Zappa.com

Did you attend this ZPZ show at the Quebec International Summer Festival?

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

Dear Folks, DZ can you start posting the setlist to your web site. so many of us all over the globe need to know what the band is playing each night. It keeps us connected to the music until we can get back in front of you. Many fans don't know the list or don't post it. Please help us, neumanfish.

I was there last evening and since I live in Quebec City I was not going to miss that. However before I wrote down my small review I must warn you about my bad english.

I am good Zappa fan, I don’t have all of his album (I have around 10 albums). However I can tell you that the setlist was really good tonight in Quebec. They played many songs from Joe's Garage (ex: Joe's Garage, Wet T-shirt Night, Outside Now, Packard Goose) and other classics like Bamboozled by Love, Flakes, Broken Hearts Are For Assholes, Willie the Pimp, etc.

I must say that Dweezil is a really good entertainer. I feel that he was pleased to be there and he never look bored. He even confess to the crowd that he ate a totally bizarre poutine (a typical dish from Quebec its French fries topped with fresh cheese curds, covered with brown gravy sauce). Another proof of his sense of humor, the show begins with Dweezil saying we will start by playing something incredibly stupid and then the opening of Eye of the Tiger from Survivor! A one hit wonder song played by a band that will play for the next two hours music from a legend, how ironic! Unfortunately someone next to me started screaming like crazy when Eye of the Tiger began and said "I didnt know that Zappa composed that..." Oh the humanity!

But being a good entertainer is not enough when you love Frank Zappa music. You must have talented musicians and Dweezil assembled a really fine team of musicians. Ray White was incredible at the vocals (no surprise in that), Scheila Gonzalez at the sax was amazing, Billy Hulting played an incredible solo at the marimba followed by another fine drum solo by Joe Travers. The guitar and bass players (Kime and Griffin) played solid jam, etc. All under the good direction of Dweezil who sometimes conducted the musician like is father.

Overall, my girlfriend and I really like this show and I think that the crowd like it too.

Good job ZPZ and come back anytime! I hope you enjoyed Quebec City as much as I enjoyed the show. I must admit some songsd didnt ring any bells.

I would really appreciate if someone can post the complete setlist of the Quebec Show.

My main thought before seeing the show was : how can somebody even choose a definitive setlist when you've got so many great material to play? How many shows could Dweezil and his crew do before playing the same song twice? (with a lot of work) A lot!!
For me, the best part of the show was King Kong. A surprisingly quick theme and intense solos that go so far away I couldn't believe it would come back to the theme!
But I have to say that, even if it was a great show, I was a little disappointed by the selection of songs/pieces.
Why do so much of Sheik Yerbouti? Clearly not one of Frank's best opi. Maybe on stage it rocks more, but it pales when you compare it to other stuff he recorded.
I would have been praying for the Black Page if I had thought it would do something... (maybe you need a Bozzio for that kind of stuff...) But maybe I'm the only one wishing to hear Oh no, Uncle meat, an authentic Call any vegetable or some Grand Wazoo material...
Of course, the guy with the guitar is the guy who makes the decisions and who could blame the guy with the guitar, when he's making tours to play his father's music?
But why is Dweezil telling "Voir", a newspaper from Quebec city, he promises to play "the most complicated song Frank has ever composed" ("il [DZ] promet aussi "la pièce la plus compliquée que Frank ait composée" ; les paris sont ouverts."). That last part of the quote means "bets are open", "you can start guessing"...
I'm still waiting for Brown shoes don't make it...
Seriously, did that happen? Did he keep his promise?
Cause if so, I didn't notice...
What's that piece anyway? Some impossible synclavier composition? Some composition made by playing with tapes in a studio? I don't know, help me...

The show was great. Crew is fantastic. Sound is terrific. At times, it's really like the old man's group is live in our faces.

I am guessing Dweez was referring to "G-Spot Tornado"

Pour ceux qui veulent vraiment la liste des chansons du spectacle de Québec:
FOR THOSE WHO REALLY WANT THE PLAYLIST OF THE QUÉBEC SHOW:






[Eye of the Tiger &] Imaginary Diseases
City of tiny lites
Flakes (avec Adrian Belew)
Broken Hearts are for assholes
Bamboozed by love [& Owner of a lonely heart]
King Kong
Joe's Garage
Wet T-shirt nite
Outside now
He used to cut the grass
Packard Goose
Willie the pimp
Cosmic Debris & blues

Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy

There was some Purple Lagoon too after the tiger...

But no G-Spot.

I notice some complaining or disappointments with the setlists lately, but for someone (like myself) who has been fortunate enough to see ZPZ twice on the 2006 tour (Toronto and Buffalo), twice on the 2007 tour (Toronto and Buffalo), and now twice this year (Kitchener and Buffalo this August)... I'm glad to see some major changes with the setlist each year.

With some of the festival shows, I think that Dweezil may be focusing more on some tunes that will go over well with the festival audiences which may not all be Zappa fans (i.e. Ottawa and Quebec City). Kitchener was a non-festival gig, but I noticed the crowd loving the songs off of Sheik YerBouti.

If this year was my first time seeing ZPZ, then I would have been slightly disappointed and would have wished for a setlist from the 2006 tour, or even the 2007 tour, but having seen those tours I'm glad this year had more new songs learned!

