UncleD on :
Definitely agree, Steve Via and Terry Bozzio made this concert worth going to....the show i saw in Canton OH last night was like guitar lessons for Dweezil. I was not impressed at all with Dweezil's playing or his band in general. The more complex parts of the songs seemed like they were slowed down and just not played correctly. The melodic percussionist doesn't have what it takes to play Frank's music. Where's Ruth!?! Even Napoleon was struggling with the vocals on Inca Roads and other tunes, a disappointment coming from one of the original FZ virtuoso vocalists.
Standing ovation for Steve Vai and Terry Bozzio, i.e., "The Real Thing". Thank you for honoring Frank's music, which would have otherwise been played by a mediocre Zappa cover band. Steve played every note and part perfectly, and Terry was right there with him. It was very much a, "let me show you how its done" feel. You just cant assemble any group of musicians to play Franks music. I would have substituted the vitality of the young musicians for more Zappa alumni. At least we would have been guaranteed the high caliber of musicianship necessary to take on such a challenging task as playing Franks music.
In all fairness, maybe i just caught them on an off night, but Dweezil seemed like he was either completely exhausted or smacked out...he almost forgot to introduce half of the band, and his playing was worse than "just not cutting it"....it was plain bad. His guitar was to loud and he was playing bad sounding notes. It was embarrassing, and disrespectful to Steve Vai; who should only be onstage playing with the best. Steve must have done it out of sympathy for for Dweezil, who's stage presence was very withdrawn. This seemed to happen after Steve Vai took the stage....not sure, maybe Dweezil just locked up from the intimidation of playing alongside one of the greatest guitarists alive. What a treat though, to here Steve Vai shred over Zombie Woof....and they did nail The Black Page, again thanks to Terry and Steve.
Im really hoping Steve and Terry put together a band in the near future that actual does justice to Frank's music. Keep trying Deezil, i give you credit for even attempting to pull this off. I'm sure its been an enormous amount of hard work but you are just not there yet....maybe next year, if Steve is willing to give you guitar lessons.
--Im out
Standing ovation for Steve Vai and Terry Bozzio, i.e., "The Real Thing". Thank you for honoring Frank's music, which would have otherwise been played by a mediocre Zappa cover band. Steve played every note and part perfectly, and Terry was right there with him. It was very much a, "let me show you how its done" feel. You just cant assemble any group of musicians to play Franks music. I would have substituted the vitality of the young musicians for more Zappa alumni. At least we would have been guaranteed the high caliber of musicianship necessary to take on such a challenging task as playing Franks music.
In all fairness, maybe i just caught them on an off night, but Dweezil seemed like he was either completely exhausted or smacked out...he almost forgot to introduce half of the band, and his playing was worse than "just not cutting it"....it was plain bad. His guitar was to loud and he was playing bad sounding notes. It was embarrassing, and disrespectful to Steve Vai; who should only be onstage playing with the best. Steve must have done it out of sympathy for for Dweezil, who's stage presence was very withdrawn. This seemed to happen after Steve Vai took the stage....not sure, maybe Dweezil just locked up from the intimidation of playing alongside one of the greatest guitarists alive. What a treat though, to here Steve Vai shred over Zombie Woof....and they did nail The Black Page, again thanks to Terry and Steve.
Im really hoping Steve and Terry put together a band in the near future that actual does justice to Frank's music. Keep trying Deezil, i give you credit for even attempting to pull this off. I'm sure its been an enormous amount of hard work but you are just not there yet....maybe next year, if Steve is willing to give you guitar lessons.
--Im out