Fifty years. Not many bands can claim that number without a series of hiatuses, reunion tours, and lineup shuffles that hollowed out whatever made them worth following in the first place. Zebra — the New Orleans-formed power trio that broke out in the early ’80s with a sound rooted in hard rock but always tinged with prog ambition — is marking the anniversary with a proper tour, and Daryl’s House in Pawling gets one of the stops.
The band’s self-titled debut in 1983 cracked the top 30 on the Billboard 200 and spawned “Who’s Behind the Door?” and “Tell Me What You Want” — tracks that received significant rock radio airplay and introduced a trio capable of layered, dynamics-conscious writing you didn’t always associate with a hard rock band at the time. Randy Jackson on vocals and guitar has always been the center of gravity, and his voice has aged in the best possible way.
Daryl’s House is an ideal venue for a 50th anniversary show: intimate enough to feel like an occasion, with the kind of sightlines that make the performance personal. Tickets are priced from $65.77 to $86.37 on TicketWeb — the premium pricing reflects the occasion, and for a band celebrating five decades of work, it’s appropriate.