28 thoughts on “Zappa Plays Zappa II: On The Road Again”

  2. I’m seeing them this Friday in Chicago, so if no one responds before then, I’ll give you my opinion/review.

  6. WHOA!!!!!

    Erie PA show has been cancelled!!! ZPZ playing Pittsburgh the same night!!! Even better still!!!!!

    Thanks KUR

  9. Hey All,

    Just got back from the show. It was amazing to say the least. Seeing as this was my first ever “Frank” show despite having been listening for 19 + years I was pretty pumped up to see the show. Dweezil and co. didn’t disappoint covering a wide range of material from all aspects of Frank’s catalog. Ray White was stellar and in fine form.

    Here’s the set list the best I can remember (I might have forgotten a song or two).

    Echidna’a Arf (Of You) – Killer Opener, the band nailed it.
    My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama
    Black Napkins – With Frank, MTV 81 footage
    Son of Susy Creamcheese
    Brown Shoes Don’t Make It
    Pygmy Twylyte – the Quaalude Thunder rendition as Dweezil called it, also featuring a great Dweezil solo

    Ray White then came on and the band absolutely killed the place starting with:

    City Of Tiny Lights
    Cheepnis
    Carolina Hard Core Ecstasy
    Montana – With Frank singing + guitar solo, KTLA 7? footage
    Uncle Remus – First live performance of this song ever by any FZ band, pretty cool.
    What’s New In Baltimore
    Dupree’s Paradise – All band members solo with Dweezil doing the “hand signal improv” with the band, Joe Travers got a big laugh twirling his sticks while pounding out some double kick frenzy. Also featured lounge style quotes from Ray of Dyna Mo Hum and Easy Meat. One of the highlights of the show for me.
    Illinois Enema Bandit – Standing O for Ray on this one. Also a great Dweezil solo.
    Joe’s Garage
    Dumb All Over – With Frank singing + guitar solo, MTV 81 footage
    San Ber’dino
    Wild Love
    Yo’ Mama

    End of Concert.

    Encore:

    Cosmik Debris – With Frank KTLA 7? footage. Frank sings and vamps (!) behind Dweezil for the first solo before taking a solo for himself, pretty cool.
    Muffin Man – With Frank, Baby Snakes footage
    G-Spot Tornado – Final song and it was stunning. The other highlight of the show for me.

    That’s it for now. All of you who have tickets are in for a real treat.

    mack73. \m/

  10. Now that makes September seem a long time from now. Mixing Frank with the new band? That is sick ‘n’ slick.

    And Yo’ Mama live. I reach my ‘end of words’ here.

  11. thanks, mack73, but when you say that this is the first time Uncle Remus is played by a FZ band….. this isn’t a FZ band! Just a (great)tribute band however much Dweezil might like it to be otherwise.

    Did Dweezil actually say that on stage, or are those your words?

  12. ^^^
    Nor is it the first live performance…

    27-Feb 1988, Royal Oak Theater, Detroit, MI
    135 min, Aud, B+
    Voter Reg, Stinkfoot, Andy, Inca Roads, Uncle Remus, Outside Now, Disco Boy, Teenage Wind, Truck Driver Divorce, Packard Goose Medley, Eat That Question, Black Napkins, Find Her Finer, Who Needs The Peace Corps?, Norweigan Wood, King Kong, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Joe’s Garage, Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?, Montana, City Of Tiny Lights, Pound For A Brown, I Am The Walrus, Crew Slut

    Guess Dweezil should have done his home work.

  13. Regarding Uncle Remus live for the first time ever, those were Dweezil’s words. Also one song I forgot to include in my post last night was Willie The Pimp.

    mack73.

  14. Didn’t Zappa fuck up during one part of the Black Napkins MTV solo? I’m assuming ZPZ cut that part out of the performance.

