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Did you attend the ZPZ show at the Ventura Theatre in Ventura?

Dweezil and the band love reading your reviews.

Please do not post in this thread if you did not attend the show.

Mikey
Zappa.com Webmeister

Yet another evening of the best in optional Zappa entertainment.

Dweezil opened by testing the expectations of the audience asking how many people came hoping to hear Billy The Mountain? After applause he asked who came expecting NOT to hear BTM? More applause, and much to Billy Hulting's disappointment DZ said they'd follow with the setlist in front of them.

And what followed was two and a half hours of fun.

Four new tunes all represented on tonight's setlist in Ventura. (and new riffs in the Pound For a Brown band solo sections including Run Home Slow).

Plus a bonus encore of Muffin Man (chosen over Willie the Pimp, but it was really close)

A personal fave was "Don't You Ever Wash That Thing."

I was there. Hope to see them again at a better venue.
Great show, monstrously good musicians. Was introduced to a lot of unfamiliar material. Very well executed, these musicians are all over it. IMO I could have done without so much improvisation on one- and two-chord progressions. No matter how good the playing and intricate the rhythms the jams got old fast and I found myself wanting more variety melodically and harmonically.
For the band's sake I hope the sound onstage was not nearly as horrible as it was in the house. No fault of the band, it's the same with every concert I've ever seen at this venue. WAY TOO LOUD. This venue was built in the 1920's for vaudeville. It's acoustically gorgeous. There's no need to crank the house sound to the point of pain for the concertgoer. The only way I could hear the musical nuances and understand the lyrics was to plug my ears.
I was fortunate to see FZ live at the Santa Barbara Bowl in the mid 1980's. Sound was perfect and the performance rich and memorable.

It was marvelous! A well-rounded set list that touched on several Zappa eras; evidenced by DZ's opening question posed to the audience: "Who wants to hear Billy the Mountain?" (cautious applause) "Who wants to hear anything BUT Billy the Mountain?" The latter option prevailed.

I largely agree with kll's assessment of the sound. It was too loud (but not distorted). However, the mix was good as all instruments and vocals were easily distinguished (except for Scheila's sax feature in Village of the Sun) -- and a pleasure to listen to.

ZPZ's extremely high (through the roof) level of musicianship allowing for note-faithful renditions of complex material was not lost on the appreciative crowd. It's challenging to cover material originally recorded by a variety of giants. Joe Travers' chops answered the call with an evening's worth of hard-hitting, tasty and fill-laden drumming that seemed to channel the best of Dunbar, Thompson, Humphrey, and Wackerman -- without distracting from the music. I recently watched a video that was recorded a couple of years ago where he held his own in a call & answer w/Bozzio -- so I knew there was hope. And his superb playing exceed my hopeful expectations.

One night is not enough. I left satisfied, but not full (like after the risotto). Another evening's set list peppered with gems from the '70s and '80s, and a touch of "What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body" would be wonderful. And why not broker a deal with Volman & Kaylan to do an "Eddie are you Kidding" walk-on?

While getting an after-show autograph from Dweezil, my friend thanked him for "Carolina" and "Muffin Man". "You're welcome" he graciously replied. You can't beat that.

Woo hoo, first post on this Forum.

The show last night in Ventura was great. I went with my brother and a friend both of whom are really into Zappa and prog music. We had a great spot right up front. I was one of the ones that cheered when Dweezil asked if we wanted to hear anything but Billy The Mountain. I also saw them at the Roxy in December, and they did BTM then. That song was unexpected and awesome, but I wanted to hear other stuff. Oh well, I lost the vote on Willie the Pimp.

Dweezil is such an incredible guitar player. I have been playing for quite some time myself and I just watch him play and shake my head. I just don't know how he can play so fast, flawless and melodic at the same time. He is really incredible and sets the bar really high for us wannabes out there. ;)

The other players are great too. I met Scheila Gonzales at NAMM this year and she was very very nice. The one thing I asked her was how the heck do you remember all that stuff for a whole show? She said it was due to a lot of practice. That must be true, but still commiting all that stuff to memory and hitting all those notes right on the money are just incredible feats of musicianship.

About the sound, yeah it was loud, but I ALWAYS wear earplugs now. It sounds better than you would think. Too many heavy metal concerts in the 80-90s did some damage, so I always wear earplugs at shows and even when I play gigs.

Both the Roxy show and last nights were incredible. It is impossible to say which was better. I know they have been at it for quite a while now, but I hope they keep this going for some time to come. I heard that they were planning a tour with Dream Theater over the summer. Now that would really be a treat seeing John Petrucci and Dweezil Zappa together. If that happens I plan to take my 14 year old daughter.... Dweezil said to spread the word among the younger generation.

