The sparkly suits suggested Las Vegas. Billy Gibbons’ gravelly voice and searing guitar put that fleeting thought aside. Tonight, we were in Texas. And then some. The 2025 edition of ZZ Top rocked a full Spark Arena in Auckland, in a shortish (one hour twenty minutes) but blistering show full of their signature driving blues rock and smooth showmanship. The hits were there, and when they came, the audience lapped them up.
Gibbons and bassist Elwood Francis shimmied, swayed and stepped together in perfect time. In one song, they stood close and ran their fingers up their guitar fretboards in unison. They were a pair of Texas gunslingers, with frontman Gibbons’ guitar slung so low it threatened to scrape the floor. At 75 years of age, he still dripped cool.
They played as if they’d spent decades together honing their craft. Which is only partly true. Gibbons has been there right from the start but in this tour, he is the only original band member on stage, after the death of bassist Dusty Hill in 2021, and after drummer Frank Beard fell ill.
But those places are filled by men who know the band well. And clearly, Gibbons is a good teacher. Elwood Francis, Hill’s bass tech, slipped on the suit, the beard and the glass and moved with Gibbons in sync. And Frank Beard’s drum tech, John Douglas, drove the band full force, although he left the theatrics to the pair up front.
Speaking of those theatrics, you might wonder if they would detract from the music. Are they too cheesy, too over the top, even for ZZ Top? In the opening song, Got Me Under Pressure, Francis wielded a bass guitar so wide he could have taken it surfing. It was comedic, no doubt.
By night’s end, that question was put to one side. The glitter, and the on-stage choreography, are part of the package and, of course, a huge part of what makes ZZ Top distinct. They know it, they’re proud of it, and it’s just what the audience came to see.
As the crowd sang along to Gimme All Your Lovin’, Sharp Dressed Man and Legs, you knew that was fine with them too. And they rattled the rafters with the finale, La Grange.
Gibbons regularly checked in with the audience, asking the obligatory “Are we having a good time?”. But he also added one of the most offbeat anecdotes you’d ever hear – suggesting a bar fight was not a good idea, as you might end up at a dentist. Then he name-dropped a dentist in Auckland’s Ponsonby Road. Didn’t see that coming.
Other songs included a cover of a song the band played live with the late Jeff Beck, namely Sixteen Tons. That was first released in 1947 and is only a little older than Billy Gibbons himself. Both the song and the singer are ageing remarkably well.
Another 75 year old was on stage earlier. George Thorogood and the Destroyers were back in rollicking form, with GT pointing out he’d started visiting our shores in 1981. No fancy suit for him, just a t shirt and what looked like black jeans (or maybe gym pants) and straight out bluesy rock. He’s another performer who knows his material inside out and knows what his audience wants. Could we out-rock the Aussies he’d just played in front of? Lots of New Zealand references in the lyrics kept the locals on side. And in one of the big hits, he displayed a sign of the changing times. One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer included a public safety message about the dangers of drink driving.
This was a night of old-fashioned guitar-driven rock, and rock that proudly displays its ties to the blues. For the mostly middle aged (and maybe a little more than that) audience, they couldn’t have asked for more.
