By Jeff Anhart

The Hometown Boys made their 2022 stop in H-Town at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on Sunday, September 25th. With the passing of original bassist Dusty Hill last year, ZZ Top made their home town return with a new bassist and former guitar tech, Elwood Francis.

Opening the show was a very capable Ann Wilson. Ann seems to never disappoint and she sounded as good as ever opening her set with The Heart classic Even It Up followed by 2 new songs, Black Wing and Greed, off of her 2022 release entitled Fierce Bliss. After introducing the crowd to her new music she then went straight back into the Heart classics Magic Man and Crazy on you. Ann then performed her version of the Who's classic Love, Reign O'er Me followed by Barracuda, Straight On / Let's Dance (Bowie cover) and finished the night by belting out the classic Led Zeppelin classic Black Dog.

Next, Jeff Beck took the stage and he ran through a 16 song setlist showcasing why he was in fact the major influence for several generations of guitar players. His set started with a 1975 tune, Freeway Jam, and ended his time on stage with a guitar cover of the Beatle's classic A Day In The Life.

Next it was time for the boys from Texas to take the Woodlands stage. ZZ Top opened the show with Got Me Under Pressure from their 1983 hugely successful album, Eliminator. This was the perfect song to start things off. Having had the opportunity to attend many ZZ Tops concerts since the early 70's this time was going to be different with Ellwood Francis having to fill a big hole in what has always been a tight lineup.

It was great seeing people who have supported this band from the early days get as excited as some of the newer and perhaps younger fans. The staging was very cool looking but simple. The band was surrounded by a backdrop of stacked light blue and orange Magnitone amps. The band flew through their 13 song set in a flash covering most of the classics that everyone would recognize. From the early 1971 classic Brown Sugar to the 2012 I Gotsta Get Paid. Truthfully, there are at least a couple dozen other classics that I would have liked for them to squeeze in if they would have only had a few more hours to perform.

The band then left but the crowd did not stop. Everyone knew there were more songs left so an encore was expected. When ZZ Top returned to the stage with guitar master Jeff Beck by their side the crowd went wild. Jeff and the boys then proceded to play Rough Boys, Sixteen Tons and ended the night with La Grange.

In the end I felt like Elwood had filled a large pair of boots perfectly, thus giving Billy and Frank many more years to hopefully entertain their fans and bring a little bit of Texas with them wherever they go.