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Show Review: Billy F. Gibbons at the Blue Note in Hawaii

Billy f. gibbons and the bfgs: an intimate night at the blue note hawaii.

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Billy F. Gibbons and his band the BFGs, played three sold out shows at The Blue Note Hawaii, situated within the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort. Unfortunately no one, including Gibbons, was enjoying the beach due to an unseasonably late low-pressure system which brought torrential rain to the islands all weekend long.

Gibbons is unquestionably one of the finest blues-rock guitarists ever to emerge from Texas; named by Rolling Stone as the 32nd greatest guitarist of all time. Gibbons and his primary band ZZ Top have released a string of classic albums including 1970’s self titled debut, 1972’s Rio Grande Mud , 1973’s Tres Hombres , 1975’s Fandango , 1976’s Tejas , and of course 1983’s Eliminator which introduced the band to a brand new audience. The band recently celebrated their 50th anniversary as a touring band. Gibbons, at 74 years-old has proved that he is a guitar slinging road warrior who refuses to rest.

On this occasion Gibbons’ backup band consisted of Mike Flanigin on bass and Hammond B3 organ and Kenny Arnoff on drums. Flanigin is a veteran of the Austin blues scene. The respected player became a member of Antone’s House Band in 1991 and has worked extensively with Gibbons, Jimmie Vaughn, Eric Clapton, and Steve Miller. Arnoff’s resume includes touring with John Cougar (Mellencamp) for 17 years. His extensive session work has included collaborations with the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Sting, Lady Gaga and tons more. Most recently he has been John Fogerty’s touring drummer.

To witness Gibbons in such an intimate venue with only 320 patrons was a treat. Unsurprisingly, the capacity crowd was louder, drunker, and a bit rougher around the edges than your average Blue Note audience. Gibbons and his band took the stage a bit after 7 p.m. and for 1 hour and twenty minutes played some of the best rock/ blues/boogie on the planet! The setlist consisted of a couple blues standards, a bluesy cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady,” and a strong dose of the ZZ Top catalog.

The band seemed exceptionally loose and good humored. Gibbons never flinched when audience members shouted out requests or when a couple ran to the stage mid-set with albums and sharpie in hand, requesting autographs. At times Gibbons was a brilliant storyteller, recounting time spent with Hendrix, the lack of surf in west Texas, and his love for Spam! Highlights included “Jesus Just Left Chicago,” “Cheap Sunglasses.” “Sharp Dressed Man,” “La Grange,” “Thunderbird,” the Eddie Schuler classic, “The Crawl” and of course “Just Got Paid.”

The only complaint I have concerns the audience. Everyone sat in their seats the entire time! This is so prevalent at so many blues shows and it drives me crazy. The music of Billy Gibbons and ZZ Top is custom made to boogie! Other than that, he played all the hits and surprised the audience with well played covers. Whether it was straight ahead rock, blues, boogie, or country inspired, Gibbons pulled them all off effortlessly. The gig was short and sweet, but everyone left satisfied, having watched a true blue master.

ZZ Top will be touring throughout Europe in July. They’ll return to the US in August and continue the tour throughout September.

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Exclusive: Check Out Billy Gibbons’ New Club: Photos, Interview

ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons has traveled the world and spent countless hours in clubs with no shortage of character. Now, he owns one.

Fittingly, the timeline of the Wise River Club is a bit blurry, as a story on its website notes . But in its earliest days in the 1900s, it quickly became a meeting place for adventurers who found themselves in Wise River, Montana, in need of respite after a long day of hunting, fishing and exploring. It also attracted its share of nationally known characters, including motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel .

The property has evolved a lot in the decades since, but Gibbons is able to offer a succinct summary. "There’s cold beer, hot food and a shot of tequila to end the night," he tells UCR with a laugh. "If that ain’t enough, you can rest your head up, right upstairs."

It feels appropriate that Tim Montana  — who also sports an impressive, Gibbons-worthy beard — is Gibbons' partner in the club. Montana, who grew up in the area, has spent a number of years building his own musical story — first in country music, and more recently crossing over to the rock realm with his single " The Devil You Know ." He'll release his  first rock album  later this year and spend the summer on the road, including a tour with Bush , Jerry Cantrell and Candlebox . Montana and Gibbons both live and breathe all things music, car and guitar-related.

