First Avenue and the Cities 97 present ZZ Ward.
Coming up to the show walking down the street, two guys approached me and asked me if I was shooting the show. When I told them that I was, they told me about Black Pistol Fire. Black Pistol Fire was the opener for the show and they were an ideal opening act for this tour. The duo is an energetic, blues music pair from Toronto, currently located in Austin, Texas. With two people, they made one hell of a sweet sound. Once they hit up “Oh Well” from Fleetwood Mac as the third song, I knew we were in for some fun. I would consider them rock and roll with blues metal mixed in. They are incredible. Eric Owen on drums and Kevin McKeown on vocals and guitar. The band is in support of their latest release, “Deadbeat Graffiti”. If you are into really good bluesy rock and roll, they are the band for you. I felt that they overshadowed ZZ Ward a bit, so good for them. They’re awesome.
ZZ Ward has gained incredible popularity in the last few years with her unique blend of blues and rock. Blues have really come into the forefront of the mainstream media within the last decade, which I love. There are mixes of it in many different genres of music, spanning from country to metal. ZZ Ward is no exception to this, nor is her amazing opening band To her dismay, she came onstage with just small delay with some technical difficulties. It was fixed within minutes and she asked that the crowd pretend that she hadn’t come onstage yet. I loved that, as did most of the crowd, who met her with a thunderous applause when she took to the stage again. I came in not knowing anything about her. I knew her name from owning a record store and buying her CD’s and LP’s to sell, but that was it. She has been playing in town since 2013, with her first album being released in 2012. I would describe her as a county, blues, and rock and roll girl. I can hear all sorts of sounds from her. She has a tremendous voice that fits perfectly with her music. In the middle of her set she did a cool acoustic thing of songs she did on her mix tape. She explained it as songs she made while listening to hip-hop. I like her bluesy rock better but it was an interesting choice of songs to do. The tour is promoting her latest release “The Storm”. For tour info and info on ZZ Ward please click here.