A friend of mine has asked me several times to write about what I felt was the most disappointing concert I’d ever been to. I’ve already mentioned a couple, Poco at the Shakespearean Theatre in Stratford, CT, mostly because of the horrendous acoustics, and the fourth Cream concert I went to in 1967-68 at the New Haven Arena, not a terrible show but it paled in comparison with the other three.
The most disappointing? I have to pair it with an outstanding one by the same artist, but there’s little doubt that Frank Zappa at the Waterbury Palace on Oct. 29, 1975 is the one. I know the exact date because of meticulous archiving of many of Zappa’s concert dates on the Internet.
Almost one year before on Nov. 28, 1974, I had seen Zappa at the same venue with a large band, which included Ruth Underwood, vibes, xylophone and marimba, George Duke, keyboards, Tom Fowler, bass, Bruce Fowler, trombone, Walt Fowler, trumpet, Ralph Humphrey, drums, Napoleon Murphy Brock, vocals and sax, and Frank on lead guitar and vocals, essentially the Roxy & Elsewhere band. There were a few other band members. I don’t recall who they were, but it was a large ensemble. Obviously expensive to travel with.
I had always been aware of Zappa and really liked some of his material from the ’60s. But when I was living and playing with the Aiardo brothers, Tony and Peter, in New Haven, from about 1973-75, they along with an outstanding drummer from Virginia, Peter Nowlin, whom we were working with, turned me on to Overnight Sensation. That album really turned my head around about Zappa. It was brilliant.
There are still a couple of tracks I might skip over at times when I give it a listen, but on the whole, this was Zappa hitting one of his many peaks. And his guitar playing was stunning. I didn’t realize he was that proficient.
Peter Nowlin and his girlfriend took me to that ’74 Palace show. We sat in the balcony, which weren’t bad seats at all. The perspective was very high and we were looking almost straight down on to the band, so we could see the depth of the stage and the band members really well. Continue reading Concerts Vol. 10: Zappa and Zappa
The place was called The Stone Balloon and was fashioned directly after the Cafe Au Go Go in New York. It was a long, narrow room with a low ceiling. Tables and chairs took up most of the audience area in front of a small stage on the right-hand side wall toward the front half of the room. Unlike the Au Go Go it was brightly lit between sets. The Au Go Go was always like a cave.
The Amherst, Mass., based trio mixes elements of blues and jazz into its melodic and involved riffs, unusual rhythms and a decided accent on the instrumental and improvisational side to its songs. In fact, sometimes it seems the songs exist simply to push the musical side of the compositions further along.