Hi!

As it is a little quiet on the lizzt I' like to tell you all something about
my ZZ Top European Tour 2002!

October 8 - Sporthalle; Hamburg, Germany
The first ZZ Top gig since 4 years and I was really nervous. How much people
would attend? Is Dusty's condition back to normal? Will I survive Gary Moore
as support? The gig was sold out. I could manage to get to the front row
and, as I can write this, I survived Gary Moore. He wasn't as bad as I
thought he would be. But enough of this. Lights went out and it was STAR
TIME. Dusty looked healthy and he did more singing than ever before. Elwood
got his part of the show (Senior Guitarra Elwood, nice guy but ugly...). He
lit the cigar during Tush and he seemed to enjoy himself as Billy saw "tres
senoritas" on Elwood's side of the stage. I don't have to talk about the set
list as you know it. When I got back to my hotel I could not get to sleep
for 3 hours, I was so happy to experience ZZ Top's show again!

October 10 - Arena; Berlin, German
Again a sold out show but I really wondered how the fans found the place
'cause the decription to the venue on their webpage was wrong in any word.
Waiting outside was not very nice as a freezing wind was blowing from the
river Spree right next to the venue. When we finally got in I found myself
in an old industrial site of former East Germany. Old, dirty but with a
grrreat sound.

October 11 - Messehalle; Leipzig, Germany
Messehalle means Trade Fair Hall. Leipzig has a new and an old Trade Fair. I
went to the new one, was sent to the old one and was told that Leipzig
opened a new venue called ARENA some weeks before. So I had a perfect
sightseeing around a town in East Germany that was more or less completely
rebuild within the last 8 years and the ruins of socialism were removed. The
crowd in leipzig was great. They still enjoy things they weren't able to see
in the past and they made a every single song a feast.

October 12 - Jahrhunderthalle; Frankfurt, Germany
"People entering the Jahrhunderthalle agree to be part of a live CD, DVD and
Video Recording during tonight's show" could be read outside of the
Frankfurt Jahrhunderthalle. I almost had a heart attack - Red Alert!!! It
could not believe it. The Frankfurt concert took place in one of the
smallest venues of that tour and ZZ Top want to do live recordings here????
No no no. The signs were from the concert the night before (Stop the Red
Alert). The rest is not worth mentioning. The place is not designed for a
concert and regarding the fans:Let me remind you of a mail from Markuzz
Krekel: Too much stupid drunken idiots.

October 14 - Le Zenith; Paris, France
Standing outside the Zenith I heard some really strange things from inside.
Usually the ZZ Top soundcheck is 10 to 15 minutes with some jamming. In
Paris I heard almost the complete setlist. What was wrong? When the show
began and John Douglas got seated behind the drums I really was worried. But
from the audiences reaction I seemed to be the only one to notice that. John
did great but you could hear that he was nervous as someone on his first
date. He played the songs faster than Frank. I bet he wanted the show to end
quicker.

October 15 - E-Werk; Saarbrucken, Germany
Again some former industrial site now used as a concert arena. Again John
played the drums and again I had the feeling that not a lot of people
realised the different drummer. What was the show like? Honestly, I have
never seen a weak ZZ Top Show and even without Frank I could not say that
this was one. But I desperatly wanted Frank back.

October 16 - Forest National; Brussels, Belgium
The Forest National is a remarkable place. It really feels like this ancient
roman amphi theaters as it is an oval arena. The Fans in Belgium, just like
in France are very enthusiastic. German fans seem a lot relaxter or quieter.
Great Show, great audience. Again sold out and loving every minute. After
the show I had the pleasure of talking to Billy for quiete a while. I can't
remember everything we talked about but he really was interested in a lot of
topics. He asked what I do for living (IT Helpdesk and Support) and what I
think of mp3 and the Internet. Remarkable evening.

October 18 - Grugahalle; Essen, Germany
Essen, Germany is the place where the first ever ZZ Top gig in Europe took
place. And Billy mentions that in "Jesus just...". ZZ Top played the first
sold out show the Grugahalle experienced in 3 years. I saw Frank arriving in
Essen and I had never thought he would play at that night. But he did.
Sensational. I don't know how he got the energy to play again just a few
days after his appendectomy. But he did and now I experienced something I
just do not understand. People knew that Frank was ill and I was asked a lot
of times who that drummer was??????????? Even in the newspapers of this and
following concerts you could read that Frank did not play the drums. but he
did. I don't think I will ever take a concert review of a newspaper or a
magazine serious again.

October 19 - Olympiahalle; Munich, Germany
Essen and Munich are about 350 miles from each other. The longest distance
between two shows of the tour without a day off in between. I was really
late, but Crew and Band were as well. But the ZZ Top Crew managed it to get
the stage ready just in time to open the doors on time. The Olympiahalle is
one of the biggest venues in Germany with a remarkable architecture. This
and ZZ Top is a mixture to have a perfect evening and I enjoyed myself in
the Front Row as I did during every single show I saw.

October 20 - Schleyerhalle; Stuttgart, Germany
I haven't written much about Gary Moore, have I? But why should I. He was
famous in the '80s playing Hard Rock but he lost his fans when he switched
to the Blues. I like Blues, but Gary Moore made one mistake. He doesn't know
when to finish a song. He keeps playing and playing. Crowd gets tired of
clapping hands and by the time he really finishes you have complete silence
around. Gary Moore seems to have physical pain when playing the guitar.
Every note makes him do a funny face. Billy in the contrary plays like he
doesn't even seem to touch the strings. The sounds come like magic. The
coolest guitar man you can imagine. Stuttgart was the last gig for Gary
Moore. Bye.
Billy played a strange guitar for two songs. A picture of that can be found
at www.laut.de as I mentioned before. Liked that!

October 22 - Spark 7; Vienna, Austria
One of the Crew of ZZ Top told me that the Spark 7 Club was the most
dirtiest, damaged and sickest place he has ever seen. Total agreement. Dear
people of Vienna: Tear down that place. Tonight ZZ played without special
guest. It is fun that way. Elwood was missing. He returned home from
Stuttgart as I heard but I don't know why. Billy introduced me, poor Frank,
to the audience during the show. Great. You can't imagine how much questions
I had to answer after that... Who are you? Why does Billy know you? How can
I get backstage? Great.. But I meet a lot of nice austrian people. One more
thing. I had my hotel close to the Prater, the big outdoor amusement site of
Vienna. You can also find a red light district there and I had my hotel
close to that. Nice place ;-)

October 29 - Heineken Hall; Amsterdam, Netherlands
You already heard about the support show of that night (Jan Akkerman) and I
don't want to talk about that anymore. But that night gave me a bad
souvenier. That was the loudest show I've ever experienced. My ears were
ringing for two days.

November 1 - Apollo Hammersmith; London, England
I've heard a lot of Live CD's recorded at the Hammersmith Apollo. Now I
finally got to see it live. Great place. The show was great. Billy talked a
lot in between songs. But my greetings go to the english fans. France was
great, Brussels was great, but you guys were the best. Just my thought.


As you know now, I saw a little more than one show of this tour and I
enjoyed every single second of it. I spent almost my complete vacation days
for that and I hope to do that again soon. I meet a lot of great people,
great ZZ Fans all over Europe and I felt like being at home all the time. If
anybody is reading this my best wishes go out to Pablo, Joe, Billy Hale,
John, Jerry and the rest of the ZZ Top Crew and to Billy, Dusty and Frank.
You all helped having some great HOLIDAYZZ!!!

Frank Braun