Zappa.com

Did you attend this show at Hogg Auditorium in Austin?

Dweezil and the band would love to read your reviews.

Please do not post in this thread if you did not attend the show.

Mikey
Zappa.com Webmeister

After the Richmond show I spoke with Jaime for a few minutes. After finding out what yall had in store for Austin I called my 2 best friends in Austin and I begged them to go. They werent sure about it at first. I blew up their phones with all the videos i took with my cell phone. I said if they were ever going to have a Zappa experience this was it. If I had the money I woulda flown down there myself to see it. I'm so friggin jealous. Damn I moved away from Texas and thats where all the cool stuff happens. Dang you DWEEZIL!!! I'll catch all the Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina shows next year.

shout out to Matt Norton!! I told ya so.

When the hell is the DVD going to be released?

3+ hour show!! Totally baller.
I had front row right in front of Ray. That man can sing!
First time seeing the show and I must say Dweezil is the best guitarist I've seen.
It was a little strange not to see any facial expressions from him or the sick drummer. I guess they were in the zone.
Couldn't get a set list as the stage was rushed towards the end of the set but I know some peeps got some good pics.

Very glad I saw this show instead of the Pumpkins tonite...even though SP played Taxman. .. .

This show ruled....even though there were so many old former druggies there. jk.

and they were filming the dvd

WOW. Smoooth, clean, I had great sound from where I was at, balcony off to the right a little. With my binoculars it was like front row.
Brown Shoes and Yo Mama would have made it worth the drive up from San Antonio all by themselves, but there was so much more. great venue, good to see so many young people there, I took my son for his 21st birthday because he wanted to go anyway. Ray White- spot on! Fantastic job by everyone.

I just wanted to drop my sheer utter amaze-a-ment!
Walking in I was surprised at how small the venue is... this puts me at a better view than I had imagined. Looking around, people are still steaming in. Ah... the band walks out - THIS IS IT!

Totally blown away! And even better the timid looking lass sitting next to me has a face of complete uncomprehension as if saying to herself "surely this is not what we came for." BUT IT IS!

The video segments were scattered throughout the night and contrasted well with Dweezil's playing... even better I could tell this girl really didn't get it. Her hands covering her ears as if to say "Guitar is meant to be played around a campfire."

The audience participation bit was humerous... some guy yelled out "puttin childs" motioning he is some type of football player??? we didn't get it (or at least I did'nt). But PUDDING like Bill Cosby that I understand... the dancing girl yelled out "infectious biscuit" and some other guy started it out right with "throbbing grisel" this made for a hilarious vocal during solo segment. Really enjoyed the whole band and it was great seeing them getting so envolved especially Aaron Arntz during his piece. From there the shows intensity increased to the point that would induce seizures in small children. Zoot Allures came just in time to let me relax a minute before taking off again.

Highlights of the evening for me were pygmy tywlyte and dog/meat.

Your guitar wants to kill my dumb smile. Dweezil and band rock! Thanks again for a wonderful show.

These are all amazing musicians! I really can't believe how great this show was tonight. 3.5 hours and they made it look easy. DZ is a guitar master like FZ. Runs in the family I guess. The last time I enjoyed a concert this much it was Frank himself, and Ray was there too. Good to have Ray's amazing vocals/guitar (and humor) to make it complete. Thank you Dweezil and band!

We drove 2 hours to Austin and it was a long good concert, totally worth it. I really miss F.Z. and his bands and saw them 5 or 6 times, but this was perhaps the next best thing. Nice venue - small and intimate. The band was very tight, which was a trademark of the F.Z. bands. I am a jazz musician and always preferred tight ensemble playing to long, long guitar solors by Frank (hence, my user name). Dweezil is a fine guitar player and only twice played too long a solo for my tastes, which I admit is probably rare among Zappa fans. Some feedback for the soundman/person: the instruments were too loud relative to the vocals, especially guitars and bass. We could hardly hear Ray White's singing on some things. As to Dweezil's comments: what was the song he said was too emotional to try? We couldn't catch that. And, as to colleges wanting them to come - good luck, these college kids like mostly crap if you ask me.

I was not there but there are articles out there in which Dweez has mentioned similar sentiments regarding Watermelon in Easter Hay

Dweez: On 'Watermelon in Easter Hay':
"This song has always brought a tear to my eye. Envisioning it according to the "Central Scrutinizer" as the last imaginary guitar solo is a powerful image. Even more powerful is the melody itself.

Frank's beyond beautiful, sparkling clean tone played through a Space Station Reverberator is one of the all time greatest guitar tones ever recorded. He had such an ear for tone. The combination of tone and melody on this song just kills me.

Since Frank is no longer with us Watermelon In Easter Hay is even more difficult for me to listen to than ever. I know my Mom feels the same way. It is in my opinion the very best solo he ever played. It's because of his imagination that it exists and that's pretty damn cool. "

My wife and I were there last night and really enjoyed the show. This was a show that we really did not want to miss, and it certainly lived up to our expectations. It is amazing that last nights show had, (I think), one song from the DVD of last years tour – and I could easily list another three or four hours of Zappa tunes that I would have loved to hear. Just an amazing library of music, and a very appropriate, and well performed, reminder. Thanks for all the work it takes to make this show available.

Willy the Pimp, the Quaalude Thunder version of Pygmy Twylite, and the Muffin Man closer really brought the house down. I’ve always had a soft spot for Dumb All Over, and it was great to see Frank deliver it as only he could.

No surprise about Dweezil being a very accomplished musician. Ray White was fabulous, but again that is not a surprise. In fact, all the musicians were excellent – exactly as we both expected would be the case. But, the one who blew us both away was Scheila Gonzales. She not only played at least six different instruments, at times she played more than one at the same time, played them all extremely well, sang, danced, and performed with an incredibly high level of energy all night.

I agree with the previous comment that the vocals could have used a little more volume. Fortunately we knew most of the words. And, if Dweezil would have saved the "Good night Austin Texas, where ever you are" until the end of Muffin man the roof might have come down.

In the end the show passed the test of all great concerts. My wife went home horny.

I just read somewhere...thought it was Q&A with Gail here on the site but can't find it now...that Frank's wish was that only Dweezil play WIEA.

Rodger
Burke, VA

dz if you read this..why is fz not on itunes anymore or new stuff: wazoo available for download there or on the fz site or put in stores
(the ones that are left?) its almost 08! if it was i'd buy it already..i just can't stay in the stone ages and wait for snail mail like i did for dub room back when it was on vhs..please ask gail to put new/old music for download?..you may even sell more and turn on even more folks faster..frank was always of and ahead of the times right?! thanks a fan..

My wife and I very much enjoyed the show. DZ's generosity in playing such a long set was very appreciated. I thought Dogmeat was the best medley of the evening and enjoyed most of the older stuff, though I thought the arrangement on I'm Not Satisfied sucked and wasn't at all true to the doowop that so influenced FZ in his early years. While I understand that the fantastic falsettos of Ray Collins might not be easily duplicated by the current vocalists (and I go back to those old days at the Shrine Auditorium), I'm thinking that maybe something else might be substituted...hell, a Freak Out medley could have included so many other great tunes (Wowie Zowie, Trouble Coming, Brain Police immediately come to mind). I'm also a bit disappointed to have not heard anything from We're Only in It For the Money. Perhaps you need to play 12 hour sets? Would I go see the band again? You bet!

Great show last night !!

The misunderstood audience participation line was "Put in Chiles!!" and refers to John Chiles the back up QB for the Texas Longhorns. When starting QB Colt McCoy has trouble during a game fans always yell to put in Chiles.