  15. I was at the show last night in Winnipeg as well and I have no problem saying, that was the BEST concert I’ve ever seen! And I’ve seen Pink Floyd and the Stones. ZPZ dosen’t rely on stage gimicry to keep you interested, it’s all pure musicianship. The sound was awesome. I couldn’t believe that 3 hours had passed by the end of the concert. Also Dweezil has Frank’s guitar right down! Ray White, incredible voice. That chick he has playing wind…..HOT(she plays mean whoopie cushion as well) Anyways, incredible show!

  17. re: Frank messing up the Black Napkins MTV version, after the solo he plays the main riff a bit too early before the band and holds the last note to make up for it, but i’ve heard that solo so many times i don’t notice it as a mistake!

  19. Everybody makes mistakes, It’s called being human. Frank’s mistakes are better than most of the “popular” crap thats out there anyway!

  20. i can’t say how thrilled i am that version of black napkins will fill a whole auditorium, rather just coming out of my shitty pc speakers! can’t waaaaaaaaaait! must wait. :)

    due to sods law, they will probably not do it that at the london gig now!
    don’t say it’s so !!

  21. Frank Zappa never made mistakes (just necessary momentary improvizations — which, by the way, sounded just fantastic to me).

  22. Regarding Uncle Remus live for the first time ever, those were Dweezil’s words. Also one song I forgot to include in my post last night was Willie The Pimp.

    mack73.

    Yes Mack I figured that was where you got it, hence my saying that Dweezil should have done his homework. :O)

  23. “the helsinki concert”: anyone cares about being actually three concerts together?
    I can’t see Dweezil saying to the audience “this is the first time a zappa band plays Uncle Remus… oh no, wait wait, it has been played one time in 1988” it is useful?

  24. it was performed in 1973 & 1975 too, according to Foggy G’s page..

    C’mon Dweezil, you need to be more Authentic. hehe.

  25. My wife just got me two tickets to the August 23 show at the Wiltern in Los Angeles for the second straight year. I can’t begin to explain how excited I am about this. My Guitar and and Joe’s Garage. I’m so fucking stoked.

  26. Review of Pittsburgh ZPZ concert, , 25 July 2007
    Byham Theater ~ 7:40 to 10:20 PM EDT

    A fine fun evening. Overall, this is a skilled cover band that has a lot of fun on stage and enjoys one another. They do things pretty straight and there is no sudden launching of a piece into reggae style or meltdown or complex interpolations of hand-signaled motifs in tunes, compared to FZ bands. Dweezil was gracious and visibly moved by the reception. After about 10 tunes there was lots of audience movement for the rest of the concert, middle-aged overweight men with enlarged prostates – whole rows of them standing up “like waves of whales” according to my friend Pat, presumably going out to wheedle on the bingo cards before returning to their seats in a reverse display of the same whale wave.
    Very loud amplification and rather distorted sound, especially in the first half. Somewhat better in 2nd half, not so much distortion.
    Dynamics limited overall, compared to FZ bands generally. Drumming not particularly inspired or flashy, but solid and always there holding things together. An incredibly irritating guy in row O behind us was constantly yelling random words to upcoming lyrics, for no intelligent reason, but he was ear-splitting and rather amazing in his projection, given the volume the band was playing at. We put in earplugs, mostly to screen out this occasional sound vandal.

    There were several sections featuring FZ playing guitar or doing lead vocals or both, via video projection behind the band. His vocal presence was riveting, as was his dominating guitar presence. This worked well but reminded us that the FZ bands were generally a cut above in their command of the material.

    It was good to see men, women, and some kids and teenagers, though latter two categories certainly in the minority. Pat heard one son ask his dad “what’s an enema” while walking out of the theatre.

    Order of concert:

    1. Black Napkins
    (with FZ 1981 MTV footage playing solo in red jumpsuit)
    Sheila Gonzalez & Joe Travers on “wee-ooh” vocal parts

    2. My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama
    Dweezil, lead vocal

    3. Echidna’s Arf
    very cleanly done

    double bass brought on stage for Pete Griffin to play during a medley:

    4. Son of Suzy Creamcheese
    (Scheila, Lead Vocal)

    5. Brown Shoes Don’t Make it
    (Travers, Lead Vocal, Dweezil later)
    12 tone serial section faithfully done with arco bass

    6.America Drinks and Goes Home
    (Dweezil lead vocal; Scheila appears with blonde wig as cocktail waitress, she and percussionist Billy Hulting drank all the imaginary drinks; walking bass. Caravan with a drum solo promised for tomorrow night.)

