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Did you attend the second ZPZ show at The Music Box in Hollywood, CA?

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

If you read my note about Friday night’s show, you already know I was pretty impressed. Tonight’s show, however, surprised me in that Dweezil, George Duke and the band managed to raise the bar a few notches! It was an incredible show which had the full house totally rocking.

The set followed the Apostrophe tour format, once again kicking off with Gumbo Variations and then the Apostrophe album in order. After three nights of standing right at the front I simply had to sit for tonight’s show, so I snaffled a seat in row two of the balcony. The sound mix was absolutely excellent there and I especially enjoyed Ben’s vocals throughout the show. The lighting was better than Friday night too and the energy and positive vibe was fabulous. It probably helped that this is their ‘hometown’ and it seemed a lot of friends of the family and band were there tonight. I hope Gail Zappa doesn’t mind me saying this, but I did glance across to look at her several times and she wore a beaming, great big proud smile throughout and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the whole concert!

There were two very nice moments in the show. The first was when George Duke came on. He took the band by surprise and delighted the audience by telling the story of how his mum took a phone call from Frank and called him to the phone saying a Mr Zoofa wanted to speak to him. He then proceeded to recall how he had gone down to LA, how Frank had thrown him impossible stuff to play which he told Frank was easy (!) and offered him the spot with the Mothers. George was very funny and in a short few moments gave us all a sense of the love and respect he had for Frank. He then launched into a version of Uncle Remus which had me tearing up, it was so incredible. The other intimate moment was when Dweezil welcomed everyone to the show and mentioned the significance of December 4th, being the day Frank passed away. Dweezil said that Frank was taken from us but his music was left for us to enjoy and that’s what tonight was all about. YES!!!

After the Apostrophe material it was RDNZL (with George back on stage), Pygmy Twilight (outstanding again) Echidna’s Arf and Inca Roads, with Frank playing the lead on the video screen and George playing along on keyboards. Where the set differed from Friday was right after Joe’s (again amazing) drum solo. First, we launched into Jones Crusher, Dynamo Humm, Keep it Greasy and a brilliant version of Valley Girl, where Scheila hammed it up big time! The number was introduced via Scheila getting a pretend scolding from Dweezil for texting and chewing gum onstage. She morped into a ‘Valley Girl’ and had the voice and attitude for the number just right! Great fun.

The final two numbers were I Promise Not To Come In Your Mouth and Cruisin’ for Burgers. The encore was Eat That Question (where Dweezil and George again traded outrageous riffs), Baby Snakes, the crowd favorite Chrissy Puked Twice (Titties n’ Beer) and the grand finale Muffin Man, again with Frank leading on the video screen with footage from one of his show’s closing number.

Thank you to all involved – and a big thank you to George Duke too! Tonight was unforgettable.

First off - this was my 4th ZPZ show and once again, I left the show barely able to touch my feet to the ground! I saw the 2006 tour with Napoleon Murphy Brock, Terry Bozzio & Steve Vai, the 2007 tour with Ray White, the 2008 Roxy show with Ray (the night they video taped - please release this soon DZ!!! I am in the trailer on YouTube!) and lastly, tonight's show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wb-b4s-0ps

I list these shows to clarify that I have personally witnessed the amazing growth of this band. Like Mr Creosote, I am a huge fan and agree completely with his assessment of this performance. This was my first night seeing Ben front the band, and I really enjoyed his performance. He fits in very well with this long established and tight unit called ZPZ. Also it was my first time seeing Chris appear with the band, a fine keyboard player indeed and although I really thought Aaron was the guy, Chris brings his own chops and vibe to a difficult job indeed.

Now to my personal highlights:

The band hit the ground running at the Musicbox and sounded awesome from downbeat. Kudos to the sound crew, it was an excellent mix. I stood right in front of DZ on the floor 3/4 back from the stage. Scheila scorched her solo in Gumbo and never fails to make my heart flutter! Next - Apostrophe has long been a fave of mine and I knew I was going to hear it all... what a joy! DZ sharing the solo spot for Cosmik Debris with his Pop was even better this tour! Dweezil has really dialed in his tone and playing, and words fail at describing what a great player he has become.