During a recent conversation with Ultimate Classic Rock Nights host Matt Wardlaw, Gibbons and Montana offered an inside look at the Wise River Club.

Guys, let's talk about the Wise River Club. Tim, what are your first memories of this place? Tim Montana: I was a little kid. Wise River, Montana, is probably 38 miles from where I grew up, and the famous Big Hole River is here, which dates back to the Battle of the Big Hole. The Nez Perce [tribe] and Chief Joseph [Pass], there was much history here in the Old West and Native American history that’s fascinating. I came up here fishing with my uncle at a very young age. He’d take me out here. He had one eye and smoked cigarettes. He’d drive me out here in his old truck to take me on fishing trips. You know, it was a piece of my childhood. My mother hung out here when she was a kid, all through her life — and my grandmother hung out here as well. So three generations of my family have been coming out here. When we found out this was for sale ... it’s a very unique, authentic [establishment]. It dates back to the late 1800s. We had to have it.

Billy Gibbons: [When I met Tim], I said, “You’re Tim Montana, that’s your name? But you’re from Montana?” “Yeah, I’m from Montana and my name is Tim Montana.” "OK, and what about this Wise River? I never knew you to be very wise?" [Laughs] Just recently, we were on the ZZ Top touring trail, and the road show, believe it or not, brought us within 18 miles of a turn-off. I saw a sign, “Wise River.” I thought, “Could this possibly be?” The bus driver said, “You know, we’ve got plenty of time, let’s go check it out!” Which we did. You’ve gotta see this place. We’re talking over 100 years of history, all balled up in this crazy destination where you’re going to have a good time. It’s really something.

It seems like you've had some real characters come through the doors over the years. Montana: To go off about characters, I’m sitting here in the Wise River Club and I’m looking at an Evel Knievel sign that was signed to the club in the ‘70s or ‘80s. They used to have a pet elk here named Bully. People would travel from all over the country to see the pet elk. His antlers are on the ceiling of the bar. There must be 150 antlers on the ceiling from this elk. But the funny story is that they said back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, Evel would frequent this place all of the time and he’d try to ride the bull. The bar owner would get so mad at him as he’s riding a bull elk through the field in front of the Wise River Club. So there’s all sorts of characters who have come in this place a lot.

Gibbons: There’s one corner that I really gravitate to. Tim has been hiding vintage electric guitars there. I knew that there was a set of drums and some microphones. But when I saw a secret door that unleashed a wave of vintage electric guitars, and  it was piled up against cases of, some would say, our infamous hot sauce ... Whisker Bomb hot sauce and vintage guitars, they kind of go together. So Tim, the next time I get up there, if you’ll loan me the key to that room ... [Laughs]

Montana: We’re not supposed to tell people about that room, Billy!

What's the first guitar you each acquired that is still significant in your memory? Gibbons: I should probably jump in with my favorite. My favorite, of course, it’s been a well-known fact for quite a while, [is] Pearly Gates, our 1959 Sunburst Les Paul, made by Gibson. We had a girlfriend back in Texas and one afternoon she said, “Gee, whiz, I’ve got an opportunity to go to California to try out for a movie. But I don’t have a way to get out there.” A buddy of mine, he and I had a 1939 Packard. We looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, gave her the keys and said, “Listen, here’s the keys to the car. It’s parked out back. See if you can make it to the West Coast.”

Not only did she make it to the West Coast, she got the part in the film, turned around, sold the car and sent the money back. The day the check arrived was the day I had found Pearly Gates out on a ranch. An old cowboy had retired and he said, “Yeah, I used to play this thing. I don’t play it too much anymore. Can you consider buying it off me?” I said, “Yessir. We can do that right now.” [Laughs]

Montana: I’ve sat down with Billy countless times and watched how he plays it. You can watch a million interpretations on YouTube, but when you see it and hear it from the man himself, it’s like, the tone is the fingers, isn’t it? He’s just got such a style that he can pick up any guitar and it sounds like Billy Gibbons. I learned a lot from just that. Tone is in the fingers and the beholder of that. I do have to brag, I did get to play Pearly Gates one time and it was the most nerve-racking thing I’ve ever done. I couldn’t wait to give it back to him. I was like, “I can’t afford this, here you go. Thank you, that was amazing! I can die a happy man now.”

