Zappa.com

Did you attend the SECOND show at Hamer Hall in Melbourne?

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

A very enjoyable night, thank you.

However, I have to say that from where I was sitting, (2nd row, directly in front of Pete Griffin), I found it very hard to hear Steve Vai. His rig sounded like it was placed in another large room with the door closed...and his playing was mostly drowned out when Dweezil was also playing..not an easy achievement with Mr Vai...!!!

Nice tight band, and extremely talented, plus Scheila is hot !!!

Though my heart was yearning for Zoot Allures, it was wonderful to hear Dweezil's interpretations of the play list, and watch Frank at the same time..

I knew I would be surprised...

g'day dweezil and the band
i attended both melbourne concerts
first night with old friends whom i grew up with listening to frank
and second night with my wife who has never quite understood
my almost fanatical devotion to his music.suffice to say we are
sitting here listening to peaches n regalia,andy,montana and any other
tunes i can find from last night to refresh her memory.
my only regret was not getting up and dancing and singing my lungs out
coz thats what i wanted to do.........(i,m too adagio!)
the first night you signed my very CHEEP freak out iron on transfer t-shirt
then went home and drew an even cheezier 'man from utopia' cartoon pic
on the back which you also signed with 'nice'..... absolutely stoked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
too many highlights to mention but great to hear a lot of different ditties
on the 2nd night set list, you absolutely smashed YO MAMA guys.
hope you felt the love us ozzies had for your dad's music and your scintillating representations of it.
if ya come again and you need someone to sing some frank vocal parts,
hook me up,i'd b all over it!!!!!!!!! hee hee
IT MAKES ITS OWN SAUCE

What can I say?

First of all, not a fanatic, just someone who occasionally has listened (and is listening) to Frank's music and was lucky enough to see him live back in 81 or 82 in Duesseldorf, Germany. My memory is somewhat sketchy, all I remember is that Chad Wackerman played drums 3 hours straight (not a single break, and it was extremely professional.

The whole night was so relaxed, like having people over for for an informal party. Very "Australian", guys. I'm 100% sure that behind all this "being casual" is a lot of structure but you hid it so well.

Musicianship was second to none. Having said that, the sound did not always live up to the content. Particularly the bass was muddled (couldn't hear any distinct notes during Pete's solo, just deep bass and some highs, no mids - definition - whatsoever) which was disappointing since I play bass myself. I sat in the Circle, F44, maybe it was a location-specific thing.

It seemed that Dweezil looked and sounded more and more like Frank as the night progressed, and not just his guitar-playing. Interesting, intriguing.

Dweezil, your guitar work is amazing. Enough said!

Scheila, you looked like you enjoyed yourself and made switching instruments and playing all sorts of parts at the same time look like child's play. And some of the vocals were just out there.

Everyone else was so composed, disciplined and competent, it wasn't funny - but lots of fun. The mallet solo by Billy gave me goosebumps - fantastic.

Would have loved to see and hear more of Ray - his improvisation on insemination was absolutely hilarious, and boy can he still sing.

Not sure that Steve Vai fit in in this context. I like him a lot in his own right but his inclusion seemed a gimmick that wasn't necessary. Mind you, Vai, NPB and Bozzio would have been awesome to see. Will have to get the DVD, I suppose.

This night undoubtedly has rekindled my interest in FZ, and I surely will dig out some old stuff. Enough of the slime!!

Thanks, everyone, I loved it. It was a great night. Looking forward to seeing you back some time.

Seeya, Michael

Could I impose on anyone to post a set list from Friday night? I was at Thursday's show and would love to know how the two sets compared.

Hi everybody,

I've posted a review on my blog Flaming Hoop

Zappa Plays Zappa Zaps Melbourne

Standing ovation for the ZPZ team led by Frank Zappa's eldest son Dweezil at their show at Hamer Hall in the Arts Centre last night. It was a very moving experience, knowing that Dweezil, a stunning guitarist in his own right, had chosen to spend a year studying and three months rehearsing a slice of his father's voluminous output with a fine ensemble to take on a world tour.
Quoted from the ZPZ website, DZ says: 'Prepping for the tour has been like preparing for a medieval battle where going into it your sharpest weapon is a spoon. But I'm pretty deadly with that spoon now.'

Also featuring... (Hope these names are right - taken from ZPZ site)

Scheila Gonzalez
Saxophone, Flute, Keyboards & Vocals -
My personal favourite & all-round musical delite, exceptional versatility, funk and spunk (played with Ray Parker Jr. and Billy Preston, Sheila E.)

Aaron Arntz
Keyboards & Trumpet -
This guy is great (The Red Elvises, Telepathy Ascendant)

Pete Griffin
Bass -
Bad and funky (Hanson, Edgar Winter)

Billy Hulting
Marimba, Mallets & Percussion -
Neat (Maynard Ferguson’s High Voltage 2, Lou Rawls, Patti Labelle, Manhattan Transfer)

Jamie Kime
Guitar -
Individual, complimentary (Jewel, Michelle Branch,Malford Milligan in The Boneshakers

Joe Travers
Drums & Vocals -
The Zappa Vaultmeister since '95, a true gentleman and precision executioner) (Z [Ahmet & Dweezil Zappa], Duran Duran, Billy Idol, Lisa Loeb and Drake Bell.)