What I did NOT know was George Duke was the special guest... OMFG! When Dweezil introduced him, my head nearly exploded!!! His story of the call to join and then FZ's request to only play triads was truly funny, and Joe T's face was priceless! I feel truly blessed to have been there tonight. Echidna’s Arf (Of You) always kills me live and Billy was as epic as ever. But hearing & seeing Mr. Duke perform Inca Roads was WAYYYY beyond anything I have experienced at any ZPZ show. Like Scheila said in tonight's performance of Inca Roads; "My face hurts... I have perma-grin!"

Some other highlights for me were DZ reminding us that today (12-4) was the 17th anniversary of FZ's passing... (We miss you Frank!) Then Joe Travers Drum Solo... PLOOK ME IN THE BUTT DUDE! What an amazing drummer he is. Oh and Scheila doing Valley Girl word for freekin word was so great! Her additional lyrics about sexting and Facebook at the end were really funny and she like totally nailed it like fer sure ohmigawd! Ben's reference of zircon encrusted tweezers during Dinah-Moe Humm had me howling outloud! Lastly seeing them do Eat That Question with George Duke made my knees weak and even better, Titties 'N Beer was just too cool because Zappa in New York was the first FZ LP I bought with my own money as a kid. The second verse Ben sang tonight was something I never heard before, and I really loved it! Jamie was spot on with the Terry Bozzio part and Ben was hilarious! Video cameras were rolling tonight as well, and I hope they release it... (After SON OF ROXY AND ELSEWHERE, please Dweezil?).

Here's the set list:
Gumbo Variations
Don't Eat The Yellow Snow
Nanook Rubs It
St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast
Father O'Blivion
Cosmik Debris [KCET video FZ vocal and solo]
Excentrifugal Forz
Apostrophe [Pete’s bass solo was stellar!]
Uncle Remus [KCET video FZ solo and special guest George Duke]
Stink-Foot
RDNZL [solos by George Duke, Scheila, Billy & Jamie]
Pygmy Twilight [George Duke]
Echidna’s Arf (Of You) [George Duke]
Inca Roads [George Duke *I never thought I would see it!]
Joe Travers Drum Solo
Jones Crusher
Dinah-Moe Humm
Keep it Greasy
Valley Girl [Scheila texting & chewing gum]
I Promise Not to Come in Your Mouth
Cruisin’ for Burgers
(encores)
Eat That Question [George Duke]
Baby Snakes
Titties ‘N Beer (aka Chrissy Puked Twice) [Jamie as the Devil]
Muffin Man [MTV video of FZ vocal and solo. The toilet paper toss was great tonight!]

IT WAS EPIC!!!!! THANK YOU ZPZ.

~Gregory Peckery

Simply amazing. I have seen Frank perform many times, this was my third seeing ZPZ, and this was flat out phenomenal. The venue was good, nice clear sound. The song choices, the performances, George Duke, everything exceeded my wildest expectations. I was really glad I also attended the sound check, that was very cool seeing the progression from sound check to concert. The songs were all great, but three stand out (if I can remember them) Dinah MoHum, Valley Girl and Titties and Beer were probably the best version I had ever heard. I really want a copy of that version of Dinah MoHum. Everyone, on stage and in the audience was rocking, the band was tight, sounded amazing and George could not have looked happier or sounded better. Like I said everyone was great, vocals, instruments, keyboards, drums.
If you can only go see one concert, this is it.
Great job, I feel very lucky to have been there and met several people. Most of us had seen in Frank in the past, but there was a young man who had never seen Frank live, he was great to talk to and and tell him various albums from different eras to get first. Great to see an entire new generation appreciating Zappa music.
See you guys soon.
Bruce

George Duke. A class act. Great show with the added energy of having an FZ legacy player on stage.
Duke and Zappa, together again!