Venue:
Oxford New Theatre
Date: 08/12/2019
So, Dweezil is 50 and so is Hot Rats, and a bunch of predominantly old farts turned out to celebrate. It was my second DZ gig in Oxford, having lucked into a front row seat to see him play Apostrophe, my all time fave FZ album, complete with some pre hologram guitar interplay with some film clips. That evening set the bar pretty high and I wondered how well an evening of Rats would compare.
This time I was accommodated in the middle of row N – a good view of the stage for sure (in fact better than the front row where the back of the stage drops out of sight), but in seats that only a midget could describe as comfortable. The woman next to me liked to mark time with her right foot – I know because I felt every slightly off the beat stomp. More than a little distracting.
But what of the music? The mix was clear and not so loud as to trouble those of us with hearing aids, although not quite loud enough to drown out the Boden clad arsetrumpet behind me who clearly hasn’t had an unexpressed thought since Hot Rats first release. A slight oddity in that the set opened with “Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow” before walking through “Rats” in the order it was presented on disc. I’m not enough of a Zappa fan to know just how close DZ kept to the originals. All I can say is that I barely noticed he covered all the violin parts on the guitar and “Peaches” and “Gumbo Variations” never sounded any better to me. No sign of the brown Gibson SG – DZ used a gold Les Paul with a Bigsby arm for most of the set.
The end of “Rats” signaled half time, allowing Boden man a chance to get himself and his spawn another 2 rounds of Budvar, while I attempted to try and uncrowbar myself out of my seat, just in time for the house lights to dim again, and a second half of some fairly eclectic song choices. “Montana” was an easy to spot starter but thereafter there were songs I knew – “Who Needs The Peace Corps”, “Bamboozled By Love”, “Heavenly Bank Account”, “Any Downers” and a few I either had to rely on DZ’s intros (like “Twinkle Tits”, or Setlist.fm (“Here Lies Love”, “Cletus Awreetus- Awrightus”). Oh and “My Sharona”.
Scheila Gonzalez was the only band member I recognized from the previous gig. I hope she’s getting paid as much as the best of the band put together as she’s pretty much a key part of every song she plays sax, flute, percussion, keyboards and guitar. That said Adam Minkoff isn’t that far behind in terms of versatility and does a first class job on vocals.
When I saw the “Apostrophe” set, it came across as Dweezil paying / playing a respectful compliment, but not trying to “be” Frank. This set was different. Dweezil’s patter with the crowd seemed to be more in FZ’s voice and style, and the part where Minkoff pretends to be Johnny “Guitar” Watson for some improvised joshing with Dweezil was amusing but very directly lifted from almost any FZ gig in the 70’s onwards, and I was left unsure if I really liked the degree to which appreciation had morphed to imitation.
The audience:
Not just men over the age of 60. But they were in the majority.
It made me think..
A set of very difficult songs, played to a very high standard.
Beat me to it, a day or so behind in Brum. Disclaimer alert, I am no Uber fan of FZ but I adore Hot Rats, buying it a year or so after release and absorbing every note into my dna ever since. I too was a tad off footed by the Yellow Snow intro but the minute Peaches parped out I was in heaven. Sheila Gonzales was astonishing, channeling Ian Underwood in the form of a sassier Latino Ruth. No fan of The vocals on the original, the multi tasker on keys, flute, guitar and percussion did a great job, removing all the farting from Willie the Pimp, before the boy Dweezil extrapolated around his dads solo for the defined 10 mins. Lovely, but not a patch on Son of Mr Green Genes which was glorious, a highlight. It Must be a Camel and Umbrella wotsit, never played live ahead of this tour were rolled out convincingly and enthralled, only Gumbo Variations palling. A bit boring. Second half was newer material, all very clever and/ or trite. Some I knew, but this was not for me. I had had my fill and some , making a sharp exit, home by 11. All in all a worthwhile experience, Dweezil being pleasingly gauche. And, sure he can play, surrounded likewise by virtuosi that made him lightweight, if only by comparison. The bassist deserves a particular mention too, no slouch, as was the thunderous drummer. Thanks, Mr Zappa, for making this happy man very old.
I was at the Oxford gig too – thankfully no Boden. It was great I thought. The guitar is period accurate – it could even be the one used to record the album with, being a single-coil Les Paul, giving a more mellow sound than the biting SG tone Z Snr settled on for most of his live work in the 70s.
Agree entirely with your opinions on the HR material retro. The second half actually featured a fair bit of earlier material, as well as quite a chunk from the first half of You Are What You Is (so I was in heaven!) I missed the end of the first half thanks to a gallstone attack – about which the staff were incredibly good. Thank God it had passed just in time for the 2nd half. Yes Gonzales was good, but Dweezil was the virtuoso. Spellbinding playing I thought. He’s as awkward and straight as ever in his banter – the Johnny Guitar Watson thing was painful I thought – but has assembled a great band (awesome bass and drums, although, it must be said, few FZ bands were ever this white) and was clearly enjoying himself. A great gig.
What happened to @bartleby ?
Seconded.
I don’t know, but I suspect he may have left because he was one of the few posters that were right of centre. I think we believe this place to be more welcoming than it actually is.
Come here and say that, shithead!
Thanks for that. Mouth-watering. I’m looking forward to seeing this in Sydney in April.
And if you liked Cletus Awreetus-Awrightus you may also enjoy this rather wonderful track from the album from which the aforementioned CAA came.
Ladies and gentlemen – Mr George Duke…
I went to the Brum venue as well and agree with Retropath, was a bit thrown by the start but soon got into the gig. Thankfully the seats at the Town Hall are pretty comfortable with decent legroom, especially for someone like me who bought the album the day it came out when I was 15.
He certainly has his father’s touch on the guitar, effortlessly working his way through his old man’s solos. He was superbly backed up by his band with everyone playing their part and certainly Sheila Gonzales earned her fee with some superb sax work. The bass player did have an uncanny resemblance to Scott Thunes, FZ’s old player.
Agreed that the second half got a little bit lost especially during the Johnny Guitar Watson bit veering off into some Prince Andrew nonsense followed by Something about Ian Anderson and his one legged flute playing. You could sense the audience were getting a bit restless. Soon he was back on track and finished off pretty strongly with Muffin Man, featuring some kid from the audience who ripped up a few solos, a terrific version of Tears Began to Fall and finally the title track from Weasels Ripped My Flesh, according to DZ recorded 50 years ago in that very hall.
You could tell the audience demographic from the t-shirts bought a good few years ago, now stretching round the seams a bit, balding grey hair with ponytail. That and the gents queue was considerably longer than the ladies.