Just to keep my life a bit different I decided to go to a type of concert that I wouldn’t normally go to.
I bought my tickets to see Dweezil Zappa about three weeks prior to the concert. The cost was about $45 and no nonsense service charge... I believe one of the sponsors for the show paid for this (thank you!). It was held at the Commodore Ballroom on Granville Street and this was my first time to go to this place.
I guess I chose this concert because I used to listen to some of my father’s Frank Zappa albums when I was a child. I figured I would recognize some of the songs being performed so I wouldn’t be completely lost during the performance.
The concert started at 7:30 and the doors opened at around 7:00ish. While waiting in line it was dumping rain and the line up went around the corner of Granville and Smithe. The people waiting in line were mostly people in their 50’s and 60’s but I’m guessing 25% were younger people in their 20’s and 30’s.
Getting into the Commodore Ballroom and walking up several flights of stairs, I could get a nice feel of what the place looked like after reaching the main floor. It’s huge... there’s a balcony area and seats around where people can enjoy drinking booze. There’s a spacious enough stage and... a wide area to “dance”.
When I entered, most people were mingling and drinking and there was only one row of people in front of the stage. I saw an opening in the corner and figured, why not stand in the front row. By the time the show started I’d figure there was about a thousand people in the place, all behind me.
The concert started promptly. The band consisted of six... or should I say seven people. Drums, guitar, sax (also flute, keyboards and vocals), trumpet (also trombone and lead vocals), bass, keyboards and the sound guy (vocals for one song). Most of the musicians seem multi-talented as they can play various instruments proficiently.
The concert was obviously loud and they played the usual fare of Frank Zappa tunes. The tunes that I can remember off the bat, are Teenage Prostitute, Penguin in Bondage, some tunes from the Hot Rats album (or was it just one song...), Baby Snakes and Ride My Face to Chicago.
Dweezil Zappa seems to know how to develop his solos quite well. The lead singer and trumpet/trombone player hammed it up well especially with the vocals... also, there was some nice work with the lewd glissandos on the trombone. The keyboard player was jumping all over the place. The bass player seemed young... and his bass solo towards the end of the concert didn’t strike me as particularly interesting. The drummer had a good workout during this concert... and the female sax/keyboard player did a nice 80’s style dance.
This music is incredibly challenging and probably required quite a bit of rehearsing. I don’t think it was quite as tight as how Frank Zappa’s groups would have played but I was satisfied with Dweezil Zappa and his group’s performed. All of it was played by memory which is quite impressive.
The group played several encores for the Vancouver audience. I peered at the audience every once in a while and lots of people were getting into the music, singing away. There was a faint smell of "grass" throughout this concert and lots of drunks.
At the end of the concert, Dweezil told the audience that he would sign some stuff and I could see someone hand him a record of his father’s to sign. I wonder how it feels to sign your father’s album... some fans sure lack common sense.