Ray White
Guitar and Vocals - (Frank Zappa, Don't Push the Clown)
A rubbery and rather extraordinary blues vocalist. Good improviser

Steve Vai
Guitar from Mars - (Frank Zappa, himself)

There was a big screen hitched overhead and the show kicked off and finished with Frank up there centre screen whipping it out with some dental floss farming in 'Montana' and socking out a monstrous solo. The whole ensemble accompanied him in an accomplished and highly-arranged style typical of his touring days. The rest of the time ZPZ did the show a la Dweezil according to the book of Frank with vocals scattered across the performers and lead sorties from DZ and Ray White.

My highlights were 'Willy the Pimp' from Hot Rats (rarely heard), a thoroughly enjoyable 'Dirty Habits', some opening songs which reminded us of Frank's R&B roots and teen background as a boy in the Mohave Desert region of California and the encore of a scintillating performance of 'Dog Meat', Dweezil's own favourite 'G-Spot Tornado' and 'Muffin Man'.

Dweezil relaxed into his solos as Frank did, treating the electric guitar as a serious compositional instrument capable of extraordinary expression and variation. His solos, like his father's, take you on an aural journey that the listener finds quite extraordinary, leaving her or him in a world a little better than the one they used to inhabit.

Despite his stated (and admirable) dedication to exactly reproducing FZ arrangements of certain Zappa/Mothers performances captured amongst enough reel to reel tape to encircle the world a few times, plus the digital catalogue (over 70 albums), Dweezil has his own very distinct style of playing. Challenging and intriguing, never flashy or shallow for the sake of a quick eargasm, Dweezil's work on the strings of his various Fenders and Gibsons, one of them apparently Frank's old SG, is absolutely seductive.

If I were to get critical at all it would be of Peaches En Regalia, a personal favourite which was a little hammered by the mass rock execution of its quirky signature, originally relatively minimalist.

A minor quibble though. It cost $10,000 (probably US) to bring this specialised gear - a HUGE set-up - to Australia, and certainly the mixed sex road crew were hard at work dismantling it after the show, en route to Adelaide, Sydney and Japan.

If you get the change to catch this show, go for it. There's a will within Zappa Inc to see it continue world touring. That would be a great service to the cause of international music.

Frank would be tickled.

I am trying to post the set list but keeping getting blocked.

Wah Wah Wow!

I’ve been to both shows and this morning I'm still floating on a sea of Dweezil's solos.

A quick comparison of set lists (got Jamie's this time) shows 13 new songs. Here it is.

Cosmik Debris (w/FZ)
How Could I Be Such A Fool
Ain't Got No Heart
I'm Not Satisfied
Joe's Garage
San Berdino
Wind Up Working In A Gas Station
Lonely Little Girl
Pygmy Twylyte
Dupree's Paradise
Uncle Remus
Willie The Pimp
Andy
I'm The Slime
Filthy Habits
Peaches En Regalia
Montana (w/FZ)
City Of Tiny Liights
Yo Mama

Encore

Dog Meat
G Spot Tornado
Muffin Man (w/FZ)

Hats off to the girl who presented the painting to the band after the first show. Fantastic tribute.
How awesome for Dweezil to pay respect and position the painting on stage for the whole show. The lighting playing off it at times was spectacular.

Great to see some panties hung off mike stands at the end of the show. Maybe ZPZ can start on their on quilt.

Can't wait till you guys tour Oz again. More ZPZ PLEEAZ!

P.S. A mention to my long term Zappa listening buddy Roy Enchilada who so wanted to see these shows, but couldn't make it due to his mother being seriously ill. Dweezil please come back out again for him.

Good night boyz and girlz.

Saw Frank Zappa when he played at Festival Hall (was it in '75 or '76??) ... and now seeing Dweezil play his father's music after more than 30 additional years of appreciating Zappa, I think that the son can hold up his head as someone capable of doing his father's music justice.

The acoustics and viewing of the two halls, Festival in the mid-'70s and Hamer Hall now, are miles apart. No need to state the obvious. It was good to see Dweezil control the band, like his dad did, and so Steve Vai got to do his starring role bit, but not overwhelm things. His style of playing has veered away from his Zappa days, which showed during some of the improvs. But where the songs were played as FZ wrote them, there was never a note out of place. Well, there were a whole heap of new ones, but they came in brilliantly.

I enjoyed this concert more than the original concert, but as I said, that's because I've listened to another 30+ years of FZ, and there was no haze of dope to go thru this time around. I don't go to many concerts, but I'd definitely wanna hear Dweezil again if he came back to Oz.

And now, I'll say what I think: Dweezil can play guitar as well as his old man, technically speaking. There's a difference, in that Frank was the composer, the composer's composer. But Dweezil doesn't have to do that. If he can just actually PLAY his old man's stuff, then that is certainly a challenge in itself.

Bravo Dweezil, you've done what very, very few progeny of rock stars have ever managed to pull off, and you've done it with class. Your old man would have to be proud of you, looking down from wherever.

