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Did you attend the ZPZ show at The Sage in Gateshead, UK?

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

Attended the show last night, overall a good night but not excellent (im sad to report). There were a couple of issues, concerning the sound. My seat was on level 2 west side of the Sage. For at least the first 6 songs, the sound was very muddy. Dweezil's guitar just wasn't cutting through.

Ben and Scheila's vocals were also muddy and at times Scheila's vocals were lost in the mix. I was not the only one to comment on this. A guy three seats down said exactly the same thing to his mate. For me one of the appeal's of Zappa's music apart from the phenomenonal guitar playing are the lyrics. From where I was sitting you could barely hear the lyrics and at times the vocals were just lost. This continued throughout the performance.

I did wonder if the ceiling speakers either side were working at one point. I did get to the point where I thought I would have to write this off as a bad idea to attend the concert but suddenly in came a Jamie Kime les Paul solo round the time of Cosmik Debris or Exentrifugal Forz, from then on Instrumental sound improved.

You could not fault the musicianship and Dweezil's guitar playing was incredible but the sound issues tarnished it somewhat. Even at the end Dweezil did ask if the sound was ok? I think if you were down in the stalls this would not have been issue.

City of tiny lites, Fifty-Fifty, Inca Road were highlights for me.

Also how can I buy one of the Joe's Garage shirts which for sale I didnt have enough cash on me. Cannot find them online.

Loved every minute of last nights show. Could not beleive how well the Frank footage worked. My partner said it made her feel sad (a good sad) and the toilet roll stunt made us both smile. As for the sound. Superb. Row AA seat 24 and 25.

Keep up the good work Dweezil, see you next year.

Music IS the Best!

I was in the stalls and the sound was great. Enjoyed the early zappa theme and the video footage
was awesome , just a little sad in the nicest possible way.

I hope the next tour features later material & footage. Also thought the city of tiny lights would
have benefiited from the Bruce Bickford animations. All in all a fabulous nights musical entertainment
presented with due honours to all the members of the band.

What a brilliant gig, a really enjoyable experience, surprising as I had wondered how the musicianship would cope with the intricate layers and emphasis of Franks music.
I was situated up in the gods, level three middle second row and the acoustic was pretty good, vocals of Ben Thomas, (where did they find that guy??) sometimes lost in the mix but it could have been due to my position. Initially I couldn’t believe my ears when Mr Thomas’s vocals kicked in so close were they to Franks enunciating I thought it was coming from a click track, I was partially blinded to Bens presence on stage by that very bright spotlight eminating from the marimba section. Anyway one could go on and deservedly so as this band is tight and hot on the draw. Sheila Gonzalez, what a honey, blow that horn, real passion and spine tingling emotion. Billy Hulting an absolute marimba demon, I’m sure every bit as dextrous as Ruth Underwood, what a sweet sound.
Pete Griffin solid meaty and fluid basslines, be nice to see if he could do a rendition of the Purple Lagoon. Chris Nortons brilliance on keyboards should allow him more time to add some improvisation and his vocals kept the illusion of authenticity to the recordings of songs like City of tiny lights. Underpinning with more fluid and thunderous dexterity I salute Joe Travers, the man must have limbs of steel to do that two and a half hour workout non-stop. Jamie Kime sublime geeetar! What a sound he delivered and if I remember correctly a couple of moves too. Finally the Dweez, he can play and in a sort of cool laid back way too but what he gives is just as nuanced and assured fret board fingering as his fine dad. The whole perfomance was excellent combined with the footage of Frank in sync with the band really brought home to me what a damn fine composer bandleader and guitarist Frank was, he really did put humour satire and politics into music, he’s greatly missed, and those moments brought tears. A big thankyou to you all for entertaining and keeping homage to Franks musical genius. Could we have an intermission next time and maybe a dance contest? What do you guys do after a show like that, after signing the autographs??

What a truly fantastic concert!! Having seen the real Frank in the old days a few times, my wife and I are lifelong fans of maybe the most underrated musical genius in history. It's of course impossible to say which is the best of Frank's band lineups, but Dweezil and his present colleagues are right up there with the strongest contenders. Their casual, effortless virtuosity at times makes you forget to breathe. And the beautiful, laughing, joyous vibe emanating from the band filled every corner of the room. Technology allowed the band to play with Big Daddy Himself, of course, and these spots were perfectly placed, allowing the band to shine equally right alongside their Inspiration. Really, it was all one big high spot for my wife and I, but the tracks that a couple of days later remain in our faltering memories (we're old, you see), are Cosmic Debris (all the Apostrophe stuff, really, and even though it was billed as the Apostophe tour, that was really only an extended introduction to the whole show!), Muffin Man, "Is that a REAL poncho?", and that hard-to-play (wasn't ALL of it?) piece right at the end of the show-proper before the encores, the name of which escapes me....

I see the comments in other reviews about the sound at certain times and in certain places elsewhere in the hall, and all I can say to the reviewers is hard lines; where we were (near the front of the stalls, right of centre) the sound was just about perfect.

You can be sure that we are both keenly awaiting next year's visit. Please come back!

I was persuaded to come to this concert by a friend. I bought 'Freak Out' as a kid and didn't like it. Maybe I was too young to understand what Frank was getting at with his music. Hot Rats, Chungas Revenge, Weasels etc were great. Then I sort of lost contact with the music.

So I had no real expectations of the concert and went along simply hoping to enjoy the night.

Suffice to say I was absolutely blown away by the entire show. Astounding, phenomonal. What a brilliant set of musicians. Some of the arrangements left no room for manoevre or error. It was a different experience for me.

I was up at the top central looking down at the stage. Sound was great throughout. If Dweezil and his band return to the Sage or anywhere else convenient I will certainly be attending.

Thanks to all for a fantastic evening.

Glad someone else mentioned the sound quality. I was sitting on level 2 at the side, and I thought my hearing was faulty. It was hard to distinguish the lyrics in what is normally a pin-sharp auditorium. And, quite frankly, Frank, I thought the drums were overpowering. Otherwise - great band, great music and a great evening. Many thanks and come back soon.