zappa plays kinda

Review: Zappa Plays Zappa

By Stephen Fish | Wednesday, November 14, 2007, 05:59 PM

I thought it was odd that a concert promising so much energy was playing at Hogg Auditorium on UT’s campus, a sit-down venue with hardly any room for standing, let alone dancing. But just as I thought this, Dweezil Zappa and company took the stage; Zappa announced that the Tuesday night show would be filmed for a Zappa Plays Zappa DVD. This seemed to rally the crowd, who stood up and cheered as the first notes left the speakers.

After the first two songs I was impressed with the succinct sound, especially considering the variation of instruments on stage: gongs, xylophones, trumpets and saxophones, along with the usual guitar, bass, drums and keyboard. The backdrop to the second song was live footage of Frank Zappa in his prime, while Dweezil and the band filled in the blanks. The third song was a tribute to Austin, coming from the album “Bongo Furry,” which Frank recorded in Austin.

Dweezil and the rest of the musicians played for nearly three and a half hours and at times the music stalled. Guitar solos tended to drag on, leaving the rest of the band with little to contribute. But then Dweezil and company would bring the crowd back with ballads like “Quaalude Thunderclap,” a technical but emotionally charged song.

Midway through the concert, the band asked the audience for random phrases and special guest guitarist/vocalist Ray White went backstage and wrote a song with the offerings. The band performed the song through the vessels of jazz, then gospel and then finally in the form of an ’80s rock hyper ballad, showing the band’s range and diversity.

Dweezil has done a good job of mastering the technical art of his father’s music and I was surprised by how much emotion the music evoked. Frank’s music has been compared to a modern orchestra, and the band on Tuesday demonstrated its mastery of this “orchestration.” As the concert came to an end, the crowd members rose from their seats and began to dance, some making their way to the front of the stage. As the final notes played, Dweezil leaned into the microphone and uttered his father’s famous sign-off, “Goodnight Austin, wherever you are.”