ZZ Top canceled its Hollywood Bowl concert, which was set to kick off the band's Big One tour, after longtime drummer Frank Beard had health issues, Rolling Stone first reported, according to the Los Angeles Times.
A band spokesperson said frontman Billy Gibbons and bassist Elwood Francis will continue the tour, with Michael Monahan filling in for Beard through the U.S. run, which wraps October 9 in Port Wentworth, Georgia. The band has not said whether it will reschedule the Los Angeles show, and the Hollywood Bowl said all tickets, including parking and transportation passes, are being automatically refunded.
Gibbons had posted on Instagram that unexplained "insurmountable obstacles" led to the sudden cancellation. The band has released no details on Beard's condition, though it is not the first health issue for the 77-year-old drummer, who joined ZZ Top in 1969, soon after the band formed, replacing founding drummer Dan Mitchell.
In March 2025, Beard temporarily stepped away from the band's Elevation tour for what was later revealed to be foot and ankle problems, with longtime tech member John Douglas filling in, as he had once before when Beard underwent an emergency appendectomy in 2002. Decades earlier, following the 1976 album "Tejas," Beard dealt with substance abuse issues that led to a three-year hiatus for the band, a period he and his bandmates discussed in the 2019 documentary "ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band From Texas."
"Frank goes all out on what he does and that includes the bad things," bandmate Dusty Hill, who died in 2021, said in that documentary, adding that a real friend doesn't want to watch someone they love struggle. "You just want to see your brother get well," Hill said.
The Grammy-nominated band, formed in Houston, is known for singles including "La Grange" and "Tush" across 15 studio albums of rock blues twang. In November, ZZ Top will close out the Big One tour with eight shows across Mexico and South America. MusicSuey tracks the band's dates on the tour guide.
Beard's health remained a concern in the months that followed: MusicSuey reported August 18 that the drummer had died at 77, five years after bandmate Dusty Hill's 2021 death.
The facts
- Hollywood Bowl show canceled over drummer Frank Beard's health
- Michael Monahan replaces Beard for the rest of the Big One tour
- Frank Beard, 77, joined ZZ Top in 1969
- The tour closes November with eight shows in Mexico and South America
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