That's a great moment right there! Where did you begin, guitar-wise? Montana: I started with a nylon string guitar. My mom and stepdad owned a pawn shop. They brought it home to me and I bent the strings on that. I grew up off the grid, so I literally learned to play that guitar by candle and lantern light. Because we had no electricity at the house, way back in the mountains of remote Montana. Oddly enough, I started with records like ZZ Top, learning how to play that stuff. Later on, I saved up enough money doing chores and went to buy myself a Fender Squier, which is about all I could afford, for my first electric. I ended up moving up from there, but I remember when I was about 15, I traded it in. I had to have a guitar with a flame paint job on it — Billy, don’t judge me. When I traded it in at the guitar store, a kid at the local high school went and got it and still has it to this day. Because when I was a teenager, he’s like, “You’re going to be a famous guitar player someday.” He still has it and I kind of need to get it back. [Laughs]

Tim, I love that you name-checked John Prine , Marshall Tucker and Guns N' Roses in your song " Bar Band ." It's a good thought, the idea that a young kid might hear that song and want to figure out who those people are. Montana: When we wrote that song, I think it was during COVID. That was when John unfortunately passed away . I actually got to meet him once with Billy at the Palm Restaurant in Nashville. I was a huge fan of his songwriting — the angles he’d take were like nothing I’d heard before. Very Roger Miller, right? I wanted to name-drop him and put some of my favorite acts in that song.

Gibbons: Tim, you may remember, the day that you and I stumbled in, we were making a cross-country journey and happened to stop in Nashville. We were fortunate enough to grab some barbecue. But who should be standing in line? John Prine. A guy was entertaining his youngsters at the adjacent table. I remember hearing the guy say, “Whatever you do, kids, don’t get out a guitar. Between those guys, we might never get out of here!” [Laughs]

An Exclusive Look Inside Billy Gibbons’ New Club

Gallery Credit: Matt Wardlaw

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• December 19, 2023 Setlist

Billy Gibbons Setlist at Troubadour, West Hollywood, CA, USA

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• Sharp Dressed Man ( ZZ Top  song) Play Video
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3 activities (last edit by TheBigJT , 20 Dec 2023, 21:27 Etc/UTC )

Songs on Albums

• Jesus Just Left Chicago by ZZ Top
• La Grange by ZZ Top
• Sharp Dressed Man by ZZ Top
• Thunderbird by ZZ Top
• Waitin' for the Bus by ZZ Top

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Billy gibbons gig timeline.

• Dec 03 2023 Heritage Hall Ardmore, OK, USA Start time: 9:10 PM 9:10 PM
• Dec 09 2023 Warren Haynes' Christmas Jam 2023 Asheville, NC, USA Add time Add time
• Dec 19 2023 Troubadour This Setlist West Hollywood, CA, USA Add time Add time
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Billy Gibbons and the BFG’s – San Francisco, CA

You may know him as one-third of the rock group ZZ Top, but Billy Gibbons proved last night at San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom that he can command a stage alone. With his band, the BFG’s, Gibbons took on the blues with a bit of a Cuban fusion thing going on. Compared to the usual trio I am used to seeing the bearded one with, the BFG’s two drummers, two organists, a percussionist, with Gibbons on guitar and vocals, gave the small stage a pretty epic feeling.

On tour in support of his new solo album,  Perfectamundo , Gibbons strayed away from the hits and instead focused on many under-rated blues numbers, really allowing his guitar work and gravelly deep voice to carry the show along. He paused after most numbers to address the audience and connect with the crowd. He seemed so approachable, a few fans even came up to the stage with albums for him to sign – for which he happily obliged.

