Disappointed with ZZ Top

[Glenn Mitchell]

175 bucks for 2 tickets and the sound was crap! (Victoria BC)
Don't get me wrong these guys were pros, put on a flawless show for their part and I'm glad I saw them but I'll stick to the recordings in future.
WTF Why can't the sound guys figure this stuff out?
I moved around the stadium and could not make out a word they sang.
Lots of drums, lots of guitar and bass. All nice and clear but the Vox was muddy leftovers!! I was pissed I'll tell you.

[Migs]

Was it the venue generally or the mix?  There are a few places here that I won't go to because the accoustics simply don't work.

[Glenn Mitchell]

Well I guess it could be the venue, lots of them are notorious, but why only the vox? The rest sounded just fine.

[ianjm]

I saw zz top many many years ago in our local venue (the victoria hall in hanley, stoke on trent).
They were amazing and the ound was brilliant. But then again the vicky halls acoustics were amazing, it was chosen by eric clapton to do one warm up show in the uk because of its sound.

Unfortunately not many gigs are played there anymore, I suppose its the number of people they can fit in. Its sad to see that the tweeneys are playing in a hall which had all the greats (maiden,motorhead,saxon, y&t etc) playing there years ago.

[Flash Harry]

Funny old world in'it?

I was in a pub last Tuesday talking to a guy who plays in a ZZ Top tribute band. He has been booked to play in Switzerland in September, did a gig in Portugal earlier this year and had to play the 'Top' off stage too. Bizarre! But there's some real money in it!

[Gnasty]

ZZ top was such a fukin awesome rockin band in the 70`s.. If you ever get a chance. Pick up their CD Fandango..It is one incredible live show.

They have soo many great songs but to be honest the last album i liked from them was Eliminator.
Even that album is a bit electronic but its just brilliant!!

I never saw them live and i don`t think i want to now. I actually heard they were boring now and they lip-synch. I am not saying this is true and i sure hope not but they are getting old. A few bands are packing it in cuz the singers cant sing anymore. I think its good to go out solid.

[AndyR]

They seem to be a bit hit and miss. I've seen them twice (but not in the 70s sadly).

The first time was on the Afterburner tour at Wembley. I was SO disappointed. There was a tiny "good" section in the middle, a stunning "Arrested for driving while blind" amongst it, but the rest was... well, I thought they were miming (and I loathed the Afterburner album, and didn't really like Eliminator either - so that kinda didn't help too much! )

Then I saw them 5 or 6 years ago in Brixton - they were stunningly good that night. Just a lil ole band that kicked some serious @ss. Even the Eliminator songs and Rough Boy were good!

I know some guys who saw them recently, and apparently they were extremely on form...

But M_Glenn_M, I'm kinda with you over sound - mebbe I'm getting too old. I was a HUGE Judas Priest fan in the late 70s early 80s. I saw them on the British Steel tour, before the album came out, I was completely blown away. When Rob Halford rejoined a few years ago, I talked my wife into going to see them at Hammersmith. The Scorpions supported, who I'd never seen - and they were BRILLIANT. And then the Priest came on, it was like Christmas and wotever all at once, and my wife was about to see/share one of acts that has grabbed me so much... and then it was... WOT!?? Loads of Glenn and KK - very clear, good sound, very loud... but where's the bluddy vocals?? And where's the bluddy drums for that matter? The bloke at the back was pounding away, but you wouldn't have known it. Mr Halford was kind of there, but seemed a pale shadow of his former self as the strutting frontman - and you couldn't hear him...

Apparently the second night was brilliant. But we wusn't at the second night...

On the strength of that, I decided not to even attempt to get tickets for the Led Zeppelin reunion - it would have been just too horrendous to have 30-odd years of dreaming and longing destroyed by either bad sound or the guys themselves not being able to live up to my imagined image of their younger selves.

[IanR]

Well I guess it could be the venue, lots of them are notorious, but why only the vox? The rest sounded just fine.

SAme thing happened when I saw Bob Dylan last year here in Melbourne.  The band sounded great but Bob sounded awful.  However, I didn't blame the sound engineer, I just reasoned that BOb just sounds awful these days.  BUT I can say that I saw him live and thats all I really wanted.