circuit to one of the most prestigious arenas in the country, the Bridgend mob have been on quite the journey.
You cannot say they don’t deserve it and equally you cannot say they don’t belong on these stages. They always had the sound for it, that much was obvious even from their debut album. Many can say that, but of course not many do it. TDC have. “Who Did It” and the like, have been there since the start, and those of us who have watched them since those days are surely allowed a collective smile at the progress.
Confident enough to start a singalong in the piano ballad “Blink Of An Eye,” and happy as well to play a song from their newest album, it is called “This Time I’m Ready” and the metaphors write themselves.
Still, when they finish with “Rock N Roll Ain’t Dead” – Greenhall atop the wall on the side of Wembley as per – you do wonder what’s next for them. Those Damn Crows are still ours, but they’re soon to be everybody’s.
You sort of have to be rock’n’roll royalty to get a band like Rival Sons to play 40 minutes before you come out.
They performed those duties for Sabbath on their last shows, and they are here again. But they are a much more experienced band these days. Arguably, on the back of the albums of their career too. Indeed, they begin with one from “Darkfighter”. “Mirrors” is fantastic and it rather sets the tone for what is to come.
They always had that sort of greatness about them though, as “Pressure And Time” from way back when they were highly touted bright young things, underlines, but for all their accomplishments – and for all they are a sort of hard rock band – rather like The Black Crowes, say, you feel they are still just a heartbeat away from turning into the Grateful Dead. To that end, the extended version of “Feral Roots” takes things into a very trippy realm.
Barefoot, and clad in a very smart pink suit, frontman Jay Buchanan is a formidable focal point, a superb singer with real magnetism. When they let themselves go as on the closing “Electric Man” There are still very few bands that can reach these heights.
So yeah, rock’n’roll royalty.
Does it get much more regal than ZZ Top?
When they emerge, the Rev BFG Himself, Frank “the man without a beard” Beard, and bassist Ellwood Francis, It is with “Got Me Under Pressure” and everything seems to be all present and correct. Of course, Dusty Hill isn’t there anymore (and interestingly that they don’t seem to take things too seriously is shown by the fact that Francis is sporting an outlandish wig and beard and carrying an enormous bass) But the songs are all here.
Gibbons notes they have been “coming to hang with y’all for five decades” and it has to be said, that for the last at least one of those, they have been essentially playing the same set.
But that doesn’t matter when the likes of “Jesus Just Left Chicago”, “Pearl Necklace” and “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” follow. Put simply ZZ Top are glorious.
“Gotsta Get Paid” At 12 years old is the newest song they play and yes of course there is something of a heritage act about them, even their cover is the old country standard “Sixteen Tonnes” apparently added to the set as a tribute to Jeff Beck.
“Just Got Paid” sounds as fresh as a daisy, and speaking of which any set that ends with “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Legs” – complete with furry guitars if you don’t mind – has got to be better than most.
They are two of the four “Eliminator” songs they play – the aforementioned “…Pressure” and “Gimme All Your Lovin’” are the others – and it’s strange to think but although I always say Bon Jovi were the first band that got me into rock music, then I bought this album 42 years ago, way before “Slippery When Wet”.
This is the most bluesy perhaps that I’ve ever seen the band. They go right back to the start for Brown Sugar in the encore, there’s another old one with “Tube Snake Boogie” and of course, Billy “plays that thang” one last time with “La Grange”. And it sparkles like their jackets, even if Beard looks like he just wants to play his drums like the old days.
As ever, Gibbons asks “Are we having a good time, now?” and as ever the answer is yes. The reason ZZ Top have been filling arenas for 50 years is because they are one of the best rock’n’roll bands not just from Texas but from anywhere in the world.
And yes they may have changed, and yes they may be playing the wizened old bluesmen more these days as they get older, but the orchestrated dancing, the showmanship, and the wonderful songs still endure as they ever did
