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Did you attend this ZPZ show at the The Birchmere in Virginia

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

Hey Dweezil and band,

Great show last night. Our fourth show in two years, the band continues to mature and refine itself, and play really, really great. The Birchmere had a totally different feel from the theater shows we've seen, not sure yet if I liked it better than the Warner. The band was really at ease and there was back and forth between the crowd and Dweezil the whole night. Echidna's, Inca Roads, and G-Spot were spot on fuken briliant, and Packard Goose was smokin. Billy the Mountain was also a great change and executed really well. Ray's voice was completely amazin'.

Only regret is I didn't yell to Dweezil during his guitar malfunction what Frank would have thought of Sarah Palin.

Thanks for the music.

This was my first exposure to ZPZ and I was not disappointed. The Birchmere is a kind of dinner theater (complete with pitchers of guinness), so Billy The Mountain was appropriate and surreal as Dweezil said when he was introducing the song. My show mates had not previously heard that little diddy, and they had no idea what the fuck was happening. I was laughing my ass off the entire time. I secretly hoped they might swap out all the Kalifornia place names with DC replacements. I guess they have too many notes to keep track of for stuff like that.

Other highlights included:

Scheila and Ray belting out the harmonies. Really the whole band nailed the vocals.

Ray on Zomby Wolf, he the sang the shit out of that.

Pete and Jamie on Pound for a Brown.

Dweezil leading the way on G-Spot, whew!

Aaron's new hit single "I sat in Gum"

Billy was a natural for Billy the Mountain

And the guy that won the guitar jamming quite capably with Band.

The only low light was the Rush version of Pink Panther and the $18 bowl of chili.

Thanks guys, see you next year.

Set List

Inca Roads
Tell Me You Love Me
Dog Breath
Joe's Garage
Packard Goose
Peaches En Regalia
Billy The Mountain
Pound For A Brown
Blues in E (guitar give away jam)
Dirty Love
Echidna's Arf (Of You)
G-Spot Tornado
Oh No
Son Of Orange County
More Trouble Every Day

Encore:
I sat in Gum
Camarillio Brillo
Muffin Man
Zomby Woof
Willie The Pimp

Thanks to Dweezil and the band for doing the small club thang, what an experience to see everything up close!

couple addendums and notes added, thanks for the setlist, I tried remembering it after getting home and got all the songs but had the order a little wrong...

Inca Roads
Tell Me You Love Me
Dog Breath (JABFLA style)
Joe's Garage
Packard Goose
Peaches en Regalia
Billy The Mountain
Pound for a Brown (w/solos and signals, w/Pink Panther in the style of Rush, Scheila on 2 saxes for part of her solo)
guitar giveaway (backing music: I'm a Beautiful Guy)
E Blues jam w/guitar winner
Dirty Love
Echidna's Arf (Of You)>
G-spot Tornado
Oh No
Son of Orange County (Roxy style)
More Trouble Everyday (Roxy style)
Token of My Extreme (band intros)


E: Dweezil breaks b string, banter while string gets changed incl. describing his rack
"Sat in Gum" (vox by Aaron mostly)
Camarillo Brillo >
Muffin Man (after, DZ gives options to choose the next song: either Willie the Pimp, Zomby, Torture or I'm the Slime)
Zomby Woof
Willie The Pimp (Ray pimped out w/cane/$ chain/glasses)


pre-show music included a number of Jeff Beck songs (She's a Woman, Freeway Jam, Scatterbrain, Come Dancing), Funkadelic's Good to Your Earhole, that's all I can recall

The Birchmere gives out numbered tickets to let people into the seating area, huge thanks to Tony for waiting in line to hook up with A80 (started with A73), had the 3rd seat from stage in front of Griffin and with DZ being right-handed he was turned straight in front of us to witness the skillz!

Standing ovations after Billy the Mountain, G-spot, ?

kinda funny when Ray during Billy was doing the COVEN! line and his lighter wouldn't work

about the only noticeable miscue the whole evening was Scheila coming a little early on one of the "Billy was a Mountain" themes about 15 min.s into it

Dweezil was absolutely incredible on the guitar, having grown from a shredder to a seriously versatile guitarist who can bring the shred/rock/blues/handle compositions like Echidna's > G-spot left my jaw somewhere on the floor of the Birchmere. Billy brought great energy narrating Billy the Mountain and I was impressed at how good Pete Griffin on bass is, he laid it down! Great vocals from everyone too, I think 6 vox were going at some points in Billy

Can't wait to be able to d/l this puppy in 8 days, thanks ZpZ!

I took my 7 year old last night to ZPZ at the Birchmere.

He's a budding guitarist and really likes listening to Frank's solos from Shut Up and Play (loves Ship Ahoy). He was blown away last night--we sat close and he stared open mouthed the whole time playing air guitar in his seat!

I'm doing my best to make sure the next generation gets to know the magnificence of Frank's work. The only disappointment was that the kid really wanted to win that Hagstrom!

Thank you Dweezil and ZPZ.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, my 3rd DC-area ZPZ show in as many years. The band is firing on all cylinders - every member is superbly virtuosic yet puts their energy into the songs rather than trying to stand out or show off. I had a huge smile on my face the whole time and so did everyone in the band, who clearly all love what they're doing. Despite the fact that none(!) of my requests made it into the show I have no complaints at all.

