28 June 2006

The End Of The Beginning

It's a few days after the last show of the tour, and everyone is now decompressing at home.

When a tour comes to an end in California, it's always a whirlwind of activity, guests, friends and family, as well as those last-minute gueslist changes and additions! There was plenty of all those things in Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

We rolled into Anaheim early on Thursday morning. Terry was off for an MRI on his arm early in the day. He returned later with the good news that he just needed to rest his arm, and he would heal up nicely. He has some cool MRI images with him too!

The rest of the band dispersed into the Disneyland outer rim in search of food and other sothern Californian delights. Steve Vai climbed aboard the bus with some spectacularly good coffee which he had scouted out, and soon we went to find some breakfast.

The House Of Blues in Anaheim is a smaller venue than most HOB venues, and the stage was crowded. There was no room for Terry's kit, so there wojuld be no Rick Allen-esque drumming from him this evening, with the exception of some cymbal contributions during Joe's solo.

Dweezil spent a lot of time with his rig in the early afternoon before a lengthy soundcheck, beginning with Joe leading a few members of the band through a collection of song-learnings-in-progress - with Terry on vocals - including "Titties and Beer." A small handful of friends were there to witness soundcheck and get a sneak preview of the evening to come.

The show was firey and energetic and the House of Blues was HOT. Although it's hard for me to pick a favorite show on this tour, this one was up there among the best - possibly because of the standing audience and the very palpable energy and excitement in the room. Somehow hot sweaty shows like these are some of the best.

Scheila's sax solo was also one of the finest of the tour in Anaheim. I don't know how she does it. It ain't natural! Joe Travers was drumming for two and was so "on" it was ridiculous. I'm not usually one to use the word "sick" as a superlative, but Joe was just.. well.. sick. Jamie had a chance to trade licks with both Dweezil and Steve during "Trouble Every Day" which was good because the size of the stage meant that he was partially obscured from most of the audience on the left side of the venue.

After the show, many of use returned home to Los Angeles. I got a ride home with Joe and his lovely girlfriend and we had a fun drive back into Los Angeles listening to rare Prince tunes.

I picked Joe up the following day and we headed to the Wiltern in the early afternoon. Joe was sore from the night before but ready for the evening's big show.

The show was great and the Wiltern was packed with fans. The Roxy and Chunga videos played with none of the problems experienced in Phoenix, and the show was opened with a rendition of "Stinkfoot" - a special treat for the homecoming crowd. Diva Zappa also guested on stage during "The Black Page #2" for a dance while Steve and Dweezil's guitars sang in unison.

The aftershow party was an extravaganza of wives, girlfriends, friends, musicians, special guests and combinations of the above and continued into the small hours.

San Francisco was a show mixed with some sadness as it was the last show for a while. It couldn't have been a better way to end what has been an amazing tour. The crowd was incredible and knew they were witnessing a very special show. The show was also filmed by multiple cameras - including mine, and I spent most of the show creeping up behind Joe and Billy's kits, and Scheila and Aaron's riser.

This was the longest show of the tour and featured a special guest appearance by Dweezil's friend Warren DiMartini who jammed on "Eat That Question". Billy Hulting was extraordinary as usual, and I captured many of his complex parts up close with the camera. I don't know how that guy's mind is able to process some of Frank's more challenging parts - and watching those four mallets fly is like some kind of visual Rubik's cube.

Terry jumped on his kit for one-armed renditions of "Punky's" and "The Black Page" with Joe filling in the beats.

So what is left to say about this tour?

This tour was a great success, and it was very aparrent to me just how many people are out there who crave to hear Frank's music performed with such a close attention to detail. Dweezil and the band delivered, and even more than that, they exceeded many people's expectations. There wasn't a night that went by without unique moments that made every show special in its own right. And watching the crowd leave the venue each night was a sea of smiling, happy faces - which seems a rarity today (or maybe I'm just going to the wrong concerts..)

I've enjoyed keeping thise blog, even though I've had my share of problems which has prevented me from updating it as often as I'd have liked to... but I still have plenty to add to this growing document of a tour that has only just begun.

I invite you to contribute too! If you saw a show, we'd love to read your reviews, thoughts and impressions. Just go to the "Tourdates" page and click on the "Read Re:views" link to visit the reviews page - and add your own.

If you have press clippings from the tour, you can send scans to us for our "Clippings" section. Or, you can email us links to online publications who have reviewed the show or published editorials about the Zappa Plays Zappa tour. Just send them to: webmaster@zappa.com

Keep checking back! This mini-site will continue to evolve - plus we'll post new tour dates here as they are confirmed.

Mikey
Zappa.com Webmeister

POSTED BY MIKEY AT 2006-06-28 21:09:56