Nikki Hill and her band hit the ZooFest stage on fire Thursday.
Tearing through a half dozen songs in less than 20 minutes, Hill danced and sang, leaned into guitarists Matt Hill and Laura Chavez when they’d take solos, pushing the band and the crowd standing in front of the stage into a jubilant frenzy.
“I’m sure you can tell from all this energy up here, we’ve been dying to get back,†Hill said. “This is just our third show in 18 months. We’re happy to be playing here. We’re honored to be playing here. The Zoo Bar is like a home to us, ... and it’s so good to see so many familiar faces out there.â€
Hill and her crack band delivered a 90 minutes of “my brand of rock ‘n’ roll,†a mix that draws on the likes of Little Richard, the Rolling Stones, ‘50s and ‘60s R&B filtered through her Tina Turner-like passionate singing and constant motion dance.
The Southern fireball has consistently played the Zoo since her career began. Her first shows were filled with covers. But now that she’s got a few albums under her belt -- and written plenty of songs, though Friday’s set had just two -- a smouldering take on the Rolling Stones’ “Down Home Girl†and a swinging call-and-response version of Gary U.S. Bonds’ “New Orleans.â€
The rest of the set was made up of her songs -- which rock with shades of blues, soul and even a touch of radio -- and, on the highlight of the night, “Struttin’†swagger and boogie with the best of them.
Hill, who headlined the first night of the Zoo Bar’s annual street festival, was preceded by The Hacienda Brothers, who were playing their first show in two years -- not that you could tell from the killer performance.
The country outfit, now fronted by singer/songwriter/guitarist Dave Gonzalez, landed some of its first shows at the Zoo in the early 2000s, for which Gonzalez thanked Larry Boehmer, the late Zoo Bar owner who booked the then-unknown band.
“He gave so many bands a chance, like our band,†Gonzalez said. “It wasn’t usual to have a country-style band playing the Zoo Bar then.â€
The Hacienda’s set also turned into a tribute to Chris Gaffney, the band’s original singer, who died in 2008, with Gonzalez saying that Gaffney sang like a blend of Ray Price, George Jones and Frank Sinatra and introducing “What’s Wrong with Right,†the title cut of their 2006 album, with this:
“I may have had a part in writing it, but it was Chris Gaffney reciting it. I’m going to do my best for you, big brother.â€
Gonzalez did just fine on the vocals and, as always, burned up the guitar, first a biting Telecaster, then a twanging Danelectro baritone on which he swapped licks, then played with steel guitarist Dave Berzansky, who’s one of top players of that instrument anywhere.
The result was 90 minutes of country, with a little soul and blues mixed in -- a style that unavoidably brought to mind Garth Brooks, whose Saturday Memorial Stadium concert forced ZooFest to move to Thursday and Friday nights.
That even occurred to Hill, who, in the middle of her set, said she made sure they’d make ZooFest because they were on the bill with the Haciendas.
“Garth Brooks would enjoy the Hacienda Brothers,†she said. “I know that for a fact.â€