Gibbons gave a nice shout-out to the hospitality of the venue and the sound guy. Apparently, when Gibbons arrived to the stage for sound check, there was an array of monitors surrounding his mic stand. He immediately asked for their removal because, well… “Do you know how much I spent on these shoes?!”

What really got the crowd going was when Gibbons introduced the two drummers, both females, and gave a little story. They both told Gibbons that if they were to be on the tour he would be adding a ZZ Top song to the setlist. Billy agreed, but they would need to dig deep down- and played “Ten Foot Pole.”

Over the course of the evening, the band only played a few songs from the new album. This new material seemed to cross Santana with Buddy Guy. The show finished with a gospel-rock preacher-type number before the encore of “La Grange” and a cover of Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love.”

If Billy Gibbons and the BFG’s make their way to your town, ditch the ten-foot pole and go see them.

About Author

An avid concert-goer and used vinyl connoisseur, Bryan co-founded Tone Critic to share his life-long love of rock and roll in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bryan has been known to see a show "just to experience the venue."

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ZZ Top rises again: Legendary and longtime trio takes the First Interstate Center stage Thursday

After more than a half-century, ZZ Top’s lineup was intact. From 1970 until 2021, it was vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard as ZZ Top. But Hill passed away last summer. And ZZ Top, who headline Thursday at First Interstate Center for the Arts, is now rolling along with bassist Elwood Francis.

“We’re comin’ on strong and quite excited to get out there and play for real friends, fans and followers, live and in-person,” Gibbons said. How has the band, which has sold more than 50 million albums, been able to sustain for 52 years? “Three factors encapsulate the fact that we’ve never broken up, ergo never had to get back together for the inevitable reunion tour,” Gibbons said while calling from his Los Angeles home.

“First, we’re an odd number, so there can’t be any ties when we vote on what to do, so there can’t be factions. It’s either us or it’s not us. Second, three guys, three touring coaches (as in buses). We’re constantly in the studio and onstage together, yet we have space in between for diversions to the nth degree, mainly comparing notes surrounding recipes from South of the Border!

“And the most important element is we have a good time!” The good times have always been evident during their greasy, grungy fusion of blues-rock, such as the playful and powerful “Tush,” the amusing but potent “Cheap Sunglasses” and their nod to John Lee Hooker, “Le Grange.” And then there is their 1983 commercial breakthrough “Eliminator,” which featured their biggest hits, “Legs,” “Under Pressure” and “Sharp Dressed Man.”

The word was that ZZ Top was influenced by British synth legends Depeche Mode when writing the “Eliminator” album. “Yes, they did (impact ZZ Top),” Gibbons said. “The use of synth sounds and sequencers secretly sneaked in studios around the world inspiring a legion of global playing outfits with Depeche Mode capturing a special inspiring mystique.

“The success of ‘Eliminator’ remains a solid statement to the time. … It still comes out as based in the blues but with some refreshing touches. Again, at the root, it’s still the blues.” That’s fascinating since the bands appear to be polar opposites. The gritty guitar-driven ZZ Top and the elegant, electronic Depeche Mode. Gibbons, 72, has released three solo albums, including “Hardware,” which dropped in 2021, since the last ZZ Top album was crafted a decade ago.

It has looked like ZZ Top would never make another album, but Gibbons says that’s not so. “Getting a new ZZ Top album off the ground is always a logistical undertaking of significance,” Gibbons said. “Yet now evidenced with our aim to go back into studio land for something delightful.” Gibbons enjoyed making “Hardware” with special guests such as Stone Temple Pilots bassist Robert DeLeo, former Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum and roots-rockers Larkin Pie.

“It was liberating along with broadening, “Gibbons said. “That, of course, widens the experience with cornerstones.” It’s not easy planning what ZZ Top will play each night since their canon is already 15 albums deep. “Coming up with a setlist is a difficult task, to be sure,” Gibbons said. “There are some gottas, like ‘Tush,’ ‘Jesus Left Chicago’ and ‘Sharp Dressed Man,’ and the ones you probably know, and some things that may not yet be known.

“Perhaps it may require a six-hour concert to squeeze in and get to everything.” It’s difficult for Gibbons and his bandmates not to look back, particularly with their clever and amusing videos crafted during the 1980s. ZZ Top stood out by appearing in the background of their own clips. “We stand by the work, especially the pretty girls and the little red car,” Gibbons said.

