XXX Tour

XXX Tour

Tour by ZZ Top
Location	United States, Australia, New Zealand
Associated album	XXX
Start date	September 12, 1999
End date	May 1, 2000
Legs	3
No. of shows	106
ZZ Top concert chronology

The XXX Tour was a concert tour by American rock band ZZ Top. Staged in support of their 1999 album XXX, the tour visited arenas from 1999 through 2000. With three legs and 106 shows, the tour began in Denver, Colorado on September 12, 1999 and ended on May 1, 2000 in Auckland, New Zealand. The first two legs took place in the United States, before the final leg visited Australia and New Zealand, which was branded as the "XXX World Tour". After three legs, the tour was expanded to Europe, though these shows were cancelled. Although the tour provoked a range of reactions from critics, it was generally well received.

Background

ZZ Top's 1996 album Rhythmeen and the supporting Continental Safari Tour brought them to new audiences, particularly in South Africa. Unlike their previous tours, Continental Safari was a minimalistic, sparse production. According to a press release, guitarist and vocalist Billy Gibbons described the tour's production as a "no-frills, full-thrill presentation—streamlined and down and gritty", further acknowledging, "ZZ Top drives it home with a meaner rhythm than ever before." Although their 1997 Mean Rhythm Global Tour did not visit Europe, they performed over 170 shows in support of Rhythmeen.

Stage design and production

The XXX Tour stage was designed by Chris Stuba, ZZ Top's lighting director To design the set, Stuba collaborated with longtime production manager Donny Stuart stage set. In place of ZZ Top's elaborate productions of the past, the XXX Tour stage was a simple setup, designed to be intimate. The set included a 48-by-30 foot (15 by 9 m) stage, and was supplemented by giant stretch fabric fixtures, known as Transformits, and were made into geometric shapes, which showed various visuals, including the "XXX" logo behind the stage; for any in-the-round venues, the Transformits were not used. Stuba faced the challenge of designing a lighting system to suit both ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd, the opening act for most of the tour; both bands used the same wash lights.^[1] The set used 87 automated luminaries and 180 PAR lamps, emitting lots of heat in which the band favored. Stuba explained:

Because the band has literally grown up with conventional lights, they tell me they play better when they 'feel the heat.' They like a really hot stage. The story is they had so many PARs they couldn't move the drum riser until a half hour after the show because it was so hot. They like it that way, and as more conventional lighting goes away and more automated lighting comes into play, a lot of newer bands have no idea what it's like to play under a 150-degree stage. It's an observation we've made about the whole thing, from Billy's point of view.

The way we discovered this was, I was running moving light cues and Billy was saying there was something missing and he couldn't put his finger on it. And it came to turn out that it was just the heat factor. He missed the heat. I was pretty shocked hearing that and didn't give it much thought myself until he pointed that out. Our cues now have more PARs in them just for that reason. If they're happy with the heat and they don't think about it and it's the norm, then in turn they probably do play better.^[1]

