Location North America, Europe Legs 5 | Associated album El Loco No. of shows 90 | |
Start date May 29, 1981 (1981-05-29) End date January 8, 1983 (1983-01-08) | ||
The El Loco-Motion Tour was a concert tour by American rock band ZZ Top. The tour took place in North America and Europe from 1981 through 1983. Most of the venues were coliseums, though arenas were visited in later tour dates. Embracing the image of the El Loco album cover, band members Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill would typically perform in boilersuits with top hats. The El Loco-Motion Tour consisted of five legs and 90 shows. The set list included material from El Loco and their previous albums, along with several covers.
Contents
Concert overview
Out of the 90 concerts performed during the El Loco-Motion Tour, each show had a similar set list, with 18-22 songs played. An announcer would introduce the band and begin the show: "The best rock band in the world, from Houston, Texas, it's ZZ Top!" For the 10/28 – 11/01 shows ZZ Top was an opening act (along with The Fabulous Thunderbirds) for The Rolling Stones. Opener for ZZ Top in Europe was Rose Tattoo from Australia.
Main set
Each show began with "Groovy Little Hippie Pad." Following the opener, the band performed a cover of Sam & Dave's "I Thank You", "Waitin' for the Bus", "Jesus Just Left Chicago", "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide", and "Don't Tease Me", and "Ten Foot Pole." Every concert featured "Manic Mechanic" during the middle of the set, and "Heard It on the X" was included in each performance. Those songs were typically followed by Freddie King's "I Love the Woman" and "A Fool for Your Stockings", in which Billy Gibbons would give a sermon and short guitar solo that brought the song to a close. "Pearl Necklace" and "Cheap Sunglasses" were also part of the main set. "Arrested for Driving While Blind" was played next and often segued into Funkadelic's "Hit It and Quit It." The end of the main set featured "Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers" and "Party on the Patio."
Encores and additional songs
After a brief break, the band would return to perform "Tube Snake Boogie." Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock" was sometimes played during the encore. "La Grange" and "Tush" always closed the show. A total of 29 different songs were played throughout the tour. Out of the 10 songs on El Loco, seven of them were performed in full at least once. "Francine" and Elmore James' "Dust My Broom" was sometimes played in the main set, the latter being included once during the encore. "Mexican Blackbird", Freddie King's "Going Down", and Ray Charles' "Let's Go Get Stoned" were also played once during the encore. In Stockholm they played "Just Got Paid" as the very last song.