ZZ Top’s 2009 show at the House of Blues in West Hollywood was already blazing hot by the time the encore rolled around.
They opened with Got Me Under Pressure. Waitin’ for the Bus, Jesus Just Left Chicago, Cheap Sunglasses followed. The hits kept coming. A cover of Foxey Lady called back to Billy F. Gibbons’ early days supporting Jimi Hendrix with the Moving Sidewalks.
Then came the grand finale, and a moment that would take us from habanero to Carolina Reaper on the Scoville Scale. Enter John Mayer and Slash for an all-star set-closing performance of La Grange.
And while this moment was fully deserving of the Blu-ray treatment, to be savored in Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound – a few cold ones optional but recommended – luckily it was captured for posterity on YouTube.
You have the video embedded in this page, so you don’t need commentary from us. But to set the scene, you’ve got Slash in his top hat and wielding a Gibson Les Paul, because that is how he rolls.
Mayer was on a white Fender Stratocaster and – although it is hard to tell from YouTube footage – it looks very much like his signature guitar of the era, finished in Olympic White.
And, be still my beating heart, is that Pearly Gates with Gibbons? He takes the first solo and crowdsources suggestions for his successor. The crowd screams Slash (of course it does, we’re in Hollywood, home turf for the Guns N’ Roses guitarist).
Slash does his thing, one elastic note ringing out for Mayer – who looks kind of like he has just been ejected from a wedding reception, what with the suit trousers, black tie and white shirt, and sneakers. Mayerologists would no doubt be able to fill in the blanks here but Mayer… Well, he smokes this jam.
These things are not competitions but the comments say Mayer lit this thing up. “I’m a big slash [sic] fan but ya gotta admit John stole the show that was an amazing solo by him,” wrote Joe Lawlor.
It’s fair to say Slash and our collective adventures cover wide ranges of bluesy influence
Billy Gibbons
Some complain that Slash hits some bum notes and he does. But that’s the nature of live improv. You don’t get a soundcheck. You’re not on in-ears. Head down and go.
Watching this makes us think that, if Slash decided to do a sequel to Orgy of the Damned – his star-studded blues guitar album – he should drop Mayer a call. He could sing, too. Maybe get Gibbons and Mayer on a track... and why not La Grange?
Gibbons would surely be up for it. He has a history of jamming La Grange with Slash. See below, when he joined Slash's all-star birthday bash for a jam. And he was on the first Orgy..., joining Slash on Willie Dixon’s Hoochie Coochie Man, bringing Pearly Gates along for the session.
“It’s fair to say Slash and our collective adventures cover wide ranges of bluesy influence,” said Gibbons, speaking to Guitar World in 2024. “Most everyone appears to enjoy maintaining an actual ongoing relationship with all things sonically ‘blue.’ Muddy Waters’ Hoochie Coochie Man is something [that’s], quite simply, fundamental.
“Slash and I approached the number with a sincere, personalized vision, forwarding the arrangement to expand the track with some extra breathing room and sound luster. It’s a Willie Dixon standby ‘oldie’ – and [it’s] still kickin’ in a big way.”
Now we need to bring the three together – Gibbons, Mayer and Slash – to do this one more time.
