RIP - Frank Beard
- Aug 19
- 2 min read
ZZ Top drummer was not on tour with ZZ Top and died this week in Hospice at age 77
I just saw ZZ Top and Cheap Trick last week at Marymoor Park in Redmond. It's a great outdoor venue that holds a few thousand people. The venue has about 2000 reserved seats and a few thousand general admission for those who like to sit on blankets. We had seats because we are not savages who fight for spots on the grassy knoll.
The drummer was a fill in for the drummer who was filling in for Beard (who is not on this particular tour due to his health concerns). But I digress.
One of the things that really set this concert apart for me was the ages of everyone involved. Rick Neilson from Cheap Trick left the stage twice during a 60 minute set for what was likely some sort of bathroom or hydration break. He looked all of the 78 years he was, hobbling around like a grampa. Robin Zander had his adult son on stage with them as a supplemental guitarist and singer. Their drummer is not on tour because of health concerns as well.
Of course as it pertains to ZZ Top Billy Gibbons looks like Billy Gibbons because most of his face is covered with cheap sunglasses or facial hair. There is something sort of ageless about him. Elwood looks like Elwood because he has only been the bass player for a few years (RIP Dusty Hill) and so that is all he had ever looked like to us. The drummer was younger obviously as a fill in for the fill in.
As you can see from the picture here, there was also a lot of grey hair in the audience. Either way, another sad death in the music community.
RIP Frank.
And as we all age, the bands we grew up with are crossing over one member at a time.
Your experience at that show is quite similar to mine... a few weeks ago my son and I saw Little Feat at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. Quite the historic venue. But anyway, Billy Payne is the last surviving member at 77. He still crushes the keyboards by the way. And my son at age 32 was easily the youngest member of the audience. The place had to be chock full of knee and hip replacements. LOL.