Zappa Plays Zappa

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2006 Concert Poster

Zappa Plays Zappa is the name of a concert tour and band led by Dweezil Zappa, the oldest son of the late American composer and musician Frank Zappa, devoted to performing the music of Frank Zappa.

The band debuted in 2006 with shows in Europe, Canada and the United States during May and June (the tour was also known as Zappa Plays Zappa - Tour de Frank'). The shows presented a collection of Frank Zappa's rock-oriented compositions from 1960s to 1980s. Apart from Dweezil Zappa on lead guitar, the band consisted of a mix of relatively unknown young musicians and older musicians who previously played with Frank Zappa. Among those, Napoleon Murphy Brock (sax, flute and vocals) was an integral part of the band, while drummer (and singer) Terry Bozzio and electric guitarist Steve Vai performed as guests in parts of the shows. At several shows Frank Zappa himself performed a song posthumously via synchronized audio/video technology, notedly solos in Chunga's Revenge.

After a break, the band played again in the US during the Fall of 2006, including a show in New York on October 31. This revived Frank Zappa's tradition of playing Halloween shows in New York. A DVD documenting the 2006 tour is planned for release in 2007.^[1]

In July and August 2007, the band played a North American tour, with a core line up similar to that of the 2006 band. The band then played in Europe during September and October, before returning to the US, starting with another Halloween show in New York. Special guest on the tour is vocalist and guitarist Ray White.^[2] They ended the 2007 tour in Australia in early December before doing a handfull of shows in Japan in January 2008. Steve Vai returned as a guest on those shows. A brief tour of U.S. and Canadian dates is currently scheduled for the Summer of 2008 with the same line-up as the 2007 tour.^[3]