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I was not intelligent enough to enjoy Frank's music enough at my early age to go out and see him play live..
That being said, at 4-5 years old, I spent much time listening to my much older brother's vinyls of Sheik Yerbouti and Joe's Garage to my parent's dismay.
My dad caught me singing along to Crew Slut and banned me from my older brother's record collection for a month.
To fight back, I remember learning personally how to play the terrible sax solo (on a shitty kid's tenor sax) from Joe's Garage note for note.
My dad finally asked me, "What are you trying to prove? Do you want to stop playing music?"
My 5 year old self told him, and this is truth:
"I want to play what I feel. I want to listen to Frank. You want me to listen to KISS or Zappa?"
My dad didn't know what to do. He let me choose my own way. To this day I am a MASSIVE Zappa and KISS fan for 2 different reasons.
He gave me a reason to rock out, the other reason broadened my horizons...he loved Monk, Coltrane, Brubeck, and all the jazz greats...he basically taught me there is NO LIMIT to music.
To this day, force me to choose the KISS ARMY or the FRANK ARMY and I would seriously be stressed to choose between the two.
I love Frank's legacy. His music is timeless and will outlive all of us. KISS? Not so much.
Frank. Just remember, you are thought of each and every day and your compositions live forever.
Thank you for being you and sharing it all with us.

I have a best and a worst:

Winterland, December 1975, by far the best I ever saw. Many tapes of the show are out there. Captain Beefheart opened and was roundly booed off the stage after only a few numbers, but not before yelling "FUCK YOU" at the audience. That was not a highlight, since they never gave his band a chance that night.

Worst was my own fault. Stanford, November 1977, about a third of the way through the set, Frank had the houselights turned on and halted the concert due to fans jumping up and down (it was in Maples Paviliion, a basketball court) and rocking the whole place and the stage. After a few minutes, the crowd I was with left with me and we went home, kind of disappointed. Of course, Zappa retook the stage and finished a decent concert, but I didn't find out until later. Sucks to be me I guess.

Several times I just missed seeing him due to bad timing. Once in Germany (probably '82) and also in Kansas City, I missed the '84 band by a month or two. Those were worse than anything, missing the chance to see him those times.

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caress me Aunt Jemima

and the zappaward for "kinda interesting username" goes tooooooo

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that's what happens when you don't read you loose your link to higher thinking

Best April 1973 at Jadwyn Gym in Princeton with Ponty, second best at the Pier in August 1984' third best tied for a Friday and the following Monday at the Tower Theatre in Philly in 1988 and last at the Spectrum also Philadelphia. In 1975 with George Duke.

There is no worst because he was always good...

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If we're dumb . . .
Then God is dumb . . .
(An' maybe even a little bit ugly on the side)

My best Zappa Concert experience was when I actually dreamt I was in a Zappa Concert, probably in a Baby Snakes kind of settings...

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There was a bootleg called Confidential, of FZ and Captain Beefheart material, that appeared in the mid seventies and was then released several times, each time with a different name. Wasp Man Has Hornet's Wings, then Metal Man Has Hornet's Wings, and finally, Wasp Man Has Metal Wings. I have a copy of Metal Man Has Hornet's Wings that I got back in the late seventies. At the time it was very interesting material not otherwise available, the majority of which has been officially released in the mean time.

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The way I see it Barry, this should be a very dynamite show.

My Music Web Site

Heyyyyyy......I have it as "Metal Man Has Hornet's Wings " as well.

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You're probably wondering why I'm here
(not that it makes a heck of a lot of a difference to ya)

Best concert: San Diego Sports Arena, March 24, 1973. After welcoming us to the "Sports Aroma," FZ asked whether we were the kind of audience who wanted "the show" the way they rehearsed it, or if we'd rather hear "something weird." After a big cheer for the latter, he said "Good, that's the kind of audience I like." The set opened with the medley of Exercise 4/Dog Breath/Uncle Meat/Fifty-Fifty and went on to include lots of exploratory improvisation, audience participation, the "Imaginary Diseases" rap, and even a couple of soon-to-be familiar songs, "Cosmik Debris" and "Montana." Special guest Don Preston sat in for the second half of the show, sharing George Duke's keyboard station (Ian Underwood played woodwinds only, no keys). Fantastic show; one of my most cherished concert memories ever.

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New album RATS' ALLEY available now!
https://michaelpdawson.bandcamp.com

The first time was the best: Spring 1973 at The Auditorium Theater in Chicago. Me and my buddy went to Sears to buy tickets at Ticketron (remember that?) for Mahavishnu, but they were sold out. I asked who else was coming to town and the clerk said Frank Zappa, so we bought tickets immediately. This was essentially the Roxy band, but with Sal Marques, Ian Underwood and Walt Fowler. He started off by telling the audience that while the Auditorium was a world class venue, the people backstage were too worried about losing their jobs and could EAT him. Anyway, he was playing a mix of Roxy era stuff along with much of Apostrophe and Overnight Sensation. It blew us away. I couldn't believe people could even play that stuff live.

Also, we got busted for possession, but managed to slip away in the crowd and enjoyed the rest of the show... whew!

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Everytime we picked a booger we'd flip it on this one winduh. Every night we'd contribute, 2, 3, 4 boogers. We had to use a putty knife, man, to get them damn things off the winduh. There was some goober ones that weren't even hard...

None. Never saw him. I guess ZPZ would have to be the best.

Just came across this posted back in May. My first FZ concert, third row dead center.

Yes, I'm certain I can hear myself screaming!

Not really.

