While I respect the late great Frank Zappa and enjoy a bunch of his music, I'm not a hardcore fan. I do have about a dozen of his albums. A decent amount of his stuff doesn't knock me out for whatever reason. I certainly dig his guitar work.
So, when a ticket for Dweezil Plays Hot Rats came my way, I took it. I had heard that Dweezil was amazing live but had never investigated before.
Wow!! Great player, great band, great choice of material across the board. He did most (all?) of Hot Rats with a Goldtop Les Paul and just tore it up with a nasty old school tone. Honestly, the run-through of "Hot Rats" was plenty, but he then did a varied set of choices from across the FZ catalogue. He switched guitars and sounds, and his band could ride with every curve that came. The sax player was KILLER, amazing solo.
What I liked best was the the stripped-down band sounded massive, and they had great singing. Some of the vocals and instrumentation that sounded forced or gimmicky to me on records was sounding more organic tonight, and it was more of a guitar show than anything, which suits me fine.
The sax player took a great solo on this tune. I wish I had kept my camera rolling for the next few minutes because she went into the stratosphere:
Here is Dweezil ripping it up for a bit. I think this was still the Hot Rats set:
This is much later, when he was playing a Strat:
Anyway, it was incredibly rich night of music. These guys can do anything. I will certainly see them next time around.
Awesome, thx - really wanted to catch them last weekend at Jay Peak Vt - Hot Rats is my fave Frank listen (also Overnite Sensation) - Dweezil is the real deal, his Zappa Plays Zappa tour was also a great Great show a few years ago in Burlington
“Standing on the corner of the Lido Hotel, floozies in the lobby love the way I smell” - watta musician, the late great Frank
My wife and I caught their show last Saturday and I agree 100%.
The band was incredibly tight, great guitar work, vocals and vocal harmonies. They did total justice to Frank's genius.
The sax player you mentioned also played other woodwinds, keyboard and guitar... a true multi-instumentalist.
Hot Rats was great, as expected, but I also like a very bluesy "What Kind of Girl Do You Think We Are".
Nice, the opening riff was ablaze, tight band, the Gent on keys played bass with Amy Helm's band not too long, I've passed in the past, but I'll check them out in the future. Thanx
Seen them a few times, and they have been excellent every time. And yes, Scheila Gonzalez is a monster on sax ... might be a gimmick, but she played 2 saxes at the same time on one song and it was amazing.
Don't have tickets for this Chicago area show, but there is still time.... 
They were in Syracuse, NY last night at the Wescott Theatre but I, sadly, didn't make the trip down.
I was fortunate enough to see Dweezil a few years ago at the Saranac Brewery in Utica, NY and was blown away at what a talent he is. He and his entire band were fantastic. He was sill legally able to call his show/tour "Zappa Plays Zappa" so this was just before his mother's death and subsequent legal feud with his brother and sister over the Zappa name.
My buddy and I met him after the show and he was very gracious and friendly. Watching your clips makes me kick myself in the @ss for not checking out the show last night.
