Billy Gibbons Heats Up the Arcada

Jan 29, 2016 admin_bitlc Features, Music News, Reviews 0

It was a chilly Friday night in St. Charles until Billy Gibbons and the BFGs took the stage at the Arcada Theatre. Billy is on tour supporting his recent solo album “Perfectmundo”. The show opener “Treat Her Right” (click song title for video) is a Roy Head cover song for which Billy “Cubanized” for his new album. The next two songs, “Pickin’ Up Chicks on Dowling Street” and “Sal y Pimiento” are also from the new album which have the Texas blues sound infused with the Afro-Cuban style on the “Perfectmundo” album.

The crowd was grooving to the new tunes and wanted to hear some ZZ Top, so Billy dug deep into the catalog and played “Ten Foot Pole”. The BFGs then performed “Got Love If You Want It” from the new album. The next song, “The Drifter” is from Hammond B-3 organ master Mike Flanigin’s solo album of the same title. Billy and the BFGs got the crowd rocking’ with the cover of Little Richard’s “Good Golly Miss Molly” then segueing into another ZZ Top tune, “Thunderbird.”

“Quiero mas dinero” which translates to “I Want More Money” is another new “Slanguish Spanglish Afro-Cuban” (as Billy calls it) song from the new album. The next song was a cover of Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “Baby Please Don’t Go.” The funky grooving song “You’re What’s Happenin’, Baby” was next which then turned into a band jam lead by the ‘Rev. Wille’ preaching to the audience. They ended the set with “La Grange” with the crowd standing and grooving to this ZZ Top standard.

I was surprised with Billy’s encore selection of Led Zepplin’s “Whole Lotta Love.” This included an awesome dueling drum battle between Melanie and SoZo. It was a great ending to an awesome night!

(Side note:) Opening act was Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown from Nashville, TN. They were a four piece, stripped down blues rock band that absolutely lit the place up. Even though they were stripped down to just a drum, electric guitar and acoustic guitar, this 3/4 piece band knew how to rock what they had. They played straight forward blues. Deep, heartfelt blues with as much passion and energy as a full band. Tyler Bryant is one amazing guitarist/signer/songwriter. Be on the look out for more to come from them. They will be in Chicago Feb 17th opening for AC/DC if that tells you anything. Here is a link for more on them. https://www.tylerbryantandtheshakedown.com

Setlist:
01. Treat Her Right (Roy Head cover)
02. Pickin’ Up Chicks on Dowling Street
03. Sal y pimiento
04. Ten Foot Pole (ZZ Top cover)
05. Got Love If You Want It
06. The Drifter
07. Good Golly Miss Molly (Little Richard cover)
08. Thunderbird (ZZ Top cover)
09. Quiero Mas Dinero
10. Baby Please Don’t Go (Lightnin’ Hopkins cover)
11. You’re What’s Happenin’, Baby
12. Band Jam
13. La Grange (ZZ Top cover)
Encore:
14. Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin cover)

The Band:
Billy Gibbons – guitar and vocals
Martine “G.G.”GuiGui – piano and keyboards
Mike Flanigin – Hammond B-3 organ and guitar
Alex “Guitarzza” Garza – percussion and guitar
Melanie DiLorenzo – drums
SoZo DiLorenzo – drums

Click here for the Photo Gallery from the show.

Click here for more info on Billy Gibbons and the BFGS.