Making a bad, finding the right people, and performing songs aren’t always hard things to achieve. You might have the perfect voice, skilled band members, and a catchy melody, but even after all those, if you don’t have an audience, the whole thing will result to waste.
To gather a large audience to like your song is always the hardest thing to do, and many will struggle in that phase during their first performance. If we take look at ZZ Top, they went through some tough times during their first performances.
The band managed to book a gig in the venue and when the curtains got opened, only one guy was there as an audience. They realized that they lacked an audience but the band just didn’t stop there, they decided to give a lifetime experience to the only audience.
The band was excited to play their very first gis which was held in Alvin, a small Texas town. They were waiting on the stage to grasp the opportunity. So many questions must have gone through their head. They couldn’t wait to watch the crowd because the curtains were closed.
They were ready to show the world what they were made of, but when the curtains got opened, everything went out of their imagination because only one person was standing in the venue, and was looking awkward because he was the only one in the whole venue.
Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons recalled the moment when they saw only now the guy in one of their first gigs during 2019’s documentary, ‘ZZ Top: That Little Ol’ Band From Texas,’ and decided to open the story once again;
“[We] came down to this place in Alvin, Texas,” Dusty recalled and mentioned their excitement about the crowd that they were gonna play for. “[I] was expecting whatever, hoping for a sell-out, be happy for half full. This place had a stage, and it had curtains. And we’re behind the curtains.”
Billy continued, “And when the curtains opened, there was one guy, and he’s looking around like, ‘I’m in the wrong place.’ And he turned around and started to leave. And we’re on the microphone, and we go, ‘Wow, wait a minute. Stick around. We’re going to play the whole set for you.’ He didn’t know what to do.”
Gibbon then explains how the band shared their gratitude to the guy; “We took a break and went out and kind of motioned to the guy, and we bought him a coke.” Dusty continued, “Yeah, we bought him a coke. ’Cause we were thankful he stuck around; then we played an encore. I mean, an encore is supposed to when they demand to have you back. We thought, ‘Well, the kid deserves more.’”
The singer then told the guy still comes around to their show, and when they ask for the name; he refuses to tell it. “That guy still comes around to this day, and he won’t tell us his name. He just says, ‘Remember me? I’m the guy.’ I said, ‘Of course, we remember you.’”
The early days of ZZ Top were full of obstacles because they were having a tough time finding an audience. The band deserves huge respect because even when there was only one guy in the entire venue, they didn’t leave but played encore to the young man.
This was a remarkable work by the band and they earned respect for themselves as a true musician. The fan must feel special as well. Imagining being a single guy standing in the whole venue while the band is performing.
