{"id":158403,"date":"2026-01-31T21:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T21:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/158403\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T21:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T21:40:09","slug":"billy-gibbons-and-bfg-band-surprise-belly-up-with-zz-top-loaded-set","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/158403\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Gibbons and BFG Band surprise Belly Up with ZZ Top\u2013loaded set"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Billy<\/a>Billy Gibbons (left) and Mike Flanigin perform. (Photo by Donovan Roche\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the next best thing to seeing ZZ Top<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Catching Billy F. Gibbons and the BFG Band<\/a>, of course.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gibbons, ZZ Top\u2019s centerpiece and masterful guitarist, launched the side project in 2015, and he\u2019s been known to work a few of his iconic blues-rock band\u2019s songs into BFG\u2019s sets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anyone at the trio\u2019s Jan. 23 return to the Belly Up<\/a> hoping to hear some ZZ Top was in for a treat. The BFG Band \u2014 featuring Mike \u201cThe Drifter\u201d Flanigin on bass and Hammond B3 organ and Chris \u201cWhipper\u201d Layton on drums \u2014 stacked its 17-song set with 14 ZZ Top songs, ranging from popular hits to seldom-heard deep cuts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sauntering onstage, Gibbons greeted the sold-out house with, \u201cYou know we came to have a good time.\u201d For the next 90 minutes, the band effortlessly ensured that everyone would leave the landmark Solana Beach club feeling the same.<\/p>\n

They opened with a ZZ Top one-two punch from 1973\u2019s Tres Hombres \u2014 \u201cWaitin\u2019 for the Bus\u201d segueing into \u201cJesus Just Left Chicago\u201d \u2014 before leaning into crowd-rousing favorites \u201cGimme All Your Lovin\u2019\u201d and \u201cCheap Sunglasses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gibbons, his trademark red beard perfectly coiffed, wasted no time lacing in his disarming sense of humor. Setting up the last song, he lamented how down he\u2019s been, drawing sympathetic \u201cawws\u201d from the room. Then, he explained it\u2019s because the dollar store closed and now he can\u2019t get his cheap sunglasses.<\/p>\n

The singer-guitarist, 76, actually sported stylish black Bandito sunglasses, the brand he launched last year. Twinning with Flanigin, both wore identical cherry-red bolero jackets, burgundy pants and wide-brim hats (Gibbons\u2019 Bamileke beanie peeking out underneath), and wielded matching green-and-orange floral guitars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Early on, the sound didn\u2019t quite live up to the Belly Up\u2019s standards \u2014 Layton\u2019s drums came across more tinny than full, and Gibbons\u2019 vocals were faint under his gritty guitar tone.<\/p>\n

Seemingly addressing the issue, Gibbons said he upset the sound tech earlier by asking him to move all the front speakers. The reason? So the crowd could see his fabulous shoes. It drew laughs, but the same bit was part of the band\u2019s 2018 performance here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cGot Love if You Want It,\u201d the first of just two BFG songs they\u2019d perform tonight, shifted the spotlight to Flanigin, who moved from bass to organ and earned hoots and hollers for his kinetic work at the keys. The Slim Harpo cover appeared on BFG\u2019s Afro-Cuban and Latin-flavored 2015 debut, Perfectamundo, as did the later instrumental jam \u201cQ-Vo.\u201d The band\u00a0 didn\u2019t play anything from its two subsequent albums, The Big Bad Blues and Hardware.<\/p>\n

Dipping back into The Little Ol\u2019 Band from Texas\u2019 classic catalog, Gibbons teased the crowd during \u201cBlue Jean Blues,\u201d a song about girlfriends stealing their boyfriend\u2019s jeans. He also quipped about updating 1972\u2019s \u201cFrancine\u201d so the song\u2019s protagonist was 18 years old instead of 13. While wrapped in humor, both blues romps allowed Gibbons to flex his deft guitar chops during extended solos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The night\u2019s biggest surprise arrived midway through, when Gibbons rewound the clock to before ZZ Top\u2019s 1969 start. He recalled his first band, Houston\u2019s psychedelic blues outfit The Moving Sidewalks, which landed a Top 10 hit and earned a coveted opening slot for The Jimi Hendrix Experience on its 1968 Texas tour. Short on original material, the group padded its set with Hendrix covers, including the one that followed \u2014 a take on \u201cFoxy Lady\u201d dressed in flash and finesse.<\/p>\n

At this point, two things became evident: First, you were in the presence of greatness. Gibbons, one of the most unassuming artists you\u2019re likely to see, fully lives up to his reputation as one of the greatest blues-rock guitarists of his time. Second, given the ZZ Top-heavy setlist, it felt like you were witnessing a private event in an intimate club, like when The Rolling Stones were paid an estimated $2 million to play a secret show here in 2015.<\/p>\n

By night\u2019s end, the band had delivered nearly twice as many ZZ Top rarities (nine) as hits (five), before closing how they started \u2014 with a balanced mix of both.<\/p>\n

During \u201cSharp Dressed Man,\u201d from 1983\u2019s diamond-certified Eliminator, Gibbons and Flanigin recreated the swaggy dance moves from the MTV video that helped turn ZZ Top into a cultural touchstone. And on \u201cBrown Sugar,\u201d from the group\u2019s 1971 debut, the cheekily titled ZZ Top\u2019s First Album, Gibbons\u2019 voice sounded as gravelly as ever \u2014 like it had been blasted by a few more Southwest sandstorms since his last visit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The threesome wrapped its main set with a down-and-dirty version of \u201cLa Grange,\u201d followed by the fun encore \u201cThunderbird,\u201d inciting the audience to sing along: Get high, everybody, get high. An ode to the potent sweet wine, it was a fitting bookend to Gibbons\u2019 promise at the top of the show to get loose and have a good time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Donovan Roche is a regular music and culture contributor to Times of San Diego.<\/p>\n

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