47 years ago this week the ZZ Top story began in Beaumont

Billy Gibbons was performing when he was a student at Lee High School. Billy Gibbons was performing when he was a student at Lee High School. Photo: File Photo: File Image 1 of / 104 Caption Close 47 years ago this week the ZZ Top story began in Beaumont 1 / 104 Back to Gallery

A handful of old-timers in Beaumont were witnesses to rock and roll history 47 years ago this week and they likely don't remember a darn thing about the night.

But what they saw changed the course of Texas rock for decades.

On this date in February 1970, ZZ Top played at a Knights of Columbus Hall on old U.S. 90, a gig booked by Beaumont radio personality Al Caldwell of KLVI, who would later also broadcast the band's first recordings.

This would be the band’s first show together with their now-iconic lineup of Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard installed. Gibbons started the band in late 1969 and the pieces soon came together.

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Houston fans will get to see ZZ Top back in action next month as the band is slated to play RodeoHouston on Tuesday, March 21 at NRG Stadium. The band turned in a raucous set last weekend at Super Bowl Live festivities in downtown Houston.

Back in 2015 bassist Hill told Chron.com via email that he had to borrow a pivotal piece of stage equipment to play the show.

"I had to borrow a bass for that gig. I didn't actually own one. It was the Knights of Columbus Hall and though I didn't meet any knights or royalty, there were a lot of cool people who came out to hear us play," Hill wrote. "And so it began..."

In those early days they also played a handful of proms and sanctioned high school parties, probably warping hundreds of young Texans for decades to come.

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A picture of the band at the Little Cypress-Mauriceville High School prom in Orange made the rounds years back over on Reddit. It’s probably the closest picture one will find of the band when it was just a few months old. A “yearbook club error” had them billed as “Zee Zee Top” in the photo.

A year or so after that first gig in Beaumont the band released its debut album simply titled “ZZ Top’s First Album” on U.K. label London Records.