"Dinner theater" atmosphere notwithstanding, I preferred the venue compared to, say, the Warner Theatre. The crowd was quiet and respectful during the music and wildly enthusiastic after each tune. Billy the Mountain garnered a well-deserved standing ovation - what a hysterically funny performance!

While I'm looking forward to downloading the show my plea to the powers-that-be is to please make it available in lossless (flac) format as well as mp3. I know the folks at nugs routinely offer that format and I would hate to settle for a lossy version of this fabulous show.

Seeing this show at the Birchmere was a great experience. Its my 4th time seeing this band and they keep getting better. My only complaints were the voting by the fans and since I sat in the back I had old people running to the bathroom every 5 mins all show long bugging the shit out of me. It had to be the oldest crowd I have seen. I felt like I was at a buffet in FL for the early bird special or something.

I really enjoyed the pound solo's, Jamie lit it up which was cool. I was wondering when he was gonna pull it out. Dweezil's solo on trouble was probably my favorite part of the show. I loved the Zombie Wolf too. My only beef there was asking me to chose from Zombie and Torture, those are probably my 2 favorite tunes that ZPZ has played in the times I have seen them. I wish I could see some more of the Joe's Garage tunes. Id love to have seen Outside now or Lucille. Im not sure what instrument Aaron was jamming on, but I had to toss it out that that part of the show was cool. Thats twice now that he has officially freaked me out at a show.

The Birchmere, old people notwithstanding, is my favorite place to see a show. You can kick back and have some food and some beer and just enjoy yourself. I would never have thought that Id see ZPZ there. I hope they do this again. My wife even enjoyed most of it. On the way home I got this question: "What the fuck is that Billy the Mountain stuff".

Third show so far. 4 hour drive to see it.

The thing about AARON man. He drives a nuclear keyboard. You need a helmet and a bullet proof vest when he lets loose. he tears it up.

Good show.

I voted for "I'm not satisfied" and didn't get to hear it. booo hoooooo hooooo.

Haha. Get there earlier dude. I used to think that stuff, too. Someday you'll be an old person bugging the kids yerself. The old people are the reason Dweezil has something special to share.

Well said...I'm an "old" guy, I guess, and was up in front and didn't get up once during the show...are you kidding me??...and miss even a note?...possibly even the "one big note?" Not a chance...Billy the Mountain, btw, was worth the ticket price alone, in my opinion. I haven't had that much fun since....um...well...the 2007 ZPZ show in Richmond!

hmmmm... I'm a "kid"(16) and it didn't bug me one bit. But I did feel out of place around a bunch of older people.... Im hoping next year's tickets are cheaper so I can take a friend..

Also did anyone go to the show last year, someone told me he did watermelon in Easter hay as an encore but at the show he said he hasn't gotten to it, so can anyone confirm or deny this?

It was the oldest crowd Ive seen at any concert. Thats not all bad, but it was a surprise. Ive seen younger crowds at retirement parties. Im not very young either, 36, so feeling so young in the crowd of concert is weird.

As fer Watermelon, to my knowledge ZPZ has never played it.

I did attend the Birchmier show with my son, and we absolutely had an incredible time! The venue was nice and intimate... sort of like a dinner theatre... as DZ said. I thought that the band was "out of sight" and "really tight"...

I am blown away with how great the musicians are! The 8 people on stage played so many notes... the "statistical density" was utterly amazing! Everyone is so talented. ZpZ had the crowd's complete attention, and at the end of the songs, the crowd was on their feet! I can't believe that you guys pulled off "Billy the Mountain" so well. And "G-Spot" was... well... orgasmic!

I loved the interaction with the crowd, even though you could barely fit on the stage. And DZ talking to the crowd between songs was really special. I even liked the description of his equipment rack during the broken string incident. That by itself was priceless!

The solos performed on "Brown" were amazing. All of the performers are just THE BEST. Joe is also a wonderful drummer, and he has stamina. I am so impressed that you all just kept on playing for the entire show. I am really looking forward to the next shows, and also the DOWNLOAD. You are so cool for doing that for us. Every show that you play is a unique event, and to have our own copy to fetish is really special! I can't wait to hear that cosmic night again and again. I will always treasure my personal recording.

And DZ, you are the best for hanging out after the show to talk to and meet some of us that love you so much for doing what you do. You even were prepared with your own "sharpie" for autographs! You are so awesome for learning and executing the Zappa music so well, and it is really hard to play! You really do justice to your Dad's memory, and in keeping it alive. You have also made it your own with your dedicated interpretation of Franks' compositions.

You have developed a very devoted following that is behind you and very appreciative of your continued work and efforts. And Thank You to your families for letting you guys tour and work so hard. You make the world a better place for all of us. And, Thank You GZ.

See you next time! "Music is the best!"

Brad Lust
(Producer of the "All Night Frank Zappa Specials" on 88.5 FM KGNU Boulder, CO. Public Radio in the early 1980's)

OK, as this appears to be the only ZPZ forum available, I will post this even though it is not a review of the show (I already commented on the show). I would simply like to know if the promised MP3 download of the show is EVER going to be available. That was part of the deal and one of the reasons for the very expensive ticket price. DZ has not mentioned the downloads in the blog for quite a while.

Thanks.
FP