    7. City of Tiny Lights
    (Ray White, lead vocal; Dweezil guitar solo on a Gibson SG)

    8. Pygmy Twilite
    (especially apposite as the “Green Hocker in a Greyhound Locker” was an actual artifact orginating in Pittsburgh at the Greyhound station). Tasty rhythm guitar by Ray White.

    9. Montana
    (with FZ ’74 vocal from Dub Room special, and a Gibson SG guitar solo)

    10. Cheepnis
    (Ray white, lead vocal)

    11. Advance Romance
    (Ray White, lead vocal; 1st guitar solo, Ray White, wnd by Dweezil, followed by trading 4’s between them)

    12. Dumb All Over
    (FZ vocal from 1981 MTV footage, then FZ playing a guitar solo sitting down)

    13. What’s New in Baltimore?
    (Dweezil says, “I don’t know, we’re in Pittsburgh”)

    14. Dupree’s Paradise
    (solo order Schella alto sax (in 7), vibes over slap bass & drums, in 7; Aaron Arntz melodica solo over walking bass in four; Dweezil signals “3” and Jamie Kime plays lead solo over 6/8 riff derived from “Packard Goose”; Dweezil signals “4” and bass solo over “Heavy duty Judy” riff. Dweezil asks the audience to suggest an original song title for the next section, somebody comes up with “Don’t Make Me Roll Over'”, and band launches into a set of gospel changes where Ray White improvises lyrics based on this theme. Followed by drum solo over the same gospel beat.)

    15. Uncle Remus
    (Ray White, lead vocal)

    16. Willie the Pimp
    (Ray, lead vocals putting on sunglasses and sniny silver watch; more ’69 arrangement than ’84 band arrangement)

    17. Joe’s Garage
    (Ray, lead vocals. Flashing blue and red roving spotlights when the police are called late in the song).

    18. Wind up Working in a Gas Station
    (Ray White and Scheila on excelent vocals in a Bianco-White-Bozzio band type arrangement)

    19. San Bern’dino
    (White vocals; Scheila on harmonica and cowbell)

    20. The Illinois Enema Bandit
    (Ray, excellent lead vocal. DZ a very tonally twisted guitar solo with harmonizer, and finally some subtle dynamics from the band in backing this one. Travers gave the lawyer’s trial speech. At the end, Ray said “Potato-headed bobby” correctly, then said “No, Potato-tated bobby”. Thus not quite reverse simulating his “Pa-heada-tated” gaffe on Zappa in New York.

    21. Wild Love
    (man, what a hard tune. Scheila on lead vocal)

    22. Yo Mama
    (Sound better now. Main vocal by Dweezil. Fine extended solo section by Dweezil. Amazing marimba playing by Hulting. Good if not perfect playing by Arntz and Gonzalez tracking the Tommy Mars keyboard parts).

    Band intros, band offstage. Then encores:

    23. Cosmik Debris
    (FZ vocal from Dub room special, then FZ playing rhythm guitar and seeming to listen during excellent Dweezil solo. Then excellent FZ vocal, and guitar solo on the video projection.

    24 G-Sport Tornado
    (They played this well; some impressive hocketing of parts)

    25. Muffin Man
    (Ray White, vocal; Guitar solo from FZ Baby Snakes video concert)

    Bows all around, concert end.

  28. RICK WOOD wrote…
    23. Cosmik Debris
    (FZ vocal from Dub room special, then FZ playing rhythm guitar and seeming to listen during excellent Dweezil solo. Then excellent FZ vocal, and guitar solo on the video projection.

    -I don’t know about other performances, but last night in Cleveland Heights, OH the FZ video performance was *NOT* the Dub Room Special version. It’s from the same show, yes, but a different, unreleased, performance than appears on DRS — different vocal, different guitar solo.

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