Zappa.com

Did you attend the ZPZ show at Capitol in Offenbach?

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

Hi Fellows..
what to say, it was my first (but for sure not my last) ZPZ Concert.
Music was performed just fantastic - sound was great (i have to admit, after changing place i ended up right in front of the Speaker on the right side of the stage - that was loud(!).
Since the venue was moved to the Batschkapp, Frankfurt and didn't take place in the Capitol in Offenbach we had to face an overcrowded place (to my understanding) - did anyone talk to the firemarshall?
After leaving the hall after two songs (i had to get out - no room - no air left), the security guided me (and some other folks) to a side door directly in front of the stage (by some miracle there was some space and air left).
Looking at the size of the Batschkapp vs. the Capitol it looks as a lot more tickets were sold than for the Batschkapp usually acceptable. However.. after changing the place i had the chance of really enjoying a great concert, so close to everyone on stage! exceptional!!
Dweezil - you do have a very fine group of folks with you on stage - and - looking at the atmosphere you all reflected it seemed that you did had a lot of fun on stage.
Your new singer, outstanding! --> Great Job Ben - like your megaphon solo!!!

Also, thanks for signing the shirt and DVD :-)

i sure will see you again...
m

Hey all,

We went to watch my lil' brothers 2nd show with ZPZ last night at the Batschkapp in Frankfurt-Main last night and had an awesome time. We got there early enough to be at the stage and as we heard later there was oddly a lot more room to breath up front than in the back.

It was a great show and I am really thrilled that Ben gets to play with such a fantastic group of talented musicians. My wife and I were surrounded my lots of diehard Zappa fans and we realized we have a LOT of catching up to do on the subject Zappa =).

Great the way each musician in the group gets to really let loose on their own solos and even Ben got to jam on the megaphone!

I know it is gonna be a very satisfying and successful tour for the band! Good luck to you guys (and Scheila) and have fun!

Thanks to the band for taking a few minutes after the show to introduce themselves to us and we are looking forward to avidly reading peoples thoughts about each show!

Jeff & Katrin

So disappointed by the whole thing. It was frustrating to have waited for so long to go there (we bought our tickets 2 months in advance) to arrive and just feel claustrophobic in such a small place. We had to leave because me and my wife couldn’t see anything, couldn’t even move 2cm. It even felt dangerous with so many people so tight. I was not as not as lucky as you mojo43, it would have been great if someone would have guided us to a place with more space (if there was any) when we were leaving. We left with a terrible feeling, just felt robbed really.

I am sorry to say this in this forum because I am sure the show was great. But I didn't even heard the first song, we just couldn't stay in there for one more minute! If they decided to change locations then they should have planned according to the capacity of the new place. You wouldn't expect these kind of things happen in Germany these days.

I've heard great things about this show. A pity we missed it just due to bad organisation.

Bryan

Hello,

this was my first ZPZ concert and the best concert of FZ's music since the '88 tour.

I was in front of the stage (~ 3m) near the door where mojo43 came in and here it seemed not so overcrowded to me.
Enough room for dancing and jumping and singing along ..

Mr. Ben Thomas did a very good job !!!! I enjoyed that so much, especially his "Beefheart style Willie the pimp". (later i read he was in the band for only one week, i could not believe).

THanks so much to DZ and all the members of the RTC for this great concert!
The only thing i missed was the marimba/percussion set, but i hope the player will join again soon.

So we meet again next week in Munich, i hope with some sort of percussion and .... Mr. Thomas singing about the Inca Roads ;)

Herbert

I have not liked the concert because all this what Frank Zappa puts out only in attempts was to be seen or to be heard. Dweezil and his band worked like a group of schoolchildren which had rehearsed everything well, but did not touch the real core. The spontaneous (at the example of the counterfeit finger signs of Dweezil) looked wooden. The virtuosity limited itself to nice guitar sounds, dull Saxofonsolos (as moderately as Napoleon Murphy Brock-Solos from which on FZ records appeared while still alive none finds itself for the future generations the archived) as well as pointless bass inserts which prove only one form, but (still) no contents. The humor was easy and copied so obviously that he tasted bad, like a joke which one gets over and over again anew told.

