Zappa plays Zappa


I am off to the show tomorrow night and thought I would see if anyone has been to see it? I will be attending the Jubilee hall in Calgary where the sound is awsome and I am 3rd row in the orchestra section. What are your thoughts on the show??
ghost_rider
Saw them here in Louisville some six months back. Really a great show. Set within 10 rows. The sound overloaded the theater on several occasions. The Palace Theater which is an oppulent ornate theater from the 1920's could use some acoustic clouds added to its sky filled ceiling. You may want to bring along some ear protection

Heard from others that different locations had an opening video history of Frank and several different guest artists. May be another great suprise Tom
I've seen ZPZ three times, once at the Hummingbird in Toronto and twice in Montreal. I also saw FZ seven times, suffice to say I'm a huge fan.

This ZPZ tour is really cool cuz they often cut away and FZ plays lead, our hero projected on a screen while the band plays on. The concert lasts about 2.5 hours, yer in for lot of fun. Videos can be found here:

http://www.zappa.com/zpz/videos.html
I saw Dweezil on Conan a feww weeks back and he played 'Willie the Pimp' (from Hot Rats album) and he is incredible! Sounded quite a bit like Frank.

I would see him in a heartbeat...

ENJOY!
I saw the show this year & last year & had a hella good time,the music was great & sounded very much what FZ sounded like when he was being serious.

Last year Napolean Murphy Brock, Steve Vai & Terry Bozzio were the guest performers,this years show had Ray White which was real cool,his vocals were spot on & brought back alot of memories,he did an excellent job on The Illinois Ennema Bandit.

Bring a few extra bucks,there is lotsa goodies at the concession stand,i bought my wife a pair of neon pink hot pants with the FZ moustache logo where the top of the bush would be : )
saw them at the warner in d.c. last year. positively fantastic! i had the chance to see frank twice. by comparison, dweezil and company actually play entire songs, whereas fz tended to skip around, not really getting through songs completely... if you read dweezil's own words, it's interesting to hear him talking about having to relearn the guitar to pull this off, which is pretty amazing, considering he is and has been an accomplished guitarist for some time.
they have been doing this for at least a year and a half now, so i'm sure it's as good as it can be. no one can play zappa like zappa! savor every note! the set list was just sick, they played everything i could have hoped for, and more. the young musicians in the band are just great, and so enthusiastic, it's simply amazing to behold...maybe the best part of the whole thing, seeing the grins on the faces of the band as they work. fz's songs are not easy to play, and the band pulls it off with aplomb and zeal.
Well, I saw the show last night and it was awsome. Ray White was the special guest and man the guy has a great voice. When they broke into a version of Dorean I practically jumped out of my seat. I am now off to the amazon site to see if he has played with anyone else or even perhaps.... a sole effort.

Cheers and thanks for all the imput.
I hope you don't mind me chiming in. I'm totally unfamiliar with Frank Zappa's music, and you are all such knowledgable fans, so I was wondering if you could suggest 2-3 disks that would properly introduce me to the man and his music.
One Size Fits All.

Great, challenging music with humor without being too crude and sophmoric.
Rosedanny,

There are many different styles of Zappa, what type of music do you like.

My personal Zappa favorites are The Grand Wazoo and Hot Rats. Very musical, somewhat jazzy but not hard to listen to and enjoy, no overly silly lyrics, fantastic guitar....
Rosedanny - Shiek Yer Booty, Joe's Garage, Just another band from LA, Shiek Yer Booty.

Wildoats - I agree. I've seen FZ three times and listened to Dweezil on TV and a live album. His guitar playing is pretty good but it ain't his Daddy's by any stretch of the imagination. I think people tend to give the kids a break, which is fine as far it goes. Sean Lennon, Wolfgang Van Halen, Dylan's son, and Dweezil - get real. The best you can say is they're listenable.

regards, David
Rosedanny Hot Rats is my favorite - Overnight Sensation and Apostrophe are both fun to listen and quite good as well.

Wireless - I think Dweezel is a very good guitarist but what do I know? I agree Frank Zappa was in a league of his own...

sorry to highjack your thread Ghostrider
No problem Philjolet, I am enjoying the conversationl. I think Jazz from Hell and Zoot Allures are on the top of my list these days. Also the lost episodes are interesting.
Saw them in akron ohio in 2007. Lineup included Steve Vai Terry Bozzio and Napoleon Murphy Brock. After the 3 hour concert I was exhausted (in a good way). One of the best Zappa shows I've ever seen (saw Frank about a dozen times).
We're Only In It For The Money
Hot Rats
Overnight Sensation
Apostrophe

And for fun try "Weasels Ripped My Flesh".
I love FZ's first album (1966), "FREAK OUT"!
All the other albums you guys mentioned are also amazing.
For the ones who are curious and unfamiliar to his music, "Strictly Commercial" and "Strictly Genteel" are great starting points. Then you can hunt down those albums containing your favourite tracks from these 2...
On a somewhat related topic, is there a good vinyl pressing of Overnite Sensation? I've bought two different versions off of ebay with very disappointing results.

They are easily the worst recorded/mastered records in my entire vinyl collection.

I also have Apostrophe and Joe's Garage on vinyl. Even though they're only so-so recordings, they're masterpieces compared to my copies of Overnite Sensation.
rosedanny... You should definately hear "Orchestral Favorites" and the splendid "Yellow Shark", Frank's last recording. "Grand Wazoo" and "Waka Jawaka" are excellent too. If you ever get a chance to listen to "Blessed Relief" (If I recall correctly its the last instrumental on the Grand Wazoo album) I think you'll be blown away...what a gorgeous piece.
I think the sad thing is that the Zappa family has stopped anyone else from performing Zappa's music. For that reason alone I wouldn't see Dweezil the weasel. Frank would not be happy about this development.