I rate this concert as 110. Out of 10.

What another fantastic night out. My wife and i had the pleasure of seeing the concert again this time unaccompanied with our four daughters. The whole band were kind enough to sign and write a few special words of insperation to our daughters and their band Rock Child on the cover of an old favorite record cover Sheik Yerbouti, which our family will treasure.

With some differnt tunes from thursdays concert all the music over the two nights was an absoloute beautiful selection. Hearing music from an album i first brought in about the mid 70s i think, Just Another Band From L.A to the slightly later stuff like Yo Mamma, brought a tear to my eye. Thank you for bringing the music to us. No words can express our appreciation, and we will see you next time as you wrote on our album cover.
Thank you Dweezil and all the band members especially Mr Ray White, Steve Vai, Sheila and Allan for taking the time to actually stop and have a chat, true top people. Dweezil you have done an exellent job in keeping your fathers music truely alive and kicking. You guitar work was amazing to witness, you should be as proud as anyone could possibly be. Thanks again
Chirs and Janette

After listening to all the various Zappa sounds for 30+ years via all his many manifestations; carnal, analog and digital, last nights performance of Zappa Plays Zappa did not disappoint. Given the ground they had to cover I was very happy with the choices they made and they sounded Fantastic. What an incredible evolution of sounds meticulously re-created in a beefy three hour set.

This is the beginning of a longer review I have been sending out to my FZ friends. Most of them have probably already seen the show as they are in NYC.

Really, Thanks for coming to Australia. Thanks for getting publicity or whomever was responsible for getting Frank's picture on the cover of The Age Entertainment section. Had I not seen that picture I would never have known about the concert. Phew!

Too late for the center seats I ended up on the house left side in the orchestra. The sound was still delicious from where I sat. Well done.

Historically:
I was lucky enough to hear FZ was going to play at the Mudd Club one night in the early eighties. I beat it down there and was so early that at one point I suddenly realized he was standing next to me on the empty dance floor. I didn't have time to be shocked or shy, we just started talking and joking around as if we actually knew each other. I thought that was pretty cool that he was so approachable.

And to Dweezil,
We actually met briefly at MTV when you and Moon Unit were guest VJ's.
I shamelessly raided the fridge on set in-between takes so I could say hi. I made some stupid jokes about the OJ and you both laughed politely. Thanks. Oh, I was your morning graphics guy so you wouldn't have seen me in the booth, which explains the sneaking-in maneuver.

Thanks again for spreading the music. I think it is a worthwhile endevour.
FYI, there was a 10+/- yr old boy in the row behind me, said his favorite FZ song was "Cheapness". So, the fan base is growing across demographics. It's not all old farts like me.

Good luck with the rest of the tour. And yes, please come back.

Don

To Dweezil and all the amazing artists who played with him on Friday night, as well as the crew who do their magic behind the scenes to get a show like this a happening thing...

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

It was a wonderful extrodinary night. Please, please, please come to Melbourne again.

My father and I went to the concert on friday, and we just want to say, thank you Dweezil and everyone involved that made this concert possible.
It was a concert that I've been dreaming about all my life, and something my father has been waiting decades to be able to hear Franks music in concert again, since the last time he heard him play was in germany, well over 25 years now since he moved to Australia.
Frank was a hero to my father and he named me after him, and I have grown up listening to Frank Zappa's music, and has been a big inspiration in my life.
There is a message in Franks music and we hope Dweezil can continue to pass it on to a ever growing audience.
My father understood Frank's music before he was able to understand the lyrics, since he lived in germany and only learnt english once he came to Australia at 25 years of age.
He told me he was basically able to understand Franks music when he was in his concerts.

Mr Dweezil Zappa, you made us so very happy with your humbleness and spending the time after the concert was over to give autographs and listen to your fans and exchange a few words with those that talked to you.
We know a world tour like this is stressful, but you seem to cope extremely well.
It looks like you enjoy what you are doing as you do it with a smile on your face during and after the concert.

Keep up the wonderful job that you are doing and we hope that more and more people will enjoy and understand Frank's music.
Your father would be so proud of you of keeping his work and music and legacy to the world alive, as myself and my father and I'm sure every Zappa fan out there is proud of what you are doing.

We have seen quite a few goof concerts together, but yours was a real special event that we will never forget.
We all hope you can come back in the not so distant future, we'd love you to come back and spend some more time with you and your band.

There was only one small complaint we had about the concert though- the organisers were really tough on photography and filming there, which is a little unfair since the concert was unique and we're not paparazzi trying to make money off the footage, we just wanted something for our personal memories and to show our friends and advertise just how great the show was. It's understandable though if flash photography makes it hard and distracting when everyone is doing it, but otherwise we couldn't understand why it was so heavily cracked down upon.
Hopefully there was footage captured though by your people that you'll be releasing for us in the near future.

Anyway, thank you again for everything you have done, keep it up and best wishes for the future.

EAF!!!! I am the Eaf who was there with Marlon Brando, his moose and my pants... The Mule couldn't make it- but his cybernetic clone was there with bells on his five-thousand year old shlong.