A dream came true for myself and many Zappa fans in Madrid...
I have to start by forwarding my most sincere "thank you" to everyone responsible for setting up the show in our city, and especially to the band members themselves for such a great performance, you guys were awesome! Last, but not least, another big "THANK YOU!" to Dweezil for having the necessary talent and guts to be able to start the whole ZPZ ball rolling in the first place, for helping spreading FZ awareness in this day and age, and of course for giving thousands of Zappa-philes all over the world the opportunity to experience Frank's wonderful and unique works in a live setting one more time... You've got to realize your undertaking is making many people very happy, like you guys did me by playing the Madrid show... Kudos, Dweez!
Being 32 years old, I had never been able to attend any of the shows the big man himself brought with him to Spanish shores, and so ever since I learned about the ZPZ thing a couple years back I had been pining for the tour to hit Madrid. It's been a long wait but I can't stress how very happy I am that it finally happened.
I arrived at the venue about 15 minutes before showtime, and was a bit depressed to see the turnout was so small... I expected lots of people would be there, but it just so happened that many of them were late, the place kept filling up as time went by...
In the end, the crowd wasn't a small one, but there certainly was room for more... I, for one, learned about the show quite by accident and I think ZPZ is such a musical event, and surely Zappa is a name big enough to warrant a bit more effort on the promoters' part... The place was nowhere near sell-out and that's a bit sad for me...
Still, ZPZ made it to Madrid and I'm very grateful for it anyway...
As for the show itself, I don't even know where to start...
From the very beginning I was amazed at how good and accurate the band was, and I was just starting to get absorbed into the sound when G-Spot Tornado assaulted us... wow! It was right about then that I started smiling from ear to ear, and that idiot grin was to remain stuck on my face till hours after the show was over... I can't even begin to tell you how simply and genuinely HAPPY I was for those 2 hours plus!
A few minutes before the show, my buddy had asked me what song would I like to hear most of all, and I answered Inca Roads... when I asked him, he said Cletus Awreetus Awrightus! Hey now, wouldn't that be nice!! So, Dweezil and co., consider this a suggestion for future shows, hehe!
Having arrived before most of the crowd I got myself a good spot right in front of Ray and with a great view of Dweezil and Joe... (and Scheila, heh heh...)
You guys made me dance about and sing my lungs out and I was in absolute heaven... Ray blew me away many times with his great voice and technique, and he also made me laugh a great deal... At some points I was ecstatic just singing along with him and I remember how on Flakes (which I asked for right before it was played, though I didn't know!) I just couldn't take it any more and I had to jump up and down in sheer joy... I think Ray saw us doing that, hehe... Man, Ray, you are FANTASTIC!
Dweezil also made me laugh with his quip "Wanna buy some JAMON, Bob?"!!
When you guys segued into Broken Hearts Are For Assholes it blew my mind... I was having so much FUN!
Another highlight of the evening for me was Inca Roads, one of my all-time favourites (and, like I mentioned above, one I really wanted to hear) which you guys pulled off well beyond my already high expectations... Dweezil excelled here, it was wonderful watching his playing so up close...
One bit of a downer, though, was seeing that there was no video screen and we wouldn't get to see you guys play with Frank like other lucky audiences in the States have, but I realize that it's not always possible to prepare the whole production in every city and every venue... some times there's just no physical space and others it's just too costly to do...
Seeing as how the band is only playing a handful of dates in Europe this time, the latter is very probably the case...
No biggie, though, because I was lucky that ZPZ came to my city and I feel VERY grateful for it... The musical cake we were provided on the night was already totally scrumptious without the video...
I was very pleasantly surprised by most of the setlist, it was wonderful getting stuff like City Of Tiny Lites, Outside Now, Cheepnis, Yellow Snow, Willie The Pimp (Ray! You are the best, baby! Hah!), and Packard Goose was really impressive... really amazing playing by all concerned, but special mention for Dweezil's guitar stylings and Joe's amazing solos... Oh, and the "information is not knowledge" monologue was a very nice touch...
I couldn't single out one band member over the rest because they all put in excellent performances, but I was really impressed by Joe and Dweezil, whose guitar solos did nothing but get better as the night wore on... And I hope you'll allow me to mention Ray once again, who excelled all through the night, and made me laugh many times... his presence was wonderful...
Thoughts keep coming to my head about the beautiful show but I suppose I should begin to wrap this post up already or I could be here until tomorrow!
In closing, I have to say that I hope the ZPZ project keeps going for some time, because I'd really, really love to attend more of your shows... My buddy and me were both amazed at the show and loved it, and made plans to drag more friends along (whether they want to or not!) next time you visit us... Please, do come back!!
And once again, to everyone responsible for the show, promoters, crew and band, thank you thank you thank you aaaand THANK YOU, because the ZPZ band made me really happy!
Imagine a bee...
You are its knees!
Say you'll come back one day,
Please!!
Kindest regards,
Javier De Las Heras.
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