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Did you attend the ZPZ show with Dream Theater at the Chevrolet Theatre in Wallingford?

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

I just got back from the ZPZ/DT show and the bottom line is: It was awesome. I'll have a more thorough review later, but for now here's the setlist for those interested:

-An Atonal version of Happy Birthday (it was Scheila's birthday)
-I Am The Slime
-Purple Lagoon/Approximate
-Montana
-Village of the Sun
-Echidna's Arf (of You)
-Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?
-Magic Finger
-Carolina Hardcore Ecstacy
(The Twilight Zone Theme, more on this later)
-My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama
-Inca Roads
-Filthy Habits (band solos including The Grand Wazoo)
-Willie The Pimp

DT's set was:

-The Psycho theme (intro music)
-A Nightmare To Remember
-Beyond This Life
-Hollow Years (with extended intro... really extended)
-A Rite of Passage
-The Dance of Eternity
-One Last Time
-Forsaken
-Keyboard Solo
-Sacrificed Sons
-Encore: The Count of Tuscany

This was the first time I EVER heard the music of Frank Zappa! The entire band had an amazing talent level I have rarely seen in recent years. Thank You for a very enjoyable evening of entertainment!

It was a pleasure to once again return to see ZPZ at
the Chevrolet Theater in Wallingford CT. This place
has a very large room size not much different than an arena.
Given the acoustical landscape the musicianship and engineering team of
Zappa Plays Zappa did a very good job getting the music to sound very good.
While Big Elf also had good sound unfortunately Dream Theater' sound was extremely disappointing
where after a few tunes it was time to call it a night. Don't get me wrong, Dream Theater has wonderful musicianship
but 25 minutes into their performance each and every person in our party knew it was time to leave.

So getting down to the Zappa Plays Zappa portion for the program.
It was Scheila Gonzalez's birthday so the band opened with their Atonal
version of Happy Birthday before going into I'm The Slime which presently
has Billy Hulting in part singing at the front of the stage with mike in hand.
While traditional hard core Zappa fans may very well prefer a guitar instrumental
to start the show I found the dialog and overall composition of I'm The Slime an immediate eye catcher
for those who may not be all that familiar with FZs work. Not that Apostrophe(') or in the case of yesterday evenings
Atonal Happy Birthday does not catch the eyes and ears but given this limited show length, why not,
there was definitely plenty enough solos in the program
that has been definitive in the definition of Prog Rock for the last 5 decades.
For example it does not matter how many times I see ZPZ do Inca Roads, DZs solos
continue to delve in FZs tonalities from KCETV & Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar from the Odeon in 79'.
Scheila certainly took the horn to that number. In 2006 I was stating Schelia Gonzalez
was the John Coltrane of the new Millennium. Yes folks are starting to not only see it
but feel it.

Purple Lagoon became a calling card for the dancing to begin. This was
one show where we were up and down the isles redefining the terminology
of Terpsichorean Ejectamenta. For those familiar with the program the Pygmy Pony
ride, Roxy Segment and remaining portion of the program display an oxymoron of
unexpected perfection of performance execution of FZs compositional excellence.
Don't we all know by now to expect nothing less than perfection.

The balance between performing the composers work as the composer intended
with just the right amount of band member solos and DZs conductor deviations really
seemed to perfectly fit the shortened program just as it has the 3 hour shows.
One can see there were many new fans standing given due deserved ovations.
Filthy Habits (band solos including The Grand Wazoo) was a real treat. While we did not
get a King Kong with extended band solos Filthy Habbits was one of several occasions
where several band members adn in the case of this number all band members had an opportunity let loose.
Those already familiar with the Ben Thomas and Joe Travers tag team attack once again got to see it here in Filthy Habits
including the Ben's Bull Horn regalia. Ben Thomas continues to fit in well with the band.
While his voice does no carry for the size of two rooms such as Ray White's it is the diversity
of a theatrical singing style that has Ben blending well. I could really see Ben singing a hybrid
version of Wonderful Wino where he could sound quite like Frank Zappa and Ricky Lancelotti in a blender.
Thanks to ZPZ for continuing to bring FZs music to the live stage above and beyond performance
expectations. A word of thanks for Dream Theater to bring ZPZ on board.

Once again without the net, another fine zpz show, my 38th. to be exact, now, I love filthy habits, king kong, and purple lagoon, for me, a zappa fan for 37 years, let,s see the band solo,s over thirteen and or twenty-one, such memories from the palladium nys 1978 dweezil and gail once again thanks, see you guys sunday night at the beacon, and yes, yes, yes, music is the best, your # one fan. PEACE.

Did I read that correctly? Murvon has been to 38 ZPZ shows???

I've heard that there are times the "main act" of the night really doesn't want to follow one of their "opening acts." Well, this would be one of those nights.

Bigelf is really very good. I didn't expect to become a fan, but I think I have.

I'm a Dream Theater fan. I've got all the CDs, DVDs, and have traveled to see them more than once.

Still, I would not have wanted to be Dream Theater having to follow the Zappa show this night. There is no amount of presence or celebrity or stage effects or name-recognition or even raw virtuosity that could possibly overwhelm the combination of fun and musicianship DZ and the gang brought to the stage.

I had a great seat so got to watch everyone play instead of barely seeing that someone was on the stage; and I stayed *stunned* that DZ could figure-out, much less play, that music. Watching him play confirmed that somebody worked his butt off learning how to do that. It isn't an insult to DZ to say that despite his talent I was afraid he really couldn't pull-off his dad's music live. He did. In spades. It was something to watch. Not only can he play it, he does play it, and it *sounds* like he "gets it." Since FZ passed I didn't think anyone would ever pull that off live, ever again. Dweezil does.

I'm old enough to think, "Frank would be proud."

The sound, with the exception of a couple of brief ground problems (BLAAZT), was great and it had to be or the nuances in the performance would have been lost. And I thought Dweezil handled the ground buzz beautifully. No anger, no freaking-out, no string of four-letter words; just a "these things happen," comment; You know, like musicians who aren't overly impressed with themselves might handle a technical problem.

Both my concert-going buddy and I were stunned. Thank goodness everyone sat through most of the performance so I had no problem seeing the performers. Well, the audience rose to give them a standing-ovation three times. When Zappa left the stage my buddy (who was not much of a Zappa fan in the 70s or since, and IS a hard-core Dream Theater fan) said to me, "We can go home now. Let's just leave. I've gotten my money's worth and it doesn't get any better than that."

I wouldn't have thought a Dream Theater crowd would have enjoyed Zappa's music that much, but most apparently did.

How good is this show?

Although I bought my ticket not-knowing who would be with Dream Theater, if nobody but Zappa had played it still would have been worth my $185 ticket just to see this ZPZ performance. I agree with my friend; for a live performance, for fun, and for rare talent - "...it doesn't get any better than that."

I live in the deep south and traveled a long way to attend this concert. I'm only here writing now because I really think my son **needs** to see this show to learn how it is done when real pros give a concert instead of prima donna celebrities gracing us with their stage act.

I'm looking for another show we might be able to catch.

Yes, it was *that* kind of impressive, and fun, and really better than it has any right to be. They were really "on" for "Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy," all the harmonies were perfect, all the weird times were perfect, the solo was great... It was what you would expect from a Zappa band. Perfectly tight, and yet...somehow more fluid than Jeff Beck.

This time the Zappa band just happens to be Dweezil Zappa's band.

Taking nothing away from Dream Theater, which did what those guys always do, and always flawlessly; ZPZ was the highlight of the night for me.