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Did you attend the ZPZ show at the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh?

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

Just got back from the show at the Lincoln Theater and it was even better than last year's show. The band's never been tighter. Different set list from last year with a few of the old favs thrown in. As always, Dweezil and the band were most gracious to hang around and sign stuff. Dweezil signed my ticket stub from a Frank Zappa show I saw at Duke U. back in 1975. What a great guy. Thanks for coming back to Raleigh and come back real soon.

First ZPZ show I have been too, pretty new FZ fan too. Pretty good show, it was P A C K E D for a Wednesday night! I've been to the venue before, never seen it like that, was pretty surprised at that, for a Wednesday no less! People were rubbing elbows for sure, and it was a very mixed crowd, old and young.

Don't have a set list, but I'm sure it'll be here soon. Stuff I remember:
Cosmik Debris
Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy
Apostrophe (JAMMED! W O W)
Keep it Greasey (was funcky like you remember)
Turmishi Duween

Pretty tight show, no intermission, 2 1/2 hours of straight tunes to a packed house.

Some maroon was booting a video the whole show, Dweezil nailed him at the end of encore #1, asks the man to bring the tape up. Kind of a bummer, maybe
brought down the 2nd encore tune a bit. Still, overall, not a bad night of music in Raleigh on a Wednesday. (not sure if the dude gave up the tape, hope so, Dweezil was
like we might be able to use it, how cool is that!!)

Shook Dweezils hand at the end, said new fan, good job.

Glad to see him carry on his dad's legacy.

Nuff' said.

Well, well,well. As a fan for 42 years ( I have been a hardcore fan since the first album and have listened to Frank daily since 1967 or 8) I have seen Frank twice , project object four times and Dweezil twice.I for one was a little disappointed.The main problem was too much bass.The sound was 60% bass and 40% the rest of the band.My two friends attending with me had to go to the back of the room because they could not handle the tremendous bass.Ben the new singer is adequate but needed a little more amplification.He has good energy and is bound to improve with time.I did not really like the set list that much but thats just me.I did feel cheated that they did not play Black Napkins which was played at other shows.No watermelon,Inca Roads or any song that produced pathos. The band is tight but I felt that the bass player was run of the mill .His solo on Apostrophe was good but I have heard so much better. A few years back ,Project Object had a bass player(i think his name was Dave Johnsen) blew me away with the best bass solo I have ever heard in my life.Sheila is simply awesome ,Billy,Jamie excellent and Dweezil always impressive.I would caution him about becoming too comfortable on stage cause its easy to tell when your passion for playing is waning unless you feel like your still trying to prove yourself. I love Dweezils guitar playing and I cried several times when I heard his solos on his zpz dvd. I started to realize that that its not a Frank or a Dweezil thing but a Zappa thing.....its in the blood ....the dna.I cant tell him how grateful I am for him to put his own creativity in the back seat in order to honor his fathers legacy.I am sure he will get back to his own creations at some point and when he does he will already have a tremendous "fan" base.For me ,the highlight of the show was Jamies guitar solo.Thats the kind of passion I am talkin about. He moved me.In a nut shell ,when I left the show last year I was high for days after the show,I never got off the ground last night but its still head and shoulders above any thing else out there.Maybe I am just hard to please.I do love this band.Oh yeah ...Joe Travers is fantastic too!!

Good to see DZ and band again at the Lincoln!

Agreed with tarzappa on the bass-heavy mix. This I think is mainly an artifact this boomy jukejoint of a room.

Ben can sing and emote the repertoire, but vocals should have been pushed up in mix.

Highlights for me: DZ's guitar on Pygmy, Carolina, RDNZL , Billly's Dumb All Over, Jamie's syncopated jams, Scheila's sax solo.

Thanks DZ for signing my daughters' shark :) Looking fwd to next time with ZPZ, need to see in outdoor venue or bigger theater with cleaner mix.

This is setlist as I remember, please fill in holes and reorder as nesc

Peaches en Regalia
Pound for a Brown
Broken Hearts are for Assholes
Jones Crusher
T'Mershi Dween
Keep it Greasy
You Didn't Try to Call Me
Road Ladies
Apostrophe (is this correct order?)
Pygmy Twylyte
Honey Don't You Want a Man Like Me
Catholic Girls
Crew Slut
Dumb All Over
Don't Eat The Yellow Snow>
Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy
Wino Man
RDNZL

Cosmik Debris (voted over Muffin Man and some others)
Dirty Love (voted)

Loved the show at the Lincoln last night, I missed them last year when they came through. The 2nd album I bought was "Freak Out" (the first was Beggar's Banquet) so I have been a fan over 40 years. Saw FZ twice back in 70s ( including April 73 at Duke). I thought it was a great show last night , a good mix of music and humor. I believe the 2nd song was "Pound for a Brown" which I think FZ mentioned somewhere that it involved an exchange of English currency for some organic matter. It struck me that DZ and the band are playing some songs that are older than they are. I think it is great that DZ is out keeping the FZ legacy alive ...

