ZZ TOP TOUR IS THE LARGEST IN ROCK HISTORY

	London Records' ZZ Top has embarked on a tour which will reach a
larger audience than any single connected series of dates in the history of
rock and roll.
	"ZZ Top's Worldwide Texas Tour: Taking Texas to the People" will take
the Texas trio to an audience of over two million concert-goers worldwide. The
tour will reach close to one hundred American cities and four continents, with
dates in Europe, England, Australia and Japan.
	The "little ol' band from Texas," which Newsweek says has "outdrawn
Elvis Presley in Nashville, broken Led Zeppelin's attendance record for
New Orleans, and reportedly sold more records last summer than the Rolling
Stones at the height of their celebrated national tour," is playing major
stadiums like those in Anaheim (capacity 60,000), Denver (capacity 55,000),
Atlanta (65,000), Memphis (60,000), Kansas City (55,000), New Orleans (60,000),
Chicago (65,000), San Diego (45,000) and Pittsburgh (65,000).

1,440 MAN HOURS REQUIRED TO ERECT ZZ TOP EQUIPMENT

	It will take a crew of 40 men working two days and nights to erect
the stage, lighting and sound system for "ZZ Top's Worldwide Texas Tour: Taking
Texas to the People." The "Texas Tour" requires 75 tons of equipment, twice
as much as was carried by the Rolling Stones on their 1975 tour. Hardware and
the crew who service it are travelling in a caravan of thirteen vehicles,
including nine 40' semi-trailers, two customized Silver Eagle crew buses with
stereo, kitchen facilities and color TV's, a customized bus with specially
ventilated trailers for stage animals and a prop truck. Each of the three
lead semi-trailers has been painted with a Texas scene by a regional Texas
artist, and the three paintings dovetail into a single 120' landscape. In
case of accident, the production package and its crew are insured for
$10,000,000.

$140,000 SPENT FOR ANIMALS ON ZZ TOP TOUR

	One of the only 500 pure-bred longhorn steers in America, a 2,000
pound black buffalo, two trained black "buzzards", and two huge rattlesnakes
will be part of the stage presentation for "ZZ Top's Worldwide Texas Tour--
Taking Texas to the People."
	Over $140,000 is being spent to insure that the animals are as healthy
and comfortable as the humans.
	They will travel under the direct supervision of animal expert 
Ralph Fisher, who holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Education degrees
in agricultural education.
	The six animals will travel in an extra-large, specially ventilated
and lit goose-neck stock trailer with separate stalls for each. Roomy pens
with exercise facilities will be constructed for the animals on the site
of each concert. A local veterinarian will be back-stage during each show.
	The animals will be innoculated against anthrax, brucelosis and
shipping fever, and the veterinary bus hauling their trailer will carry a 
refrigerator stocked with medicines in case of illness.

FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (NEWSWEEK)

