US rock greats ZZ Top, known for best-selling albums albums such as Eliminator, will headline next February’s Gibbston Summer Concert.
Greenstone Entertainment has secured the "Heroes of the State of Texas" for the 2023 Summer Concert Tour, which starts in Taupo on February 4, travels to Whitianga the following day, and finishes in Queenstown on February 11.
Synonymous with beards, hot rod cars and spinning guitars, ZZ Top are famous for their mix of rock, blues and boogie, with albums such as Eliminator and Afterburner, which between them spent more than two years on the NZ charts.
The band’s line-up of Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard remained intact for more than 50 years till Hill’s death a year ago today.
He temporarily left a tour earlier last year, with Elwood Francis stepping in to the bass breach, a role he has now been given permanently.
Sharing the stage with them will be Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, who last performed in the concert series a decade ago.
The pair, also Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, have sold more than 30 million records world-wide and won four consecutive Grammy awards. They have had at least 14 singles reach the NZ top 50 charts over the past 43 years, including Heartbreaker, Love is a Battlefield and We Belong.
Australian band The Angels, originally scheduled to perform at this year’s cancelled summer gig, will finally take the stage at Gibbston.
Greenstone CEO Amanda Calvert said it had been a "tough couple of years for everyone", but they could not wait to bring back live entertainment.
General tickets go on sale on August 15, with a limited number of local tickets on sale then from Gibbston Valley Winery, and Queenstown and Wanaka’s iSITEs.
