El Loco-Motion Tour

El Loco-Motion Tour
World tour by ZZ Top
Location North America, Europe
Associated album El Loco
Start date May 29, 1981
End date January 8, 1983
Legs 5
Shows 90
ZZ Top concert chronology
Expect No Quarter Tour
(1979-1981)
El Loco-Motion Tour
(1981-1983)
Eliminator Tour
(1983-1984)

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.

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.

Tour dates

Date City Country Venue
North America
May 29, 1981 Knoxville United States James White Civic Coliseum
May 30, 1981 Birmingham Birmingham–Jefferson Civic Center
May 31, 1981 Nashville Nashville Municipal Auditorium
June 5, 1981 Charlotte Charlotte Coliseum
June 10, 1981 Fort Wayne Allen County War Memorial Coliseum
June 12, 1981 Louisville Freedom Hall
June 13, 1981 Detroit Joe Louis Arena
June 14, 1981 Pittsburgh Civic Arena
June 19, 1981 Landover Capital Centre
June 20, 1981 South Yarmouth Cape Cod Coliseum
June 21, 1981
June 26, 1981 New Haven New Haven Coliseum
June 27, 1981 Buffalo Buffalo Memorial Auditorium
July 5, 1981 Calgary Canada Race City Motorsport Park
July 11, 1981 Phoenix United States Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
July 12, 1981 Albuquerque Tingley Coliseum
July 15, 1981 Odessa Ector County Coliseum
July 16, 1981 El Paso El Paso County Coliseum
July 17, 1981 Tucson Tucson Convention Center
July 18, 1981 Las Vegas Las Vegas Convention Center
July 21, 1981 Philadelphia Spectrum
July 22, 1981 Portland Memorial Coliseum
July 23, 1981 Spokane Spokane Coliseum
July 24, 1981 Seattle Seattle Center Coliseum
July 25, 1981 Vancouver Canada Pacific Coliseum
August 1, 1981 Denver United States McNichols Sports Arena
August 2, 1981 Rapid City Rushmore Plaza Civic Center
August 4, 1981 Salt Lake City Salt Palace
August 5, 1981 Madison Dane County Coliseum
August 6, 1981 Cedar Rapids Five Seasons Center
August 7, 1981 Saint Paul St. Paul Civic Center
August 8, 1981 Omaha Omaha Civic Auditorium
August 9, 1981 East Troy Alpine Valley Music Theatre
August 12, 1981 Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Arena
August 13, 1981 Kansas City Kemper Arena
August 14, 1981 Rosemont Rosemont Horizon
August 15, 1981 St. Louis St. Louis Arena
August 16, 1981 Indianapolis Market Square Arena
August 19, 1981 Valley Center Kansas Coliseum
August 20, 1981 Tulsa Expo Square Pavilion
August 21, 1981 Little Rock Barton Coliseum
August 23, 1981 Shreveport Hirsch Memorial Coliseum
August 26, 1981 Utica Utica Memorial Auditorium
August 27, 1981 Springfield Springfield Civic Center
August 31, 1981 Portland Cumberland County Civic Center
September 5, 1981 Lakeland Lakeland Civic Center Arena
September 6, 1981 Pembroke Pines Hollywood Sportatorium
September 9, 1981 Cincinnati Riverfront Coliseum
Europe
October 2, 1981 Stockholm Sweden Göta Lejon
October 6, 1981 Nuremberg Germany Hemmerleinhalle
October 8, 1981 Offenbach Stadthalle Offenbach
October 9, 1981 Heidelberg Rhein-Neckar-Halle
October 10, 1981 Hamburg Congress Centrum Hamburg
October 11, 1981 Berlin Neue Welt
October 13, 1981 Dortmund Westfalenhalle 3
October 14, 1981 Munich Circus Krone Building
October 19, 1981 Düsseldorf Philips Halle
October 25, 1981 Paris France Pavillon Baltard
October 26, 1981 London England Hammersmith Odeon
North America
October 28, 1981 Houston United States Reliant Astrodome
October 29, 1981
October 31, 1981 Dallas Cotton Bowl
November 1, 1981
December 26, 1981 Houston Summit
December 27, 1981 Dallas Wintergarden Ballroom
December 28, 1981 Fort Worth Billy Bob's
December 31, 1981 Memphis Mid-South Coliseum
January 15, 1982 Greensboro Greensboro Coliseum
January 20, 1982 Evansville Roberts Municipal Stadium
January 21, 1982 Columbus Battelle Hall
January 24, 1982 Huntington Huntington Civic Center
January 26, 1982 Lexington Rupp Arena
January 29, 1982 Bethlehem Stabler Arena
March 21, 1982 Daly City Cow Palace
March 24, 1982 San Diego San Diego Sports Arena
March 26, 1982 Los Angeles Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena
March 31, 1982 Salt Lake City Salt Palace
April 1, 1982 Denver McNichols Sports Arena
April 2, 1982 Lincoln Pershing Auditorium
April 13, 1982 Amarillo Amarillo Civic Center
April 14, 1982 Lubbock Lubbock Coliseum
April 15, 1982 San Antonio Convention Center Arena
April 16, 1982 Austin Frank Erwin Center
April 17, 1982 New Orleans The Warehouse
April 18, 1982 Tallahassee Leon County Civic Center
Europe
May 28, 1982 Dortmund Germany Westfalenhalle
May 29, 1982 Würzburg Carl-Diem-Sportgelände
May 30, 1982 Munich Munich-Riem Airport
May 31, 1982 Landgraaf Netherlands Pinkpop Festival
North America
August 17, 1982 Toronto Canada Maple Leaf Gardens
September 20, 1982 Calgary Stampede Corral
September 25, 1982 Charleston United States Charleston Civic Center
September 28, 1982 Toronto Canada Maple Leaf Gardens
September 30, 1982 Dayton United States Hara Arena
October 1, 1982 Milwaukee MECCA Arena
December 30, 1982 Tucson Tucson Convention Center
December 31, 1982 Phoenix Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
January 2, 1983 Midland Midland College
January 5, 1983 Valley Center Kansas Coliseum
January 8, 1983 Baton Rouge Riverside Centroplex

References