The Worldwide Texas Tour was a concert tour by American rock band ZZ Top. Arranged in support of their 1975 album Fandango!, the band visited arenas, stadiums, and auditoriums from 1976 to 1977. To match the newfound success of Fandango!, the tour was envisioned to differ from their past and surpass expectations of the band. Contrary to ZZ Top's modest stage setups from previous tours, the Worldwide Texas Tour was an elaborately staged multimedia event. It utilized audio and visual stimulation by striving to introduce "Texas paraphernalia" to its audience. To avoid their reputation being insignificantly and overly criticized, ZZ Top adopted a more playful and self-deprecating persona on tour. The Worldwide Texas Tour and Fandango! were essential to the group's success in the 1970s. The tour's concept was inspired by competitive intricate presentations, resemblances of the American Southwest, the extravagant productions of the day, and regional wildlife. The backdrop featured several scrims that showed a three-dimensional panorama, visual effects, and a canyon landscape, along with a stage in the shape of Texas. Native fauna, flora, wagon wheels, corral fences, and longhorn skulls were included into the shows. On stage, Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill wore several costume items they designed, including rhinestone-embellished suits, handcrafted boots, and cowboy hats. In contrast to other ZZ Top tours, each of the Worldwide Texas Tour performances opened with newer songs before older material was played. Encompassing five legs and 97 shows, the tour began in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on May 29, 1976 and ended in Fort Worth, Texas on December 31, 1977. After two arena and stadium legs, the tour's itinerary was expanded to include auditoriums for the final three legs, which was scheduled after the cancellation of performances in Europe, Australia, and Japan. Despite a variety of reactions from music critics, the tour was generally well-received. In addition to being one of the highest-grossing US tours of 1976, the Worldwide Texas Tour sold approximately 1.2 million tickets over its five legs. The band's 1976 album Tejas, which elaborated on the tour's artistic theme, was recorded during a break in the tour, and its songs were played in 1977. Critics regard the Worldwide Texas Tour as one of rock's most memorable tours—in 2008, Guitar World′s Alan di Perna called it "one of the most ambitious and bizarre tours in all of rock history".
Background
ZZ Top's 1973 album Tres Hombres and the supporting single, "La Grange", brought them to a national level of commercial and critical success in the United States. The band gained a reputation as one of the top rock acts in the country and earned them the nickname "that little ol' band from Texas", an image that was further employed after their September 1, 1974 Labor Day show at Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin. The concert—photographs of which were taken and used for their 1975 Fandango! album—was the last to be held at the stadium until a May 7, 1995 Eagles concert, as the artificial turf was damaged by rowdy fans. In a 2008 Texas Monthly Talks interview, guitarist and vocalist Billy Gibbons recalled the event: "I remember having to sit face-to-face in front of Darrell Royal, trying to explain why his AstroTurf had been carved out in the shape of Texas, which took up the 50-yard line into the 40-yard line, but we had a great time. Santana came along, and Joe Cocker performed. Bad Company was there, as well as Jay Boy Adams and Jimmy Page. It was just such a huge turnout—a great, great event."
The Worldwide Texas Tour stage was designed by Bill Narum, who also designed ZZ Top's album covers and tour posters. In place of the ZZ Top's minimalistic productions of the early 1970s, the tour stage was an elaborate setup and designed to "bring Texas to the people". The set included a 63-by-48 foot stage that was tilted at a four-degree angle, which resembled the shape of Texas and weighed 35 tons, costing a reported US$100,000. The stage was constructed in a seven-hour process with the help of 40 crew members. The set's backdrop was a 180-foot three-dimensional panorama that used five scrims measuring 36-by-20 feet, which were hand-painted and individually lit to show dawn and dusk effects. The presentation also included live animals such as a longhorn steer, black buffalo, two vultures, and two rattlesnakes. Various plants, such as yucca, agave, and cacti, also decorated the stage. The set used 260 speakers and 130 light fixtures, using over 136,000 watts of power. A crew of 50 people traveled in a series of 13 vehicles to transport 75 tons of equipment. Over US$140,000 was spent to insure that the animals were healthy, traveling under the supervision of an animal expert and veterinarian. The entire production and crew were insured for $10 million.
Planning, itinerary, and ticketing
Rehearsals for the tour began in May 1976 at Astroarena in Houston. The band and crew spent a week in the arena rehearsing the show, constructing and tweaking the stage set. Unlike many of the group's previous tours, which began shortly after or coincident with the release of a new album, the Worldwide Texas Tour started over a year after Fandango! was released, allowing fans the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the new songs. By opening night, the album had already been certified gold in the United States and sold over one million copies in Canada. The first leg of the tour, 30 shows in the US, alternated between stadiums and arenas. The band had planned overseas concerts in Europe, Japan, Australia, and Mexico, but were cancelled due to quarantine restrictions for buffalo. By the time the third US leg began, Tejas had sold over half-a-million copies in the US. The leg, which began in February 1977, was the band's first full arena leg of the tour. Four days of heavy rain and hailstorms preceded the opening show at Groves Stadium, which decreased ticket sales to 20,000. Tickets for two shows at The Summit in Houston sold out in less than twelve hours. Ticket prices for outdoor venues were US$8.50 in advance and $10 on the day of the show, while indoor venues were $6 in advance and $7 at the door. At its conclusion, the Worldwide Texas Tour sold over 1.2 million tickets.
