Stone Foxes, The Cult & ZZ Top – Concord, CA

By Jenny Cash on August 21, 2012

On the evening of August 19^th, SF radio station 107.7 The Bone hosted ZZ Top, The Cult and The Stone Foxes at the Sleep Train Pavilion in Concord, CA.

Bay Area locals, The Stone Foxes, were forwarded the incredible opportunity to open this illustrious combination of such legendary artists. The youthful, self-proclaimed SF based quintet fused elements of rock, country and blues with a touch of SF indie. They certainly did their job of getting the crowd warmed up with catchy tunes and good personal connection by the way of a few jokes and expressing their humble gratitude between songs.

The Cult, on tour in support of their new album “Choice of Weapon”, hit the stage opening with “Lil Devil” from their 1987 release “Electric”. Joined by second touring guitarist Mike Dimkich, The Cult performed a fine balance of new and classic material. An outstanding comical part of the set was from front man Ian Astbury accidentally breaking 3 different tambourines due to, simply, playing them! The entrance of a new tambourine flying from the side stage into the hands of Astbury to the exit of the broken pieces as souvenirs to eager concertgoers, proved to be an unexpected charm to their show. Being a huge fan of The Cult, I was excited of the opportunity to have seen them for a second time this year.

Closing out the night was the legendary ZZ Top. I have been a fan since I was a young kid and this was my second time seeing them. Forming in 1969 in HoustonTexas, Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard showed absolutely no signs of being anything remotely “dated” for an original band of almost 43 years. The overwhelming rush of “coolness factor” just ate me alive. Those who know me know that I’m simply not that easily impressed these days…ZZ Top flat out knocked me off my feet. Filling the set with a flawless line up of songs, these kats just have “it”. Quote of the night: “We’ve been doin’ this for four decades. Same three guys, same three chords”.- Billy Gibbons.

The combinations of their seasoned rumble of authority, groove, on stage grins that made you think they’d just robbed a bank and their notorious synchronized struts and moves that they made infamous in their ‘80’s music videos…these kats have it licked, straight up. They sounded so cool, looked even cooler and reminded me how so many bands today lack everything that these legendary artists encompass. It was a picture perfect performance of loose and dirty blues based rock n’ roll. Just another example of how proud I am, legends still showing up modern artists with little to no effort. They are an original, never like any other and no other will ever be them. Look for their new album “Texicali” produced by Rick Rubin. The first single “I Gotsta’ Get Paid” shows ya how its done…

-todd buller

Set Lists:

ZZ Top