A chance to see a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer up close and personal packed the house Tuesday night at Jergel’s Rhythm Grille in Warrendale.
In a sold-out show, Billy F. Gibbons and the BFGs — the solo band of ZZ Top guitarist/singer Billy Gibbons — played an 85-minute set of ZZ Top classics plus several covers paying homage to his influences.
Or as Gibbons put it midway through the set: “Let’s do some blues. Mostly blues.”
Playing with Gibbons were Chris “Whipper” Layton, a founding member of Double Trouble (which featured Stevie Ray Vaughan) and the current drummer for the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band, and Mike “The Drifter” Flanigin, who handled both bass and organ on the night.
The band seemed just as comfortable in the 500-seat venue as Gibbons does when he’s playing to a much larger crowd, like when ZZ Top co-headlined the Pavilion at Star Lake with Lynyrd Skynyrd in 2023 or back in 1986 when they sold out three straight shows at Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena.
Decked out in a sparkling jacket adorned with flowers, his trademark Bamileke beanie under another hat and his signature black sunglasses, Gibbons seemed looser in the more intimate setting, whether it was shouting out “Hell yeah!” in the middle of “La Grange” or fanning Flanigin with his handkerchief after a fiery organ solo.
Kicking off the show with an instrumental jam, the trio then started with the thick groove of “Waitin’ for the Bus” with a seamless transition to “Jesus Just Left Chicago.” The infectious “Gimme All Your Lovin’” — one of ZZ Top’s biggest hits — had Gibbons and Flanigin swaying gently and led into “Cheap Sunglasses.” Gibbons, who turned 75 in December, made his guitar solos look effortless all night long.
After a pair of covers — Jimmy Reed’s “Baby What You Want Me to Do” and Slim Harpo’s “I Got Love If You Want It” off Gibbons’ “Perfectamundo” album — the band played perhaps their most bluesy song of the show, “Blue Jean Blues,” in a soulful performance punctuated by Gibbons talking to the men in the audience about women problems.
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Gibbons took a break to discuss the origin of his newest single, “Livin’ It Up Down in Texas,” a collaboration with Billy Bob Thornton and Mark Collie of Paramount ’s “Landman,” even though the song wasn’t played Tuesday. He then recounted a time with Moving Sidewalks, his pre-ZZ Top band, when they were tasked with a 40-minute set playing ahead of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The only problem was Moving Sidewalks had just 30 minutes of music, so they learned “Foxy Lady” and “Purple Haze” — and played them before Hendrix’s set.
”I walked off stage, and that guy grabbed me by the shoulders and said ‘I like you. You have a lot of nerve,’” Gibbons said. “And that’s how I got to be friends with Jimi Hendrix.”
That segued into a cover of “Foxy Lady,” with Flanigin playing the organ instead of bass on this one to provide a different feel.
Next up came 1972’s “Francine,” with lyrics which Gibbons acknowledged as potentially problematic: “We had to change the words.” Those lyrics — “My Francine just turned 13, she’s my angelic teenage queen” — had Gibbons swap out 13 for 18.
“Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers” gave off the most “rock” vibes of the set, followed by the gritty “Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings” and “Just Got Paid.”
Then came two of ZZ Top’s biggest songs — “Sharp Dressed Man” and “La Grange — both highlights and equally spurring the most phone videos of the night. Gibbons, whose restrained vocals matched the lower-key setting, did his best at channeling country and Johnny Cash on “Folsom Prison Blues,” in what would normally be an encore song.
Gibbons and company then closed with “Brown Sugar” and “Thunderbird” to send the nostalgia-loving crowd home satisfied, with those songs resonating just as much now as they must have back in the early 1970s.