ZZ Top at SPAC — June 6, 1986

Forty years ago at SPAC, ZZ Top arrived in peak Afterburner-tour mode — synthesizers humming under the boogie, that fuzzy keyboard bass shaking the lawn, fur-covered guitars spinning under Saratoga’s pavilion. The Eliminator era had made them MTV royalty, and Afterburner doubled down: ‘Sleeping Bag,’ ‘Stages,’ and the still-undefeated triple-shot of ‘Gimme All Your Lovin’,’ ‘Sharp Dressed Man,’ and ‘Legs.’ Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard played it tight, weird, and Texas-cool. With Dusty gone since 2021, every photograph from that night is a relic of the original trio at full flight.