“We endeavored to make sure that we were, in essence, guests in our own videos, on the periphery in terms of visual presence but front and center in terms of musical presence. Like that setlist, the concern was balance.” It all worked out for ZZ Top, which has made music on its own terms, and the group was enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

“That’s the highlight of my career,” Gibbons said. “Being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Keith Richards. As a dyed in the wool Stones fan, I can’t think of anything more exhilarating than that experience. We got to share a bill with the Stones in Hawaii back in 1973. We bonded and have kept a tight friendship going all this while.

“If you’re going to have a great friend, Keith is the man. Now you know everything.” There must be something that fans don’t know. “There is,” Gibbons said. “If I were to shave off this beard, you wouldn’t be able to tell me apart from George Clooney.”

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ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons Plots “Birthday Jam” Concerts at L.A.’s Troubadour in December

by Matt Friedlander October 11, 2023, 3:24 pm

ZZ Top ’s Billy Gibbons will be joined by some musical friends to celebrate his 74th birthday at a trio of special concerts this December at the famed Los Angeles-area venue The Troubadour.

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Billed as “3 Nights of Rock and Blues,” Gibbons’ “Birthday Jam” shows are scheduled for December 19, 20 and 21. The first and last dates are already sold out, according to Troubadour.com, but tickets are still available for the October 20 gig and can be purchased at SeeTickets.us .

[RELATED: ZZ Top, Sheryl Crow, Buddy Guy Booked for Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival]

The Texas singer/guitarist, whose actual birthday is December 16, will be backed by a group dubbed the LA All-Star Band and will be joined by some as-yet-unannounced special guests. The concerts will be hosted by the Guigui Family Band, which features keyboardist Martin Guigui, a one-time members of Gibbons’ solo backing band The BFG’s.

Leading up to the birthday shows, ZZ Top will continue their 2023 North American tour . The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have 14 dates left on the trek, spanning from a performance tonight, October 11, in Calgary, Canada, through an October 30-31 stand at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, Texas.

Meanwhile, Gibbons recently announced plans for the 2023 edition of his “Jungle Show” performances , held annually between Christmas and New Year’s at Antone’s in Austin, Texas. The concerts are scheduled for December 27, 28 and 29, and, as usual, will feature Gibbons joined by guitarists Jimmie Vaughan and Sue Foley, Hammond organ Mike Flanigin, and Double Trouble drummer Chris Layton.

Last month, Gibbons was honored by BMI with the performing-rights organization’s prestigious Troubadour Award at a private event in Nashville.

The honor acknowledged the impact Gibbons’ enduring songs have had on the creative community. Among his many noteworthy credits are such classic ZZ Top tunes as “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Legs,” “Cheap Sunglasses,” and “La Grange.”

“BMI has been fortunate enough to have Billy as part of our family for decades and his contributions to ZZ Top’s enduring success solidified their status as rock legends,” BMI executive Clay Bradley said at the event. “His songwriting and artistic style transcend through many decades.”

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ZZ TOP's BILLY GIBBONS To Be Joined By MATT SORUM For June/July 2023 European Tour

ZZ TOP 's Billy Gibbons has announced the renewal of his livewire solo band, to appear at select European venues late spring and early summer of 2023. The trio is headed by Gibbons on guitar and vocals, with drummer Matt Sorum ( THE CULT , GUNS N' ROSES , VELVET REVOLVER ) and lefty guitarist Austin Hanks , who has worked with Gibbons previously, providing the heavy bottom and rhythm for the ensemble.

The new tour brings Billy and company to 12 countries with 20 performance dates during the four-week span starting June 10 in Sölvesborg, Sweden.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, January 27.