I'm surprised a lot of people in Ontario (Canada) missed out on last year's tour.... the Toronto Hummingbird Centre show in 2007 with Ray White as guest vocalist was a great show! My other favourite was in 2006 with Napolean Murphy Brock at the University at Buffalo Performing Arts Center. I think I actually preferred the 2007 show as though it was exciting to have have Vai and Bozzio as guests in 2006, it was nice to see how strong the core band is on their own and really it's not necessary to have guest alumni musicians with the exception of a strong alumni vocalist. Having said that, the 2006 Toronto show was still strong without a guest vocalist (Napolean Murphy Brock couldn't make it to that show).


to be continued...

"Call Any Vegetable" was played on the 2006 tour, and can be seen on the ZPZ DVD! The same with "The Black Page", and "Oh No".

I think I missed out on any Grand Wazoo material for the shows I saw, but "Eat That Question" has been played the last 3 years at various shows and is on the ZPZ DVD. I heard lots of early-mid 70's material on the 2006 tour. That was a great tour and DVD.

Saw "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" performed twice last year at both shows I went to. So I can't complain. It seems many in the Toronto to Buffalo area (over 10 million people around here) missed out on the 2007 tour, even though they played both Toronto and Buffalo.

"Dog Meat" (comprised of 2 compositions, Dog Breath and the theme from Uncle Meat) was played in Buffalo last year (2007!).

Here are some setlists for comparison (from shows within about an hour of where I live)....

Buffalo October 23, 2006...
Andy
Call Any Vegetable
Tell Me You Love Me
Who are the Brain Police?
Can't Afford No Shoes
Willie the Pimp
Pygmy Twylyte
Idiot Bastard Son
Cheepnis
I am the Slime
Pound for a Brown
Don't Eat the Yellow Snow >
St Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast >
Father O'Blivion
Inca Roads
(enter Terry Bozzio)
I'm So Cute
Trying to Grow a Chin
Advance Romance
Punky's Whips
The Black Page #1
(enter Steve Vai)
The Black Page #2
(exit Terry Bozzio)
Peaches en Regalia
Montana
Village of the Sun
Echidna's Arf
Zomby Woof
(exit Steve Vai)
Black Napkins
The Torture Never Stops

Encore: (with Steve Vai and Terry Bozzio)
More Trouble Every Day
Band introductions on Token Of My Extreme
Regyptian Strut


Toronto July 30, 2007...
Black Napkins w/FZ video
My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama
Dirty Love
City of Tiny Lites
Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy
Dumb All Over w/FZ video
What's New in Baltimore?
Advance Romance
Andy
Son of Suzy Creamcheese
Brown Shoes Don't Make It
America Drinks & Goes Home
(intermission)
Pygmy Twylyte
Dupree's Paradise
Uncle Remus
Willie the Pimp
Joe's Garage
Wind Up Working In A Gas Station
San Ber'dino
The Illinois Enema Bandit
Wild Love (*omitted due to time constraints)
Yo' Mama (*omitted due to time constraints)

Encore:
Cosmik Debris w/FZ video (*omitted due to time contraints)
G Spot Tornado
Muffin Man w/FZ video

*note: The Hummingbird Centre required an intermission and 11pm curfew.

Kitchener July 4, 2008
1. Kashmir/The Purple Lagoon
2. Imaginary Diseases
3. City of Tiny Lites
4. I'm a Beautiful Guy
5. Beauty Knows No Pain
6. Flakes
7. Broken Hearts are for Assholes
8. Bamboozled By Love
9. King Kong
10. Don't Eat the Yellow Snow
11. St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast
12. Father O'Blivion
13. Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up
14. Joe's Garage
15. Wet T-Shirt Night
16. Toad-o Line
17. Outside Now
18. He Used To Cut The Grass
19. Packard Goose
20. Willie the Pimp
encore
21. Cosmik Debris
22. Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy

The only problem I see with the most recent setlist from Kitchener is that if you dislike disc 2 of Joe's Garage, you may have been bored for songs 17, 18, and 19. Dweezil did a great job with his soloing and tone, but this time in the set could have been used to play more non-Joe's Garage material. It was cool to hear these tunes live, though.

I just came back from four day vacation and a 1800Km drive (I live 900km from Qc CT, in NW Québec) to see the show in Québec City. The show was really good although the show at the Métropolis (Mtl) in July 2007 was the best show ever. The crowd was great and so was the weather.

I am looking forward to the next one and hopefully with more pieces from the early '70s.

I really enjoyed ZPZ visting Québec for their second time.
We are really lucky. Thank you so much for coming.

Although... I don't like to be negative but ... regarding the sound, this is the only aspect where I had problems. And... this is a major problem to me.

First part with Adrian Belew :
The sound was poor. The bottoms where peaking and roaming and all that stuff which makes music becoming noise.
I was really surprised by the poor sound quality. Instruments and Adrian's voice, where barely intelligible.
The drums where sounding badly tuned (rrrrr..rrrrrr....rrrr......rrrrr)

Main Menu with ZPZ :
The drums, guitars and brass were tight.
Although... the bass was way too rich and too loud.
This again, was making the other instruments near to non-intelligible.
A chance Ray White has good horse power in his voice, still, at times, he could hardly overcome the bass loudness.

I tend to think that there is a new trend in the the live concerts industry.
There seems to be a bunch of incompetents boosting and boosting the bass.

Golden Rule:
If you want to sound loud...
Cut the extra frequencies and crank up the volume.
Don't boost the frequencies; they will roll and roll and roll and run without control.