	ZZ Top bills itself as "that little ol' band from Texas." In the last
year and a half little ol' ZZ--a three-man group specializing in gut-level
rock for long-haired red necks-- has smashed more than a dozen box-office
records to become one of the biggest concert acts in the country. [...]
	Yet ZZ Top has never made the top ten with a hit single because it
does not get air play on such make-or-break AM rock radio stations as New
York's giant WABC. Nor has the group been pushed by the critics, who tend to
dismiss it as primitive. Still, ZZ Top has tapped a vein of solid gold in 
grass-roots America. In addition to its concert success, two of its four
albums have achieved "platinum" status (sales of 1 million units each). Its
last one, "Fandango," is still selling 50,000 albums a week more than six
months after its release.
	In the early '60s the Beach Boys made "let's go surfin' now" a national
imperative--even on the prairies. Now ZZ Top is out to make hell-raising
along the Mexican border a good time everyone can share. "Most of the things
we write about are very Texas," says bass guitarist Dusty Hill, "but
everybody everywhere goes to whores, drinks beer and drives fast."  Musically,
ZZ Top doesn't come close to the Beach Boys. But it does play a brand of 
basic bluesy boogie rock that makes audiences at least want to light
firecrackers. During a recent concert at New York City's Felt Forum, the crowd
set off several cherry bombs in appreciation.
	Thrills: Onstage in spangled cowboy suits (costing a reported $1,300
apiece), Hill and lead guitarist Billy Gibbons, backed by drummer Frank Beard,
all 26, sing about such Texas landmarks as a now defunct whorehouse in La
Grange. "In "Precious and Grace" they tell of picking up two female ex-con
hitch-hikers, and in "Master of Sparks" they describe what it's like to be
kicked off the back end oif a speeding pickup--for thrills.  "Rock 'n' roll
started as a rebelious Southern form of musical expression," says Gibbons.
"We are trying to synthesize our Texas way of being into music."
	Gibbons, a former art student, started out at 18 as a protege of the 
late Jimi Hendrix, who showed him guitar licks while Gibbons was playing
with a psychedelic rock band in Houston. In 1970, he formed ZZ Top (the name's
derivation is a "secret") with Beard and Hill, who were from rival bands in
Dallas.
	ZZ began with appearances in Texas beer halls where drunken brawls
and gunfights only enhanced their act. "Our motto," says Gibbons, "was keep
playing and turn up the amp a little." ZZ developed a strong regional base
that solidified north of the Mason-Dixon line with the release of its
third album, "Tres Hombres."  Now, instead of pickups, they drive Eldorado
convertibles and are stocking up on oil leases instead of six-packs.
	For Thanksgiving last week, ZZ Top went home to give shows in 
San Antonio, Houston, Fort Worth and Dallas--selling out 36,000 tickets in
less than twelve hours at Houston's new arena, The Summit. "Honest ignorance"
is how Billy Gibbons describes ZZ's appeal. Old-fashioned bull, Texas-style,
is more like it.
	--Maureen Orb