"The Big One – Part 1" 2023 tour dates:

June 10 - Sölvesborg, Sweden @ Sweden Rock Fest. June 12 - Tampere, Finland @ Tampere Hall June 13 - Helsinki Finland @ House of Culture June 15 - Oslo, Norway @ Sentrum Scene June 17 - Copenhagen, Denmark @ Copenhell Festival June 19 - Hamburg, Germany @ Grosse Freiheit June 20 - Frankfurt, Germany @ Batschkapp June 21 - Nurenburg, Germany @ Lowensaal June 23 - Leipzig, Germany @ Parkbuhne June 24 - Cologne, Germany @ E-Werk June 25 - Winterbach, Germany @ Salier Halle June 26 - Praha, Czech Rep.@O2 Universium June 28 - Vienna, Austria @ Gasometer June 29 - Zurich, Switzerland @ Volkshaus July 02 - London, UK @ O2 Shepard's Bush Empire July 03 - Birmingham, UK @ Birmingham O2 Institute July 05 - Albi, France @ Festival Pause Guitare July 06 - Paris, France @ Olympia July 09 - Weert, Netherlands @ Bospop Festival July 11 - Bournemouth, UK @ O2 Academy Bournemouth

When one thinks of the most influential rock musicians on the planet, Gibbons is a name that should come to the forefront of any such list. Before becoming one of rock's most recognizable figures, Billy and his first band MOVING SIDEWALKS gained recognition by opening up for THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE on their first-ever headline tour. On that tour, Jimi himself taught a 17-year-old Billy how to play the opening lick to "Foxy Lady" , a story that he recounts onstage to this very day. In 1969, Billy met bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard to form the classic lineup of boogie and blues rock mainstays ZZ TOP . ZZ TOP released "ZZ Top's First Album" in 1971. The albums that followed, "Rio Grande Mud" (1972) and "Tres Hombres" (1973),along with extensive touring, solidified the group's reputation as a hard-rocking power trio. In the 1980s, ZZ TOP released their three biggest-selling albums: "Eliminator" (1983), "Afterburner" (1985) and "Recycler" (1990). The band found great success through the ever-shifting landscape of music by embracing emerging styles of the times, incorporating elements of synth-rock, punk, and new wave into their newer material. The group not only secured six No. 1 singles, but also won countless MTV Music Video Awards for songs like "Legs" and "Sharp Dressed Man" . Gibbons was ranked at number 32 on the 2011 Rolling Stone list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time". ZZ TOP was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2004.

Aside from his work in ZZ TOP , Gibbons has collaborated with a slew of rock and blues heavyweights, including QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE , Buddy Guy , Jimmie Vaughan and Jack White . His latest solo album "Hardware" (2021) is out now via Concord Records .

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Black Keys Get Loose and Stretch Out on ‘Dropout Boogie’

By Joe Gross

“You got a love that’s a real long shot,” sings Dan Auerbach on “It Ain’t Over,” the loping, funky second single from Dropout Boogie . Dude might as well be singing about himself. 

In a moment when rock music barely exists in the pop conversation it once dominated, there is no logical reason that Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney , two blues fans from Akron, Ohio, with a fondness for first takes, should have made it to the beginning of the Obama administration, let alone 21 years. But here they are, 11 albums and a mess of Grammys later, playing college basketball arenas like it’s 1973. 

After a few records of palette expansion, their 2021 album, Delta Kream, was a collection of Hill Country blues covers, a tribute to the music that got the Black Keys stomping in the first place. The svelte, 34-minute Dropout Boogie — which comes out the day before the 20th anniversary of their first album — keeps things similarly crunchy.

To that end, they’ve looped in sympatico collaborators, including Memphis garage-rock savant Greg Cartwright, frequent Kings of Leon producer Angelo Petraglia, and ZZ Top’s almighty Billy Gibbons. They’ve spent whole albums collaborating with Danger Mouse, and both Keys have worked on other people’s R&B and roots albums, so the choogle and soul of “For the Love of Money” feels as natural as a broken-in jean jacket. 

But it’s tough to imagine the early Black Keys without Cartwright’s outfits, such as Nineties legends Oblivions and Reigning Sound, bands that hardcore Keys fans need to hear today. Cartwright and Petraglia throw down on the swaggering first single and lead-off track, “Wild Child.” (Talk about a classic-rock move!) And since Gibbons’ band is a root integer of any blues-trio thunder that comes after, it’s only fitting that he delivers a perfectly Top-tastic solo on “Good Love.”

