ZZ Top announces 50th anniversary tour

If you’ve regularly got ZZ Top blaring from your speakers or you’ve always wanted to see the legendary band in concert, now’s your chance. The three-man rock group, consisting of Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard, just announced it will be touring the U.S. this summer and fall in honor of the 50th anniversary of the band.

The band has scheduled over 30 concerts through October, including stops in San Diego, Phoenix, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Boston and Tampa. Prior to its U.S. dates, the band will be playing gigs overseas as part of a previously announced European tour.

You might want to break out your karaoke machine and start practicing your rendition of “Sharp Dressed Man” now.

The European leg of the tour runs from early June through mid-July. It includes stops in various major countries, including Munich, Germany; Barcelona, Spain; and Prague, Czech Republic.

ZZ Top last officially toured in the U.S. in 2017 but had to cancel to some concert dates after bass player Hill fell ill. This new tour is definitely worth buying tickets to for loyal fans, as Cheap Trick (seen below) will once again serve as the tour’s primary special guest.

Lynyrd Skynyrd will join the tour for a pair of shows.

And all three members of ZZ Top will turn 70 this year, so there might never be a better time to see them.

“It’s been five decades, and I think we’re starting to get pretty good at all this,” said Gibbons in a statement. “We’re truly excited to be appearing across the continent this summer and fall, playing our bluesy kind of rock like we started in ’69. The beards, Frank [Beard]’s excepted, are perhaps a bit longer, yet nothing else has changed. We’re keeping it that way.”

Though all of the shows are sure to be memorable, certain tour dates will have an extra special media. For example, according to Cleveland.com, a portion of each ticket sold for the band’s Cleveland stops will benefit the Rock Hall.

The band confirmed the tour on Twitter on April 8. “Excited to announce our 50th Anniversary. Tour kicking off this August!” they wrote in a tweet.

Gibbons also confirmed it on his personal account:

The stateside tour kicks off in mid-August in Ridgefield, Washington, and continues throughout the end of the summer and well into the fall. It will include multiple shows in Washington, California, North Carolina, Missouri, Georgia and several other states, as well as one-night stops in New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

The final scheduled show of the tour will take place on Oct. 20 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Fans are already expressing their excitement at the news on social media, and it’s no wonder why. ZZ Top first got together in 1969 in the band’s hometown of Houston, Texas, so 2019 is its golden anniversary.

And here’s another fun fact: The trio make up one of the longest-running bands with its original members still intact. Although ZZ Top had a different bassist and drummer from 1969-1970, Gibbons, Hill, and Beard have been together since 1970.

The band has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

The band has been keeping plenty busy this year. Before announcing their upcoming tour, ZZ Top held an eight-show residency in The Venetian Theatre at Las Vegar in early 2019. The shows were held throughout mid to late January and into early February.

Now, it looks like they’re returning to hitting the road.

For a full list of tour dates and tickets, be sure to check ZZ Top’s official website. And be sure to set your alarm clock so you don’t miss out on snagging tickets to one of these awesome shows!