[quote="pcranford"]Loved the show at the Lincoln last night, I missed them last year when they came through. The 2nd album I bought was "Freak Out" (the first was Beggar's Banquet) so I have been a fan over 40 years. Saw FZ twice back in 70s ( including April 73 at Duke). I thought it was a great show last night , a good mix of music and humor. I believe the 2nd song was "Pound for a Brown" which I think FZ mentioned somewhere that it involved an exchange of English currency for some organic matter. It struck me that DZ and the band are playing some songs that are older than they are. I think it is great that DZ is out keeping the FZ legacy alive ...[/quote]

Super, thanks for id'ing Pound! Updated setlist above.

Frank Zappa became the center of my musical universe in 1972. Who knows why or how one latches onto a particular artist as "the one" but Frank captured that spot for me and has never given it up. Back in those days, time was measured in relation to the next FZ release. Some would probably say I took my "Zappa fetish" to the point of obsession. Especially back in the '70s. I have every album and a plethora of other memorabilia from over the years. I'm not sure how many live concerts I saw. Not that many by fetish standards. Maybe 10 or so, the most memorable were the Halloween shows in NYC. I even went through a phase of sending things to Frank, and was pleasantly surprised to see some of the photos I sent in hanging in the offices of Glotzer Management when I had occasion to visit in 1979. I'm guessing that many of those attending these ZPZ shows have a similar story to tell. There was just something about Frank. The uniqueness. The quirkiness. The fact that most people didn't "get" Frank. There was an intense passion and honesty that made his music and ideas a dominating influence in my daily life. I still find myself spurting out little pieces of FZ dialog or lyric as an involuntary response. Something I hear triggers a piece of Zappa lore buried deep inside my subconscious and I just blurt it out. And people will look at me like "WTF?". And I'll say "You know...Ice pick in the forehead...Joe's Garage?" Eyes roll. They don't get it. And that leads me to the concert last night...

How moving to be in the midst of 300 other people that DO get it. To hear DZ propose Muffin Man or Wino Man and to be in a crowd that not only knows the difference, but knows the words. So the fact that the mix wasn't perfect barely registered with me. With Frank now gone for 17 years, Zappa Plays Zappa is truly a resurrection. So many times last night I was time transported to a previous moment in my live. The store where I bought "One Size Fits All." My living room where I first heard "Pygmy Twilight." Cleaning the dust off the needle before dropping in on "Peaches" for the one millionth time. This band is putting life back into places inside of me that have been dormant for years. Not just that the songs get played live again. Not just that they get played competently. Not even that they get played passionately. The thing that really put me in awe was how the band was playing WITH the songs. The arrangements. The embellishments. The tiny change of a single word to fit the venue or the total change of the texture and tone from the original recording. All things that I had come to love about attending FZ shows. Not just what songs would get played, but HOW he would play them. How he would string them together. Frank was doing the "Dance Remix" before remix was even a term.

So to DZ and the rest of the band I say thanks for "putting the eyebrows on it" last night. The solos would make Frank look up from his cigarette and smile. Thanks for honoring the passion and accuracy that Frank always required but for also bringing your own individual influences which Frank always loved. He always seemed to me to be a very demanding, unforgiving yet caring boss that musicians loved to work their ass off for. He simultaneously required that you do things exactly his way, but also to bring YOUR way whenever he wanted the musician's (or the band's) own embellishment and interpretation. You guys nailed the soul of a Zappa concert experience for me, and it might be the closest I ever get to time travel.

Scheila - you are a phenomenon. Your sax is gritty and sexy. Your vocals are flavorful and fun. (Especially liked "You Didn't Try to Call Me") But it's the attitude that kills me. Please don't ever leave this band. Ever.

Pete - I thought the bass rocked last night. Solid top to bottom and Apostrophe was S_I_C_K!

Billy - Good to know that killer percussionist's still exist. When Frank left us I wasn't sure I'd ever get to hear anyone like you again. Thanks for exceeding my life's expectations. And how you remember all the words to "Dumb all over" I'll never know. A lyric with a melody is one thing...but that monologue is a whole different level. I felt Frank smiling on that one last night.