The collaborations are uniformly excellent, but it’s on duo workouts like “Burn the Damn Thing Down,” “Your Team Is Looking Good,” and slowish jam “How Long” where Dropout Boogie sounds like gloriously old-school Keys and exemplifies their career-long vibe. Their rock & roll minimalism is more than enough. 

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Review: Billy F Gibbons has a ball on Hardware's riff-strewn feast of scuzz

Out now: zz top leader billy f gibbons' dirty third album hardware proves he’s getting the hang of this solo lark.

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

Frankly, the age of 66 is rather late in the day for a multimillion-selling rock star to launch a solo career, but that’s what ZZ Top ’s Billy Gibbons did in 2015 with the Latin-tinged Perfectamundo . Three years later, the aptly titled The Big Bad Blues was half covers. 

With ZZ Top on recording hiatus since 2012’s La Futura , perhaps Gibbons is simply bored, because here comes album number three. And he’s shifted the ground again. Recorded in the Californian desert with former Guns N’ Roses/Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum, one-time Slick Lilly leader Austin Hanks and, on the whip-smart Stackin’ Bones, Larkin Poe , Hardware is a riff-strewn feast of scuzz. 

Gibbons is back to songwriting too, having a hand in everything bar Bob Dylan collaborator Augie Meyers’s Hey Baby, Que Paso, which he transforms into a cousin of Dire Straits ’ Walk Of Life . The desert looms large, and not just in some of the Queens Of The Stone Age -style guitar, or on Desert High , where you can almost feel the sand in your throat: it’s everywhere, just under the surface.

Hardware is, in the best sense, dirty. Gibbons is at his gravel-voiced growliest, whether declaring ‘ She’s all mine ’ on She’s On Fire or, in more rueful but typically witty fashion, ruminating how ‘ you’d think I was a highway the way she hit the road ’ on I Was A Highway . He does all this against a backdrop of guitars that recall early Black Keys as much as Deguello -era Top. 

Just as ZZ Top could surprise with a change of musical and emotional pace, such as with Rough Boy , so can solo Gibbons. The contemplative Vagabond Heart finds him shedding the cartoon image, looking back and facing his faults. ‘ I’ve been a liar and a thief, a gambler and a cheat ’, he confesses, but he’s still unable to let go of his restless lifestyle: ‘ I’m movin’ on and I don’t know why/This could be my revelation .’ We’re a long way from Legs.

Elsewhere, though, it’s business as usual, and business is good. There are more drug references than you might expect from a man in his eighth decade, his women seem to want him for his money, and he’s still driving (more accurately, ‘ rollin ’’) his Camino. 

Gibbons sounds like he’s having a ball, finally making the desert-rock album he’s hinted at since ZZ Top’s First Album ’s Goin’ Down To Mexico . While he’s not straying too far from the mothership, nothing here is phoned-in. As befits the craftsman he’s always been, he’s taken the time and trouble to fashion a bunch of songs worthy of standing alongside anything in his catalogue. Hats off.

Buy the Classic Rock/Billy F Gibbons magazine and t-shirt bundle . 

As well as Classic Rock, John Aizlewood currently writes for The Times, The Radio Times, The Sunday Times, The i Newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and Mojo amongst others.  He’s written four books and appears on television quite often. He once sang with Iron Maiden at a football stadium in Brazil: he wasn’t asked back. He’s still not sure whether Enver Hoxha killed Mehmet Shehu…

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Beth Gibbons, Salle Pleyel, Paris review - a triumph of intimacy | reviews, news & interviews

Beth gibbons, salle pleyel, paris review - a triumph of intimacy, a perfect and mature symbiosis of words and music.

Beth Gibbons, once the voice of Portishead, and later a wonderful solo singer and songwriter, hasn’t been on stage for a long while. She makes the most of a paradoxical yet magical mix of being at once fleeting and totally present.

Something of Miles Davis's cool refusal to play for the gallery, often turned away from the audience at the close of each song, as if drawing strength from the back line of her orchestra. This may be one of the keys to her unique appeal. All of this was very much in evidence at her recent Paris show, a spectacle delicately built on brave self-revelation and self-effacing diffidence, with a natural charm that had all the qualities of authentic enchantment.

