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Did you attend the ZPZ show at Turning Stone Casino in Syracuse?

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

Dweez, I like the pants.

First time seeing ZPZ and had an excellent time. I hope this band continues for some time to come.

What can I say about the concert? Greatest concert I've been to. Best $40 I've spent in my life. 40 bucks got me a front row seat where Scheila was about 1 foot away from me, autographs and pictures with Dweezil, Scheila, Ben Thomas, and an awesome show. Some songs I remember are Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy, Montana, Inca Roads, Black Page 1 and 2 (Ben's an awesome dancer!), Cosmik Debris, Zomby Woof, and Dont Eat the Yellow Snow. Right before they started the first song of the encore, Dweezil came out and said they are going to do something they've never done before, and played the guitar part of "Beat It", which went into Purple Lagoon. The concert lasted about 2 hrs 45 mins. Very great.

If you have the chance to see these guys in concert, just do it. It will be the time of your life. You can even meet Dweezil after it!

I had a very enjoyable evening at the Turning Stone Casino last night! It's always great to hear FZ's music played live. I was very happy to hear Echidna's Arf/Don't You Ever Wash That Thing. I also enjoyed some of the tunes I didn't expect to hear like Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy, Bamboozled By Love, Wind Up Workin' In A Gas Station, and Outside Now which was terrific! I loved the guitar solo on that one! Also Jamie Kime's killer solo on Pound For A Brown.

Ben Thomas and Sheila Gonzalez sound great together. Sheila has the lowest voice I've ever heard in a female body! The encore medley was cool! Did I hear some Purple Lagoon in there? I thought I heard some Pink Floyd earlier leading up to Joe Travers' drum solo. Run Like Hell, I think? Yeah, the percussion really does it for me. I love great drummers! Joe's DW kit sounded awesome, and Billy is a maniac on the mallets an assorted percussion.

Next to Barack Obama and FZ, Dweezil is the coolest, most relaxed person I've ever seen on stage. Thanks for turning up your guitar on Willie The Pimp. I have to say, even when the overall volume was at it's loudest, it never hurt my ears. The sound of the band was fat and full with plenty of low end. There were a couple of muddy spots, but for the most part it sounded very good!

I live just 35 miles from this casino, but hardly ever go there. I must say it is a very impressive sprawling structure. It's like being at a huge new airport. The place must be worth a couple billion dollars! Dweezil commented positively on the venue. All I can say is, com'n back. I had a great time!

Technically it's Verona NY, not Syr. :-)

Awesome show. I always enjoy concerts at that venue, and this was no exception. Super talented players playing the amazingly cool and inventive music of FZ. What more could you ask for? Except Scheila's phone number. :-)

Chiming in again. This is an attempted from memory set list. I'm sure some of these are out of order.

Magic Fingers
Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy
Montana
Echidna's Arf/Don't You Ever Wash That Thing
The Black Page
Inca Roads
Pound For A Brown
Bamboozled By Love
Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up-by request
Outside Now
Village Of The Sun
Wind Up Workin' In A Gas Station
Drum Solo
San Ber'dino
Cosmik Debris
Zomby Woof

Encore:
Beat It(excerpt)
Purple Lagoon
Don't Eat The Yellow Snow
Willie The Pimp

One final note. I noticed several young parents at the show with their kids. This is the best insurance of a future progressive music scene and audience. I'm sure there were a few 10-12 year olds in attendance who got a wonderful taste of what a highly skilled ensemble sounds like. It beats the shit out of a drum machine!

Dang.

Joe Travers is an absolute beast.

The set had a lot of long solo sections, including fifteen minutes of Inca Roads and a 25+ minute Pound for a Brown. I turned to my wife in the middle of Pound and told her that the band must be "trying to keep that idiot vocalist off the stage." Apparently, I'm the only person on the entire forum and audience who doesn't like what he was doing. It seemed to me like Dweezil was scowling at him for most of the show. Then again, maybe Dweezil was just playing the guitar...which was a complete pleasure to hear.

The concert was great for my wife and me both. I finally got to see a live Zappa show after 20 years of buying albums, and she said that she appreciates the music a lot more now that she's seen it played live compared to my mutilating it in the car. She really liked Bamboozled by Love, but I was really glad to hear all that stuff from Onstage #2, my favorite album by far.

It was interesting to watch the cues during the Pound for a Brown solos. Dweezil would put three fingers in the air, Joe would hit his sticks together three times a few seconds later, and the solo would continue for another couple of minutes. It was amazing how many people were talking through Schelia's sax solo and what they missed.

Our seats were great, even though we "only" got tickets for the "balcony"--about six feet up and right behind the sound board. Even though the seats were packed in tight, it was really comfortable. We could see everything, hear everything, and enjoy everything.

For never having played "Beat It" before, the band did a great job of going from that into Purple Lagoon. They gave the impression that they could have played for hours more, even after a 2 3/4 hour concert.

Here's the set list as I have it:

Magic Fingers
Carolina Hard Core Ecstasy
Montana
Village of the Sun/Echidna's Arf/Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?
Black Page #1 and #2
Inca Roads
Pygmy Twylyte
Bamboozled by Love
Pound for a Brown
Wind Up Working in a Gas Station
Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up
Outside Now
Cosmik Debris

Beat It/Purple Lagoon
Zomby Woof
Don't Eat the Yellow Snow
Willie the Pimp

The tickets were a Father's Day present from my two-year old daughter Laney. She's a really good kid, even if she does not like it when I try to sing along with Chunga's Revenge.

I hope the band comes back to Central New York again on the next tour.

just a short reply to shockmaindave. I was concerned whether or not Ben Thomas could live up to the previous vocalist's that have tried to sing Frank's tunes and personally I feel he did a fine job.Once he learns a few more tunes maybe you'll change the way you feel. As far as his antics on stage humor does belong in music after all. By the way, check out all the albums that made up those YCDTOSA albums if you haven't already and you just might find you have a new favorite or two.On that note Dweezil if you happen to read this the show was excellent and please keep your promise and come back soon.

This was a Great show!!!I had the pleasure to see Dweezil in Burlington Vt last year and again....the show was unbelievable!!!
Hope they come back to Syracuse/Verona again!!!!!

@Riveratpat: Thanks for the tip, but my first album was the YCDTOSA sampler on vinyl in '87. You're right though. I thought The Helsinki Concert was going to be too esoteric, but I think it's the best album he ever made.

It wasn't the cavorting onstage that bothered me; it was the singing. But then I read what the circumstances were surrounding his joining the band on Dweezil's blog. Given that, well done. No one will ever confuse him with Ike/Ray/Napolean (go ahead, flame away at the obviousness of that statement) but it was still well done given that he had a week to rehearse before going and and performing in front of a bunch of a-holes like me.

Again, the band needs to come back or I need to get out of Central New York. Great show. I look forward to many more. Maybe Dweezil can work Vanity into a future show?...