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue	Opening act(s)
Warm-up shows[2]
July 23, 1999	Cheyenne	United States	Cheyenne Frontier Days
July 25, 1999	Moncton	Canada	Shediac Can-Am Speedway (Moose Head Festival)	Kansas Lee Aaron
July 27, 1999	Lake Elsinore	United States	Lake Elsinore Diamond
July 28, 1999	Paso Robles		California Mid-State Fair
August 1, 1999	Niigata	Japan	Naeba Ski Resort (Fuji Rock Festival)	Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros Nawang Khechog
August 5, 1999	Fairbanks	United States	Carlson Center
August 7, 1999	Anchorage		Sullivan Arena	Paul Byrd and the Escalators
Leg 1: arenas and auditoriums in the United States[3]
September 12, 1999	Denver	United States	McNichols Sports Arena
September 15, 1999	Pensacola		Pensacola Civic Center	Lynyrd Skynyrd Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies
September 16, 1999	New York City		Roseland Ballroom	Great White
September 17, 1999	Orlando		Orlando Arena	Lynyrd Skynyrd
September 18, 1999	Fort Lauderdale		National Car Rental Center	Lynyrd Skynyrd Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies
September 19, 1999	Gainesville		O'Connell Center	Lynyrd Skynyrd
September 21, 1999	Greenville		Bi-Lo Center	Lynyrd Skynyrd Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies
September 22, 1999	Greensboro		Greensboro Coliseum
September 24, 1999	Charlotte		Charlotte Coliseum
September 25, 1999	Birmingham		Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex
September 26, 1999	Knoxville		Thompson–Boling Arena
September 28, 1999	Atlanta		Philips Arena
September 29, 1999	Roanoke		Roanoke Civic Center
October 1, 1999	Hampton		Hampton Coliseum	Lynyrd Skynyrd
October 2, 1999	Philadelphia		First Union Spectrum	Lynyrd Skynyrd Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies
October 3, 1999	Pittsburgh		Civic Arena
October 6, 1999	Buffalo		Marine Midland Arena
October 8, 1999	East Rutherford		Continental Airlines Arena
October 9, 1999	Worcester		Worcester's Centrum Centre
October 10, 1999	Fairfax		Patriot Center
October 12, 1999	Cleveland		CSU Convocation Center
October 13, 1999	Dayton		Ervin J. Nutter Center
October 15, 1999	Grand Rapids		Van Andel Arena
October 16, 1999	Detroit		The Palace of Auburn Hills
October 17, 1999	Indianapolis		Market Square Arena	Lynyrd Skynyrd
October 19, 1999	Moline		The MARK of the Quad Cities
October 20, 1999	Madison		Kohl Center
October 22, 1999	Chicago		United Center	Lynyrd Skynyrd Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies
October 23, 1999	Ames		Hilton Coliseum	Lynyrd Skynyrd
October 24, 1999	Fargo		Fargodome
October 26, 1999	Minneapolis		Target Center	Lynyrd Skynyrd Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies
October 28, 1999	Kansas City		Municipal Auditorium
October 29, 1999	St. Louis		Kiel Center
October 30, 1999	Memphis		Pyramid Arena
November 5, 1999	New Orleans		New Orleans Arena
November 6, 1999	Jackson		Mississippi Coliseum
November 7, 1999	Nashville		Nashville Arena
November 9, 1999	Shreveport		Hirsch Memorial Coliseum
November 10, 1999	Little Rock		Alltel Arena
November 12, 1999	Oklahoma City		Myriad Convention Center
November 13, 1999	Tulsa		Tulsa Convention Center
November 14, 1999	Wichita		Kansas Coliseum
November 16, 1999	Omaha		Omaha Civic Auditorium Arena	Lynyrd Skynyrd
November 17, 1999	Rapid City		Rushmore Plaza Civic Center
November 19, 1999	Salt Lake City		Delta Center	Lynyrd Skynyrd Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies
November 21, 1999	Billings		MetraPark Arena
November 22, 1999	Missoula		Adams Center	Lynyrd Skynyrd
November 24, 1999	Tacoma		Tacoma Dome	Lynyrd Skynyrd Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies
November 26, 1999	Spokane		Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena
November 27, 1999	Portland		Rose Garden Arena