Introspection was there from the very start, with support act Bill Ryder-Jones once of Liverpool’s The Coral, so shy he could barely put a sentence together, introducing his very touching melancholy songs of love, closeness and loss. He was nervous, but, with low-key humour, wore his stage-fright on his sleeve, accompanied by Evelyn Halls who added minimal strokes of mournful cello and sweet vocal harmonies.

Beth Gibbons dispenses with song introductions and stage banter altogether. In fact she makes a virtue of letting the songs speak, her enunciation always crystal-clear, and with hardly a hint of movement or what's known as projection. Hunched as ever, in tight communion with the microphone, she’s almost singing to herself, and yet it, feels as if she’s confiding in us all: so much more intimate than she would be if she emphasised her deep emotions in a display of theatrical gesture.

The material is mostly drawn from her recently-released album Lives Outgrown , a near-perfect exploration of her inner life, the ravages and challenges of time, exquisitely salvaged from any kind of mawkishness by well-chosen and always evocative lyrics, and tunes that inveigle the listener into a musical universe that reflects a totally original approach to the creation of contemporary song: a raw meditation on inconstancy, in “Lost Changes”, the regret and resignation of “Oceans” with its poetic reference to the menopause, and the heart-warming redemption of “Whispering Love”. The French love it, of course: there’s a kinship with the Gallic tradition of poetic and literary chanson , but it's also quintessentially British - yet another example of an ever-renewing heritage tooted in folk, 20 th century classical as well as pop.

She is supported – if that’s the right word, as they are accomplices as well as equals, never just a backing band – by seven wonderful musicians, the ones with whom she recorded the album. The arrangements are sophisticated without ever being precious: a multitude of textures in perfect resonance with the tone of her songs. Not least the funereal mallet work on the drums from James Ford, one of her main collaborators on the album;  reedy colouring from a double-bass clarinet (über-talented Howard Jacobs, who also plays vibraphone, hammer dulcimer, tin whistle, flute and a variety of percussion), providing a suitably rich swathe of sound that complements eerie and unusually pitched backing vocals, and swirling riffs from a violin (Emma Smith) and viola (Richard Jones) that sweep across the often cinematic panorama of th deftly assembled sound. Smith’s violin produces surprising and ghostly weeping sounds on “Whispering Love”, while Jones’s viola enhances the strings’ overall tone with the instrument’s characteristic fuller timbre.

This is music with its very own character, reminiscent of nothing or no-one in particular, unlike Portishead’s references to classic Hollywood soundtrack, Morricone and John Barry. It has clearly grown out of Beth Gibbons’ own aesthetic, her moods and the honesty with which she sings about herself. Her introversion, as any psychologist would be the first to observe, allows her to be in touch with her deepest emotions, never distracted by the defence that extroverted performance makes possible.  Not that the band are in any way held back, or that they share in Gibbons’s extreme diffidence. But they facilitate it, act in a kind of sympathy that elevates the singer-songwriter’s exquisite introversion.

For the two songs, in which some of Gibbons’ s fury is let loose, the band moves into another register, just as expertly as with the more mysterious and sombre material. On “Rewind”, Richard Jones slices the more upbeat rhythm with sudden power-guitar licks laden with distortion, and on “Beyond The Sun”, an explosion of solar energy, in total contrast with the more lunar calm of most of the other songs, guitarist Eoin Rooney grabs some sticks and beats the shit out of a tom-tom, adding to the fire and fury of James Ford’s drumkit and extra percussion from Howard Jacobs.

Beth Gibbons pleases the crowd with two favourites  from Out Of Season ( 2002) her wonderful album with Rustin Man, and the quintessential Portishead song “Roads” from the first album Dummy (1994). But, most of this extraordinary evening, clearly feeling in the presence of something quite exceptional, the audience is treated to the songs from her scintillating new album, material that establishes Beth Gibbons as one of the most important musical artists of our time.

•   Beth Gibbons, on tour until 10 June 2024
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