ZZ Top’s 50th Anniversary Tour visits The Sylvee in Madison

(November 1, 2019) The Sylvee, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

On their second visit to Wisconsin for their 50^th Anniversary tour, The Beard Brothers (two by facial hair and one by namesake) kicked off No Shave November with an unmistakably bluesy set in Madison, Wisconsin.

The sold-out crowd welcomed the band with open arms as they jammed through a setlist that began with “Got Me Under Pressure” and closed with “Jailhouse Rock.” With Frank Beard’s swift snare shot and cymbal play, Dusty Hill’s low end bass lines and Billy Gibbon’s unique fuzz tone guitar sound and smoky lyrics, ZZ Top has crafted and consistently put their instantly identifiable mark on rock music history.

ZZ Top still maintains the most consistently stable lineup in the history of rock music: Billy F Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard. In 1969, BFG formed ZZ Top with drummer Beard and bass-guitarist Hill, in Texas. 15 studio albums, 30 million record sales and five decades 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.

Billy Gibbons looked back at the history of the band, while also looking forward to the 50^th Anniversary tour dates. “It’s been five decades, and I think we’re starting to get pretty good at all this! We’re truly excited to be appearing across the continent this summer and fall, playing our bluesy kind of rock like we started in ’69. The beards, Frank’s excepted, are perhaps a bit longer, yet nothing else has changed. We’re keeping it that way.”

As rock and roll publicist Bob Merlis once said, “Blues is the human cadence. Everybody instantly identifies with it.” And that’s so true, no matter what type of music you like, blues music is often at its origin.

ZZ Top is welcome back anytime as they are the perfect band for Wisconsin’s Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers.

Review and photos by RK Tupper