brandx@ihuxa.UUCP (Howard D. Weisberg) (08/13/84)
I saw Frank Saturday night (the 11th) at the Madison Civic Center. This was the third time I've been to one of his concerts and it was definitely the best. An incredible band: Ike Willis and Ray White on guitars and vocals, Scott Thunes on bass, Bobby Martin on keyboards, tenor sax and vocals, Allan Zavod (for many years with Jean-Luc Ponty) on keyboards and Chad Wackerman (I guess he quit Holdworth's band to re-join Zappa) on electronic and acoustic drums. Steve Vai was sick. I would have loved to see Steve jam with Frank, but this gave Frank a chance to really stretch out - and stretch out he did. This was the most inspiring guitar playing I've heard from him in a while. Chad Wackerman was incredible as usual. For being 22 or 23 years old he's got incredible chops. He plays a lot of notes, but it's all done with incredible intricacy, sophistication, and taste. He's the best young drummer to come around in a long time. And I bet you thought Vinnie Colaiuta was good. Zappa does tend to silence a lot of the independent voices in his band. He's never had that problem with drummers, but with guitarists and keyboard players he has that problem. It took him almost a year before he let Steve Vai show himself. He never gave that much room to Eddie Jobson. Even George Duke was stifled a bit. This was the first time I've ever seen him let Ike or Ray solo. Allan Zavod played fantastically with Ponty (Imaginary Voyage thru Taste of Passion). Unfortunately, Zappa didn't give him much room. He got an extended electric piano solo during a long instrumental, but that was basically it. I guess it comes with running a tight ship. This band was very tight. In the past Zappa has tended to have the band accompany him very lightly between songs while he requested panties, etc. This time it was different. For 1 hr 40 min., the band went from song to song with hardly a wink in between (well, only an arm movement from Frank). A couple of encores stretched the show into over 2 hours. This is what I recall (and can name) with album titles in parentheses: Heavy Duty Judy (Shut up and play yer guitar) Tinsel Town Rebellion (Tinsel Town Rebellion) Trouble Comin' Every Day (Freak Out, Roxy and Elsewhere) Penguin in Bondage (Roxy and Elsewhere) Advance Romance (Bongo Fury) Cocaine Decisions (The Man from Utopia) Outside Now (Joe's Garage, Act II) Montana (Overnight Sensation) Easy Meat (Tinsel Town Rebellion) Dinah Moe Humm (Overnight Sensation) Dancin' Fool (Sheik Yerbouti) Sharleena (I think Chunga's Revenge) Illinois Enema Bandit (Live at New York) + other assorted goodies. During Cocaine Decisions (an anti-drug song), Zappa had a person in a very funny costume (a huge head) come out with a huge strainer with some rocks in it. He had a huge tooter and tried to snort some rocks before Scott Thunes chased him off the stage with his bass guitar. All in all, a great show. See it.