But anyway, this is fantastic...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmmr4wa4g-c

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I can't tell when you're telling the truth.
>I'm not.
How do I know anything you've said to me is...
>You don't.

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You even thought you was getting ripped from it
No problem

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I can't tell when you're telling the truth.
>I'm not.
How do I know anything you've said to me is...
>You don't.

Lots of memories of Spring '73 here. There must be some of the March-Aoril stuff in the vault. PLEASE Joe, get me some Princeton April '73.

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If we're dumb . . .
Then God is dumb . . .
(An' maybe even a little bit ugly on the side)

My best FZ concert experience was my first. I saw The Mothers (Flo & Eddie version) at the Fillmore East, November 1970.
I don't remember the day, but it was an early show. I don't remember hearing any 200 Motels material at all. It was mostly old "hits,"
a couple of tunes from Chunga's Revenge. A really wild version of Chunga with Ian on wah-wah sax and then Frank came in
with an incredible solo. Instead of an encore, The Mothers came back and threw little boxes of prunes at the audience.
Flo & Eddie scared the hell outta me. LOL!
Last time I saw FZ was at FDU in '88.The horn section he had was amazing!

I must say, in repeatedly listening to the youtube of my first show 10/29/78, I definitely appreciate this performance more now than I did then. Strange but true. Not that I wasn't fanatical back then, but in terms of the performed music and Frank's incredible solos, I think much of it went over my 21 year old head. Back then I was more caught up in the event itself.

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I can't tell when you're telling the truth.
>I'm not.
How do I know anything you've said to me is...
>You don't.

Trying to reconstruct the set list played, when I saw The Mothers at the Fillmore East in November 1970.
It's really odd. The gig list website doesn't even list the show I saw. It was an early show and it closely resembles
the 11/13?/70 early show on "The Fillmore Tapes." up to "You Didn't Try To Call Me." After that, "Would You Go
All The Way?" and "Rudy..." was played. "Sharleena" was also played, as was "Chunga's Revenge." They closed
the set with "King Kong." The Sanzini Brothers also made an appearance throughout the set. The famous "pyramid
trick" was done, and Flo did a sword swallowing act. I also remember Flo kept throwing his tambourine
up in the air and failed to catch it. He would run around the stage trying to get it back, while Frank gave him the
"eyebrow" treatment as he did so. Jeff Simmons did his beer spilling routine on some guy in the audience. Jeff
handed the guy a towel.

Many thanks to everyone for sharing these concert experiences. Sadly the only experience I've ever had is what I've been able to obtain on DVD and of course the live material both offiicial and unofficial.

So far I'd have to say Roxy the movie get's first place. What a fantastic concert. Baby Snakes comes next and then there's random clips on You tube.

DZ tour dates for the west coast!

1/11/17 Vinyl Music Hall Pensacola, FL
1/12/17 Culture Room Fort Lauderdale, FL
1/13/17 Ponte Vedra Concert Hall Ponte Vedra, FL
1/14/17 The Plaza Live Orlando, FL
1/15/17 Jannus Live St. Petersburg, FL
1/17/17 Bijou Theatre Knoxville, TN
1/18/17 The Orange Peel Asheville, NC
1/19/17 Lincoln Theatre Raleigh, NC TICKETS
1/20/17 Neighborhood Theatre Charlotte, NC
1/21/17 Marathon Music Works Nashville, TN
1/22/17 Express Live! Columbus, OH
1/24/17 Kalamazoo State Theatre Kalamazoo, MI
1/25/17 The Castle Theatre Bloomington, IL
1/26/17 First Avenue Minneapolis, MN TICKETS
4/25/17 The Commodore Ballroom Vancouver, BC
4/27/17 Roseland Theatre Portland, OR
4/28/17 Harrah's Lake Tahoe South Shore Room Stateline, NV
4/29/17 Warfield Room San Francisco, CA
4/30/17 The Uptown Theatre Napa, CA
5/2/17 The Catalyst Santa Cruz, CA
5/3/17 Tower Theatre Fresno, CA
5/4/17 Belly Up Solana Beach, CA
5/5/17 Rialto Theatre Tucson Arizona
5/6/17 Fonda Theatre Los Angeles, CA

So glad SoCal got a Saturday show(5/6)! I will try for the 'Belly Up' show also.

^^Seems odd to go from Solana Beach to Tucson back to LA in a back to back to back.

That reminded me of the sort of answer you'd get from Trendmonger, if you asked him for his best concert experience.

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You're probably wondering why I'm here
(not that it makes a heck of a lot of a difference to ya)

It's no surprise to me. They've done this in the past.

Just keep those wheels a spinnin'!



@jpd - we're taking over.

Hiding Da-weez in plane site so to speak...we have secured Uptown Napa tickets, but I could consider an LA Trip for the Fonda show...

In December of 1980, a friend of mine got me a ticket to see Frank at the Berkeley Community Theater.

I didn't make it. My friend ended up selling the ticket to someone else.

Parts of the show were released on Tinseltown Rebellion.

It was probably somebody's best Zappa concert experience: just not mine...

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I'm petulant, and I'm having a frenzy...

I've got my Fonda ticket.

The venue can hold 1,200. It's smaller than The Saban in Beverley Hills. There was no floor seating when we saw ZPZ w/George Duke back in 2010. It'll be the same for this show.
I'm getting used to surprise guests at the LA shows, so I hope Vinnie's in town again (Ya right! That could never happen twice. Never) Vinnie will be in Hollywood to play two Sting concerts in February, though.

It'll be great to return to the venue where I met George Duke! Hope to see you down here Plookman