November 28, 1999	Boise		Idaho Center
November 30, 1999	Reno		Lawlor Events Center	Lynyrd Skynyrd
December 1, 1999	Sacramento		ARCO Arena	Lynyrd Skynyrd Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies
December 3, 1999	Oakland		The Arena in Oakland	Lynyrd Skynyrd Sy Klopps Blues Band
December 4, 1999	Anaheim		Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim	Lynyrd Skynyrd
December 5, 1999	San Diego		San Diego Sports Arena
December 7, 1999	Las Vegas		Mandalay Bay Events Center	Lynyrd Skynyrd Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies
December 9, 1999	Tucson		Tucson Convention Center
December 10, 1999	Phoenix		America West Arena
December 11, 1999	Albuquerque		Tingley Coliseum
December 14, 1999	Odessa		Ector County Coliseum
December 16, 1999	Lubbock		Lubbock Municipal Coliseum
December 17, 1999	Dallas		Reunion Arena
December 29, 1999	Lafayette		Cajundome	Lynyrd Skynyrd
December 30, 1999	Austin	Frank Erwin Center
December 31, 1999	Houston	Compaq Center
Leg 2: arenas and auditoriums in the United States[3]
January 14, 2000	Hershey	United States	Hersheypark Arena	Lynyrd Skynyrd
January 15, 2000	Charleston		Charleston Civic Center
January 16, 2000	Wheeling		Wheeling Civic Center
January 18, 2000	Wilkes-Barre		Northeastern Pennsylvania Civic Arena
January 19, 2000	Rochester		Blue Cross Arena
January 22, 2000	Providence		Providence Civic Center
January 23, 2000	Uniondale		Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
January 25, 2000	Albany		Pepsi Arena	Lynyrd Skynyrd Laidlaw
January 26, 2000	Portland		Cumberland County Civic Center	Lynyrd Skynyrd
January 28, 2000	Uncasville		Mohegan Sun
January 29, 2000	Atlantic City		Trump Marina
February 2, 2000	Tampa		Ice Palace Arena	Lynyrd Skynyrd
February 4, 2000	Savannah		Savannah Civic Center
February 5, 2000	Tupelo		BancorpSouth Arena
February 6, 2000	Biloxi		Mississippi Coast Coliseum
February 8, 2000	Louisville		Freedom Hall
February 9, 2000	Huntsville		Von Braun Center
February 11, 2000	Johnson City		Freedom Hall Civic Center
February 13, 2000	Fort Worth		Fort Worth Convention Center
February 16, 2000	Macon		Macon Coliseum
February 18, 2000	Albany		Albany Civic Center
February 19, 2000	North Charleston		North Charleston Coliseum
February 20, 2000	Raleigh		Raleigh Entertainment & Sports Arena
February 22, 2000	Toledo		Savage Hall
February 23, 2000	Kalamazoo		Wings Stadium
February 25, 2000	Cincinnati		Cincinnati Gardens
February 26, 2000	Columbus		Value City Arena
February 27, 2000	Evansville		Roberts Municipal Stadium	Lynyrd Skynyrd Laidlaw
February 29, 2000	Peoria		Peoria Civic Center	Lynyrd Skynyrd
March 2, 2000	Terre Haute		Hulman Center
March 3, 2000	Cape Girardeau		Show Me Center
March 5, 2000	Beaumont		Montagne Center
Leg 3: arenas and stadiums in Australasia[4]
April 17, 2000	Perth	Australia	Perth Entertainment Centre
April 19, 2000	Adelaide		Adelaide Entertainment Centre	Orianthi
April 21, 2000	Byron Bay		Byron Bay Blues Festival
April 22, 2000	Brisbane		Brisbane Festival Hall
April 24, 2000	Sydney		Sydney Entertainment Centre	Never the Bride
April 26, 2000	Melbourne		Melbourne Park
April 28, 2000	Auckland	New Zealand	Ericsson Stadium Supertop
April 30, 2000	Christchurch		WestpacTrust Centre
May 1, 2000	Auckland		Queens Wharf Events Centre

Notes

1. High End Systems 2000.
2. Zurich 2012.
3. ZZTop.com 2000a.
4. ZZTop.com 2000b.

References

• Hausman, Jeff. Light 'em up!. The Inside. 1996;(6).
• High End Systems. ZZ Top's XXX Tour Spreads Their Heat Worldwide [archived May 10, 2000; Retrieved March 10, 2012].
• Zurich, Peter. The Little Ol' Web Page from Texas. Past ZZ Top Concerts; 2012 [Retrieved March 10, 2012].
• ZZTop.com. WORLD TOUR 2000 [archived April 8, 2000; Retrieved March 10, 2012].
• ZZTop.com. XXX TOUR [archived June 6, 2000; Retrieved March 10, 2012].