ZZ TOP GLOBAL TREK HAS $20 MIL POTENTIAL
	
	Stormy weather held down attendance at ZZ Top's first outdoor date on
their worldwide tour, one of the most ambitious and extensive concert treks
ever undertaken by a rock group.
	Four days of heavy rain preceded the group's Saturday (29) stand at
45,000-seat Groves Stadium, on the campus of Wake Forest University, Winston-
Salem, N.C.  Nonetheless, some 20,000 fans turned out despite hail storms
and tornado warnings.
	With special guests Lynyrd Skykyrd, Elvin Bishop and Point Blank,
ZZ Top grossed $175,000 for promoter Phil Lashinsky's Entam Ltd.
100 CITIES. The Groves Stadium date was the beginning of the first leg of
ZZ Top's year-and-a-half global trek, which will take then to over 100
U.S. cities, Europe, Japan, Australia and Mexico.  Called "Bringing Texas
to the People", the entire outing is expected to reach some two million people
and has a potential gross of $20 million.
	Though different promoters will be employed in various venues, overall
coordination and supervision is being handled by Bill Ham, group's manager, of
BH Associates, Houston.
	Tikcet prices at all outdoor dates are $8.50 advance, $10 day of show;
prices at indoor facilities are $6 advance, $7 day of show. Opening acts
will vary, by Lynyrd Skykyrd, Aerosmith, Elvin Bishop and Point are among 
confirmed groups that will be appearing. ZZ Top is booked through American
Talent International (ATI), New York.
	Following Winston-Salem, schedule for the first leg, which includes
some 38 U.S. cities with average facility capacity of 22,500, includes Norfolk
(Va.) Scope, June 2; Richmond (Va.) Coliseum, 3; Braves Stadium, Atlanta, 5;
Knoxville (Tenn.) Coliseum, 6; Louisville (Ky.) Exposition Center, 7; Three
Rivers Stadium, Pittsburg, 12; Jacksonville (Fla.) Veterans Memorial Stadium,
20; Niagara Falls (N.Y.) Convention Center, 23; Broome County (N.Y.) Veterans
Memorial Arena, Binghamton, 24; Cape Cod (N.H.) Coliseum, 25; Philadelphia
Spectrum, 26; Richfield (Ohio) Coliseum, 28; Charleston (W. Va.) Civic Center,
29; Carolima Coliseum, Columbia, S.C., July 1; Memphis Memprial Stadium, 4;
Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, 7; Omaha (Neb.) Ak-Sar-Ben Colisum, 9; Chiefs
Stadium, Kansas City, Mo., 11; Sugar Bowl, New Orleans, 17; Minneapolis 
Metropolitan Sports Center, 23; Soldiers Field, Chicago, 25.
	Mile High Stadium, Denver, Aug 1; Albuquerque San Diego (Calif.) Sports
Arena, 8; Fresno (Calif.) Convention Center, 10; Cow Palace, San Francisco, 18;
Capital Centre, Landover, Md., Sept 9; Madison Square Garden, New York, 10;
Cobo Hall, Detroit, 12, Milwaukee Arena, 14; Boise Idaho, facility 
undetermined, 19; Salt Palace, Salt Lake City, Utah, 20; Las Vegas (Nev.)
Convention Center, 21; Tucson (Ariz.) Community Center, 24; Phoenix (Ariz.)
Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 25.
	Additional dates are being firmed for Portland, Ore., and Seattle,
Wash., according to an ATI spokesman. After the first U.S. Segment, group will
travel to Europe in October, then to Japan, Australia and Mexico. After a
month's rest, a second U.S. route will be firmed for spring, 1977, with dates 
in Texas and other states.
PRODUCTION. The mammoth tour is carrying one of the most elaborate stage
setups in recent concert history.
	To give audiences a feeling for the Texas territory from which ZZ Top
derives its music, the trio is fielding $100,000 stage measuring 63-by-48
feet, with two 20-by-40 ft. sound wings. Stage weighs a total of 35 tons, over
three times the weight of the stage the Rolling Stones used on their last U.S.
tour.
	The playform is shaped like the Lone Star State tilted at a four-degree
angle to display the outline of Texas painted on its surface. Behind the stage
is a three-dimensional panorama of the Texas prairies stretching to the
Sierra Madre mountains.	
	The effect is achieved via five crims measuring 36-feet wide and 
20-feet high. Each scrim is individually lit to allow effects varying from
nightfall to a Texas sunrise, complete with lightning in the Sierra Madres.
The scrims were hand-painted by a team of 16 artists working in an aircraft
hanger at Waco, Texas.
	Stage is decorated with live, 10-feet-tall yucca, agave, prickly pear
and century cacti. Lighting includes 130 fixtures consuming 96,000 watts of
power. Sound consist of 260 speakers powered by JBL, Crown and Linear amps
capable of emitting 40,000 watts of power.
	A crew of 40 men, working from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. each day is required
to erect the stage and lighting and sound systems. Seventy-five tons of
equipment is involved and the hardware and crew (about 50 road members),
travel in a caravan of 11 vehicles. Fleet includes seven 40-ft. semi-trailers,
two customized Silver Eagle crew buses and a prop truck. Each of the four 
lead semi-trailers will be painted with a Texas scene by a regional Texas
artist, and the four paintings will dovetail into a single 160-ft. landscape.
In case of accident the production package and its crew are insured for
$10 million.
ANIMALS. In addition, one of the only 500 pure-bred longhorn steers in America,
a 2,000 pound black buffalo, two trained black vultures and two six foot
diamond-back rattlesnakes will be part of the stage presentation.
	Over $140,000 is being spent to ensure that the animals are as healthy
and comfortable as the humans. They travel under the direct supervision of
animal expert Ralph Fisher, who holds Bachelor of Science and Master of
Education degrees in agricultural education.
	The 6 animals will travel in an extra-large, specially ventilated
and lit goose-neck stock trailer, with separate stalls for each animal.
	To rehearse the stage show prior to the tour, ZZ Top rented the
Houston Astrodome's Astro Arena for a full week.
	(Amusement Business-A billboard Publication June 12, 1976)

Thanks to Ellis Darby for supplying these clippings.