ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard has temporarily stepped away from the band’s current tour in order to focus on an unspecified health issue.
Read More: ZZ Top Lineup Changes: A Complete Guide
The band’s management revealed the news in a Saturday afternoon statement, explaining that longtime tech team member (and, importantly, “fellow Texan”) John Douglas will fill in for Beard until his return, and that Beard was “looking forward to a speedy recovery.”
Douglas previously played with ZZ Top after Beard underwent an emergency appendectomy during the band’s 2002 European tour.
According to SetList.fm, Beard was not present at the band’s most recent concert, which took place Friday night at Florida’s St. Augustine Amphitheatre.
ZZ Top’s current lineup includes singer and guitarist Billy Gibbons and bass player Elwood Francis, who took over for the late Dusty Hill in 2021.
ZZ Top is scheduled to perform Sunday night at the Seven Seas Food Festival in Orlando. The band’s current North American tour is scheduled to conclude on April 12, after which they will travel to Australia and New Zealand before returning back to North America for more dates in June.
ZZ Top’s 2025 Elevation Tour Dates
3/16/2025 – Seven Seas Food Festival @ Orlando, FL3/18/2025 – Anderson Music Hall @ Hiawassee, GA3/19/2025 – North Charleston Performing Arts Center @ North Charleston, SC3/21/2025 – Crown Theatre @ Fayetteville, NC3/22/2025 – Bell Auditorium @ Augusta, GA3/23/2025 – Montgomery Performing Arts Centre @ Montgomery, AL3/26/2025 – John Hunt Auditorium @ Tifton, GA3/28/2025 – SKyPAC @ Bowling Green, KY4/1/2025 – Brown County Music Center @ Nashville, IN4/2/2025 – Blue Gate Performing Arts Center @ Shipshewana, IN4/3/2025 – FIM Capitol Theatre @ Flint, MI4/5/2025 – State Farm Center @ Champaign, IL4/6/2025 – The Riverside Theatre @ Milwaukee, WI4/8/2025 – Andrew J Brady Music Center @ Cincinnati, OH4/11/2025 – Show Me Center @ Cape Girardeau, MO4/12/2025 – East Arkansas Community College @ Forrest City, AR
Ranking Every ZZ Top Album
From the first album to ‘La Futura,’ we check out the Little ‘ol Band From Texas’ studio records.
Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