Jamie - I could barely see you from my location last night. I need to see you at a bigger stage. Based on the few solos I could see I understand why you earned a spot in this band. Love your enthuasium and your tone.

Ben - You had me worried when you walked out in that preppie shirt, but hats off man. Good job. Those of us who grew up with FZ are always going to be the hardest on the vocalist. You have undoubtedly the toughest job making us believe you understand what's in play here. So I want you to know you you get a thumbs-up from me. The head-shaking blubbering sounds let me know your were all-in. Keep at it. Like I said. We're all expecting a lot from you and I for one greatly appreciate the investment effort and output so far.

Joe - Ok I'll be honest. It kinda ticks me off that you whip out "Peaches" as an opening number and then you don't even need to take off your jacket for another 3 songs. I've been drumming for 40 years now and it's bad enough that you can keep a rock solid tempo, manage septuplets and odd signatures without even wincing, breeze trough the statistical density of something like the "Black Page" as an aside to your drum solo, but dude - must you do all of this whilst looking like you are relaxing on the beach? Seriously. Next time could you at least make it LOOK like what you are doing is kinda hard? That would make all of us forever-FZ-wanna-be drummers a bit less depressed. And BTW your vocals weren't bad either and I can't sing a note. Thanks for destroying what little self dignity I had left as a musician. ;-)

Dweezil - Thanks. Thanks for bringing back one of the most meaningful influences in my life. Thanks for taking the time to do it right. Thanks for finding the right people with the chops and the spirit to whip out some of the greatest music the world has ever known. Thanks for screwing with the songs. Thanks for putting up with the tedium of the bus and the time away from your family. Thanks for not showing any partiality to the catalog of FZ's work and presenting such a wide envelope of all that was Frank - you didn't always pick the song I would have picked next, but in the end I was always happy with your choice. Thanks for the conversation between songs. Thanks for playing the SG. Thanks for getting that FZ guitar tone - we noticed. Thanks for hanging around at the end of the show, and giving of yourself even beyond just the music. Thanks for letting your own ego and personal ambitions take a back seat for this period of time that you give back something to us that we thought was forever lost. Thanks for being the conduit back to my own personal musical hero. Thanks for being such a good son - Frank would be so proud. Thanks.

See you next year or sooner if I can,

Fred Midgett[attachment=0]DZ.jpg[/attachment]

I'm a few days late getting this on the board but I hope somebody reads it....I've got a story to tell.

The show was exceptional. More rockin' than I was expecting. I agree that the mix could have been better (I could barely hear Billy's percussion) but the music was so very tight. DZs solos are just getting better and better. I can't wait for the day when he and FZ get the recognition they deserve.

I Saw ZPZ in Asheville a couple of years ago when they used the big screen and had Frank playing along with DZ and the band. Without a doubt, the most amazing show I've ever seen. ZPZ really needs a venue like that....more of a theatre than the Lincoln. I hope they come back to Raleigh and get a better spot.

So now for the story; I had tickets to go to the show with a buddy of mine who called me Monday prior to the show and said a friend of his was coming in to town and wanted to go also. He told me this friend used to work with Frank Zappa. Yeah, right...probably a roadie who never even spoke to FZ. Well, I was wrong. This guy really did work with Frank...as the designer of the sound systems during the late 70s and early 80s. If you know anything at all about Frank's requirements for exceptional sound, then you understand how important this guy was.

We had dinner before the show and I was just in awe of this guy...listening to stories about Frank. He ultimately became FZs main guitar tech and was constantly tinkering with Frank's guitars. He talked about how FZs bands would rehearse dozens upon dozens of songs for weeks before going out on the road. How FZ chose different setlists for each show and wrote intros and outros for each song on the spot and rehearsed these transitions during sound check and it had to be freakin' perfect when the band went on stage. He saw first hand how FZ "interviewed" a potential new band member when Bobby Martin joined the band. After a grueling session "learning on the fly" to play different piano, sax, and french horn parts, Bobby waved off the band and told Frank he was sorry he wasted his time. Frank's response: "so, I hear you can sing too". This guy also tuned the guitar and pushed DZ out on stage the first time he ever played on stage with his Dad. After the show, we went up and talked to Dweezil and he did remember him. They talked for a few minutes and he handed Dweezil a business card. Most memorable.

Dweezil, please keep doing what you're doing. And feel free to "Go With What You Know" and do some solo stuff too.