Well my mini tour of ZPZ concerts has come to an end, and I feel elated to have experienced some staggeringly good performances, but also sad because I don't know when the next time I will be able to see them.
There have been many highs in the five shows that I attended, getting to hear Excentrifugal Forz and Uncle Remus every night was a big one for sure. Apart from the amazing music, my enjoyment was definitely enhanced by meeting up with various DZW members in all the different locations.
I have been privileged to spend more than a little time with The Noodler, Baggie Gary (and family) and Tom Waring. I met up with friends new and old in York, Gateshead, Coventry and Leicester, and Manchester became like DZW Friends Reunited!
It was great to also meet a few of our international friends, with France, Switzerland, Iceland and the USA being represented at various shows.
Here is a list of some of the things I liked, and some of the things I didn't like about the ZPZ UK Tour, 2011.
Things I Liked
Song selections over and above Apostrophe
Hearing (and seeing) Black Napkins
Peaches seguing into Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy at Leicester. The stuff of dreams.
Superb musicianship every night (even when Joe was sick)
Meeting Thomas Nordegg and Pete Jones. Gentlemen, both of them.
Sound quality at the shows. If you weren't in an extreme section of the audience, the sound was excellent every night.
The demeanour of the whole band and crew.
Getting to attend the soundchecks.
Hearing Bamboozled By Love, even if it was at the soundcheck.
The continuing evolution of Dweezil's guitar playing.
The continuing evolution of Ben's stagecraft.
The strength of the vocal harmonies
Dweezil's more animated onstage persona
Dweezil's passion and commitment.
Rollo (anyone know why Frank named it that?)
Probably lots more, but it's a long enough list already.
Things I Didn't Like
Nothing.
So there you have it, my tour is over, now what do I do? All replies will be treated with complete contempt unless they include ZPZ concert tickets.
If not for being a single parent Tom, that would have definite appeal. There is a remote possibility I could do Oz, but I'm waiting to see what the dates are first. I have friends in Melbourne who are long overdue a visit, but depends on school term times, etc.
Simples: Book a ticket to Los Angeles for 11 days in mid Feb 2011. Rent a car big enough to sleep in, live on MacBungholes and coffee and then you could see 9 ZPZ shows in ten days..... !!
Thanks Carmel. Through the magic of cyber storage, general site postings and youTube, I can piece together a rudimentary collage of my personal UK ZPZ tour of 2011. What fun it was too.
Relive the dream: Write down all the awesome anecdotes and random stuff that happened at the shows you attended so that in a couple of months, when the high fades and you feel like you need a Zappa fix, you can read over it and feel kickass again.
This is scientifically proven to work. =D (By the way, it sounds like you got to see an amazing tour. Props to living in the UK)
Sound advice Mars which I will follow to the letter, thanks.