The musicians were elated of course about every doubt. Indeed, the drummer (the very weighty FZ archive leader Joe Travers) is just no Vinnie Colaiuta or Chad Wackerman. The same can be said for the bassist, for the second guitarist and for the keyboards and saxplayer Sheila Gonzalez whom just no Bianca (the second singer beside Ray White is for a few weeks in 1976).
Only the new Leadsinger, Ben Thomas, was impressive. Indeed, his abilities were not really used. With this voice which sounds good powerfully and even almost loud still songs from very short Ricky Lancelotti-Area (1973) first-class would have fitted. As well the songs from Joe's Garage Act 2 and 3 would have come.

Frank Zappa just play time is not possible actually because the original owns a quality which is to be reached extremely hard and worries us as Zappa fans also so or arouses enthusiasm over and over again. One can try to adapt Zappa in other arrangements new clothes (for example, Gangster Fun a ska version of "Dirty Love"). One can parry this quality by his unique virtuosity (for example, Adrian Belew on his last tour "City of Tiny Lights") One can produce about textual changes (for example, Ostbahn Kurti „Bertel Braun“) an actuality. Or one simply asks Ali N. Askin (Zappa arranger for Yellow Shark) who arranged some Zappa pieces for the blow quartet Cologne. Here a lot fitted and the abovementioned defects were circumnavigated capably (12.03.09 live in the Musikaus Dortmund; on the german radio -Deutschlandfunk- 14.05.09).

Maybe some answer that I am to mad, but if it is about Frank Zappa, the best just feels well enough, and Dweezil is level only Dweezil, the son of the master.

PS:
As already on top mentioned, the Batschkapp for the crowd was too small.
The sound felt well - like almost always there-.

The best record of Dweezil is in my opinion his first one: „Havin' A Dad Day“, because there join in also Scott Thunes and Chad Wackermann, and dad Zappa has produced them.

And still what.
Dweezil is able to do all that much better if he makes this what he is able to do also.
I have seen him with "Z" (Ahmet Zappa, Mike Keneally, Scott Thunes and a drummer) about 1993 in just this Batschkapp. It was a cool concert, even if only before about 50 people. They played among other things the legendary 60-90th medleys and there was there exactly that what I had missed on Sunday. The music and the show were witty, spontaneous and virtuoso, and it was played even within the 70s years medleys for a few seconds Frank Zappa: "I'm the Slime".

Karsten
Germany, Frankfurt am Main

i ve been to the show too and have to admit i had mixed feelings about the whole zpz project. i m a huge fan of franks music and bought the zpz dvd a few weeks ago but didnt like it that much. i went to frankfurt to meet other zappa fans since i feel like an alien over here cuz nobody shares my frank-obsession *lol*

ok first of all the place was a poor choice people were packed like sardines. i wasnt able to breathe once in a while and had to leave my place in the 5 th row after 20 min to get some fresh air.
thank god i could stay behind the bar so i was still able to listen to the show ;) *thanxxx to the batschkapp-team*
i think dweezil and his band did a gr8 job, hes an amazing guitar player and the new singer fits perfectly. they just played franks music, dweezil didnt try to copy his father and thats the way it should be and one of the reasons i liked the concert. no one can replace frank and his carismatic stage presence. i ve never had the chance to see him live cuz i m too young ( i was born 78, i m totally fucked !!!! ) always getting really jealouse when i watch my live dvds.
i dont regret i drove all the way to frankfurt cuz it was a wonderful experience to have his music back on stage ;)

thanxxx to dweezil & his band

greetz do

Is there a setlist of this event ??

ty


Herbert