ZZ Top star performs with a VERY bizarre instrument in Perth as the band tour Australia for the first time in 12 years

Daily Mail​

01-05-2025

Texas blues rock icons ZZ Top took to the stage in Perth on Thursday, wowing fans with a very strange instrument.
The Legs hitmakers were rocking Langley Park on the Australian leg of their Elevation world tour, with fellow rock veterans George Thorogood & The Destroyers.
Partway through their headlining set, bass player Elwood Francis, 63, whipped out a guitar that had the crowd doing a double-take.
He was rocking a bright yellow bass guitar that featured a whopping 17 strings and a body that almost obscured his entire torso.
The standard electric bass guitar has four strings, there are also five-string and five-string models.
Elwood, who replaced original member Dusty Hill after he died in 2021, looked like he was struggling to wrap his hands around the instrument's gargantuan neck as he stood in front of a large stack of amplifiers.
The Legs hitmakers were rocking Langley Park on the Australian leg of their Elevation world tour, with fellow rock veterans George Thorogood & The Destroyers. P:ictured: Billy Gibbons
Speaking about the bass behemoth to Guitar World in January, Elwood said that it wasn't his favourite instrument to play, and despite bearing the Fender name on the headstock, did not come from the iconic guitar company.
'I hate playing that f***ing bass,' he said.
'I found it late at night while internet surfing on one of those Chinese websites. I couldn't believe they were making something like that.'
The rocker added that he saw immediate comic value in the oversized instrument.
'I found this guitar, took a screenshot, and sent it to Billy, saying, "We should order one of these, and I'll play it. It'll be hilarious."'
Aside from the imposing instrument, the iconic showmen did not disappoint when it came to the sartorial stakes either.
Frontman Billy Gibbons, 75, complete with his trademark beard, wowed the crowd with a very ornate jacket.
The black jacket featured a colourful cactus and rose design, along with a Dia De Muertos-style skeleton for good measure.
Elwood, who replaced original member Dusty Hill after his death in 2021 looked to be struggling to wrap his hands around the instrument's giant neck as he stood in front of a large stack of amplifiers
He matched this with a pair of sequined black pants and a pair of black boots.
Finishing his stage ensemble, Billy went a little overboard with the headwear, wearing a bandana and a grey beanie underneath a battered light grey fedora.
While it was barely visible from behind the imposing bass, Elwood also wore the same eye-catching jacket and sequinned pants combo.
He did mix things up with a pair of ruby red suede shoes while sorting a shock of grey hair and a full beard.
Amongst all the rock and roll, both Billy and Elwood found time to switch out their jackets for an equally colourful matching bright purple number that also featured an ornate floral design.
Elwood had also swapped his monstrous yellow bass for a much more manageable black four-string version.
The Sharp Dressed Man rockers continue their Australian run in the Hunter Valley and Wollongong this weekend as part of the Red Hot Summer regional mini-festival.
They will then head to Melbourne's Margaret Court Arena on May 7 before rounding our Red Hot Summer on Queensland's Bribie Island, and finally at the ICC Sydney Theatre on May 13.
The black jacket featured a colourful cactus and rose design, along with a Dia De Muertos-style skeleton for good measure
Amongst all the rock and roll, both Billy and Elwood found time to switch out their jackets for an equally colourful matching bright purple number that also featured an ornate floral design
ZZ Top formed in Houston Texas in 1969 and for 51 years kept the same line-up of Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard, until Dusty's death in 2021.
Responsible for a swag of blues rock hits including La Grange, Gimme All Your Lovin', and Sharp Dressed Man, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers have sold an estimated 50 million records.
During an appearance on US Radio show Ultimate Classic Rock Nights, Gibbons discussed the origins of the band's unusual name.
'We had a little apartment, a little hangout room that was lined with those rainbow-coloured blues posters you'd say nailed to the telephone poll, [listing] who was coming to town,' Gibbons recalled.
As the guys looked at the posters, Gibbons said they realized 'it was odd how many current names had initials - O.V. Wright, D.C. Bender, and of course B.B. King - he was down on this end of the alphabet, then it was Z.Z. Hill.'
'Jeez, ZZ and King, that's a good combo,' Gibbons remembered saying, but decided that ZZ King was too similar to B.B. King.