Agree with the other posters about the sound quality. I did not think it was because it was too loud (no ear ringing for me afterwords), but the venue made it more challenging to get a good mix. Was muddy and boomy during the louder parts. But the quieter passages were very well mixed.

Cleetus was a great surprise. Loved Scheila doing double duty with the "Chunky" vocal part as well as the "Mystery Horn" solo, but of course we are all in love with Scheila and everything she does. Even heard some wolf whistles from the crowd directed at her at one point (you animals!). Another great pick from GW for potential future offerings would be Blessed Relief. I would also humbly suggest adding Gumbo Variations in there as well sometime (comes to mind as I like the take that Ed Palermo does of it on Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance).

Yes I voted for Muffin and against BTM. Sorry about that F&E fans. But we did get their version of Dog Breath as a nice consolation.

I guess we lucked out.

We stood right beside the stage right speaker stack (Scheila's side) and the sound was just how I like it. Clean and loud. Sounds like I made the right call upgrading from my balcony seat to the floor.

Second ZPZ show for me and I am still wobbly in the knees.

I can't say enough about how much these musicians care for their audience and for the music they are carrying forward. Dweezil, Scheila, Pete, Ray, all of you -- I want to reach out and give you guys a big wet kiss, but in lieu of that I will just say thank you. Thank you. You gave us humor, soul, heart and depth last night. And it was gratifying to see the band so attuned to the audience's rabid response.

Only downside is that I had to drive home to Los Angeles this morning and smash my guitars into tiny pieces, as what I do with my instruments clearly bears little resemblance to what I witnessed last night.

I will be back again and again to see ZPZ, for as long as they'll let us enjoy the ride.

First the dumb stuff. In my estimation just about any hall and sound system can get a rumble going through it. That's just the nature of loud energenically played rock. I didn't think the sound was "bad" at all. I was on the Sheila side, near the pit. However, I would LOVE to hear these guys play Nokia in LA; best sound in town along with DisneyHall.
Now the good stuff. I love Dweezils demeanor. He comes out with this no big deal attitude; kind of like he's arriving at a party and saying hi to all his friends. In a way he is! Black Page was butter smooth, and Dweezil's solo very masterful. The change in the last part of the song is always a thrill. I totally dug the segway-ing between Gas Station and Village of the Sun; I think they segwayed out of that as well, just put a really good flow to the start of the concert. Ray White added to the good time atmosphere, and his voice hasn't lost a thing; an inspiration to an aging (hobby) musician like myself. I don't remember what tune Dweezil did the pointing and molding the music thing, but it's always one of my favorite parts of the show. When he had Joe Travers hooting and the audience calling back was a gas! C'mon what rock star would do that? Dweez and the gang did it 'cause it's fun! Now the gang. Each and every one is the best I've ever heard. Take that monster Pete Griffin. Yeah, I've heard bass players that good, but there's times when he plays with such abandon you'd expect a little slop, but no, just crisp and clean and smooth all the way through, and my impression is some of it he just comes up with off the cuff. And Sheila, love the way she's just emersed all night, rockin', dancin, always sings with real conviction and perfect tone and attack. Same with her sax, keys and flute, like Pete, a lot of just go for it attitude and never a stumble; as much as any player I've EVER seen she rises to her best heights ON STAGE, while performing, that's just masterful musicianship. I flipped out when she picked up the flute, after not playing a note on it for like an hour, and just played perfectly. What a talent. And the love she has for what she's doing is easy to see. Nice to know all in the band are dedicated artists, with a love for Frank's music, a love of music, and a love of life that comes through in the shows. Thank you all for that. It's truly heartwarming. And I don't care how corny that sounds. It's nice to know in this crazy mixed up world of ours at least some people are doing their best to give the world a joyous feeling, a couple of hours of pure bliss, and abject unlimited FUN!
Can't believe how light Dweezils touch is at times on the guitar. He's playing at ninety decibles or so and it looks like he's barely touching the guitar. The two part Torture Never Stops solo was mind bending. Two part I say 'cause the first half was light and slidey while the last part was more hard bluesey feel. My fav solo from him on the night.
As for Frank. A night of his music is always a restart for the soul. Maybe it's because he incorporated so many different types of music in his that I'm left in a mood of being very accepting of the types of music I come across for the next few days. If it helps in explaining; today as I drove to work I popped on a Blues/R&B show. My brain just went "cool, this is good..." I flipped over to an upbeat reggae tune on another station; again my head just went "...nice; let's hear this..." I've noticed this before after hearing ZPZ. Frank's music as played by Dweezil and the band just puts you in the mood to hear many types of music and sounds and enjoy them to the fullest. For a time of course; before I reach for Waka Jawaka, or London Symphony... or Apostrophy... or ZPZ...or...
Thank you all. Musicians and FANS. And especially Dweezil; for keeping his dad's music alive in such a beautiful and classy way.

Wow! I'm just still evaluating and absorbing this show. Let me say I've seen ZPZ 4 times now and it just keeps becoming more and more clear that this music in some on the most well thought out, well played and just all around brilliant sound that can be heard/seen now. The solo in The Torture Never Stops was a real highlight. Everything seemed to really open up on that one, Also Caroline had this almost "Dweezil" moment that I've never heard before, I mean he is the man for channeling his fathers music so well but at this point , maybe it was me but I feel like he really opened up. So great to see! I think quite possibly this show was one of my all time favorite live events that I've seen and yes I plan on spreading the music message wide and far.... come one, come all, see ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA! (to see this band live is like no other.... ) Thank you to everyone who makes this possible.

Wow, another great show. How to break down the review of the show, which was so amazing I'm still processing it.
In December we went to the Roxy and it was so phenomenal the wife (who is not a complete Zappa fanatic, unlike myself) wanted to see them again.
In spite of the fact it was a great show at Ventura, we were a little disappointed with the sound quality, but we were in the balcony. From there we had an amazing view of how hard the band was working, and really appreciated that. It was great how much fun they were having. Scheila is incredible, beautiful & talented. We were disappointed at losing the vote for "Billy the Mountain", I kept my fingers crossed it would be the encore! The set list was great, samplings from much of Frank's many styles & eras, yet, and even though they didn't play all my personal favorites it was a great selection. The encore was great, especially when Billy had the other band members hitting the gong.
Maybe next year ZPZ could do two dates at each venue, and indicate which nights would include Billy the Mountain! But Frank did so many incredible songs, albums & tours over his career Dweezil will always put on a great set, and yet favorites will always be missing.
Dweezil & ZPZ members (Ray White, Joe, Jamie, Billy, Pete, Scheila, and Aaron) are just amazing and this tour should not be missed. A great show, tremendously talented group and I wish them all a great tour, and best of luck to all their fans worldwide.
We'll be waiting for your return!
Bruce

I'm so sorry I had to miss this show. I had two tickets for my 14 year old son and myself and because of a recent move to southern Oregon I was not able to make it but I will be at the Santa Cruz, Redding, Sacramento and Santa Rosa shows so all is WELL!!!

Loved the show AND the hall, despite some sound issues. I was front and center and the sound was not bad, but vocals were a little muffled (sometimes happens up front). I did hear a buzzzzzz when the bass got really low and loud (did someone mention that previously?) The band was really on! Ray and I had some great interplay during the show hitting the downbeats together through pantomime, motioning parts of the songs together and cracking up over each others antics. Nice intimate feel. Ray, if you read this, thanks for a good time. I FINALLY got a good shot of me and the Dweez. Thanks for being so gracious after your long night's work. I drove down from the Bay Area for the Roxy and he didn't come out after the show because he was too exhausted. I saw him open for Les Claypool (and left before LC's show), but Dweezil didn't circulate, because it wasn't his show. So, I drove to Ventura, got a great show, and a great photo. See you all in Santa Rosa next weekend. 4th show in 3 months, all with my girlfriend who is now hooked!

My 4th ZpZ show and it was great! I was very happy Dweezil asked the audience if they wanted to hear Billy The Mountain and they did not. I so prefer to hear more songs instead... I was bummed the audience wanted Muffin Man over Willie the Pimp, but the set was so perfect that I feel stupid for mentioning it...

Dweezil - Thanks for signing my ticket. It is very cool that you take care of your fans after 2 1/2 hours of rocking
Scheila Gonzalez - Thanks for taking the time to let my finance snap a photo of you and I!

Hey cookieduster,
Minor correction, but I believe Dweezil actually said, "Who came here hoping to here everything BUT Billy the Mountain?"
I had to admit (asamedly) that I was in that camp. Although I love love love BTM, I had seen it twice recently and wanted to hear some of the stuff he played at Las Vegas that I hadn't heard yet.
I voted for Willie the Pimp, but got outvoted by the Muffin Man folks. I was not that disappointed.
By the way, Ray, your singing on the Torture Never Stops was most excellent. In fact, your singing on all songs is great and it's nice to hear how you sound on stuff that you didn't sing with FZ.

I stand corrected, "Anything BUT Billy..." is a better quote.

For my penance, here's a couple point and shoots of the band.

btw: In the San Diego HOB thread someone posted "These folks are playing largely by memory - you don't see a lot of sheet music on stage..."

Largely? Make that always playing by memory. I've never seen a sheet on stage. That's pretty f'ing incredible.