Live from Texas

DVD

Label: Eagle Rock

Style: Blues-Rock

Live from Texas

UPC: 801213025299

Release Date: 06/24/2008

Original Release Date: 06/24/2008

Number of Discs: 1

William Ruhlmann

Given the importance of music videos in ZZ Top's career, it's surprising that the band took nearly 30 years to get around to making a full-length concert video. But here it is, taped in Dallas, TX, in 2007. The 85-minute performance is what fans would expect, with faithfully performed hits like "Gimme All Your Lovin," "Sharp Dressed Man," and "Legs" (complete with fur-lined guitars) from the music video era mixed with non-hit favorites like "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide," "Got Me Under Pressure," and "Pincushion," all ending up, inevitably, in the encore with the early classics "La Grange" and "Tush." Bassist/singer Dusty Hill and guitarist/singer Billy Gibbons, sporting their trademark long beards, sunglasses, and hats, do some simple choreography that serves to send up themselves and the trappings of show business. Gibbons, the frontman, makes occasional remarks to the crowd on the order of "Are we having a good time now?" But for the most part the band sticks to business, laying out one heavy blues-rock riff after another for an audience that couldn't be happier to hear them. A few hits are missing (notably "Sleeping Bag"), but the show provides a good sense of ZZ Top's music. Thirty-four minutes of extras include an 18-minute group interview with some amusing recollections of the Rolling Stones and Roky Erickson, as well a bonus cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Foxey Lady." ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi