A finnish article about the ’74 show in Helsinki:
Zappa had in Helsinki, Finland two concerts on September 22, 1974 (famous Helsinki concerts, YCDTOSA vol. 2). Short concert review (“Voihan Zappa!” is on page 89). Before that on September 17 Zappa made a PR trip to Helsinki, described in the main article together with an interview (pp 24-31). The day before concert on September 21 Frank and Gail Zappa attended a wedding in Helsinki, which is included into the main article too. Their wedding present was a cappella performance of Approximate. A lot of funny pictures!
PS. Another nice article in English describing these events (and more) is Frank Zappa in Finland.
Nice article, it’s on afka.net (found on the site FZ in Hugrary).
It seems that FZ’s music had always received a much friendlier reception in Europe (the very same can be said for Beefheart’s music, too) than anywhere else in the early 1970s. Perhaps this had more to do with the upheaval between generations following the second world war, and their readiness to embrace FZ and his music, while back in the USA and Canada he and his band and music were embraced initially by “freaks”.
I always thought that the “shish kebob incident” would have made good fodder for a song, or at least a “Room Service” mention, but perhaps Zappa was embarrassed by his “greedy” meat grab ;):
“One incident worth mentioning is the supper in restaurant Saslik, where he first slightly burned his fingers, when grabbing a shish kebob too greedily. He then immediately stuck his sore fingers in a glass of icy Coca Cola and made a terrible scene.”…
j’pas
I hear ya, barbsonn; maybe i should have just quoted “Willie The Pimp”: HOT MEAT!