Zappa plays Zappa's: Pete Griffin...

rulyøngo · #1 07-15-2006, 01:38 PM

Has anybody seen any of their shows??? How is his playing??? Does he makes justice to his predecesors???

I notice he uses a Lakland Joe Osborn 5 strings ( sweet!!!)....

Blkholesun · #2 07-16-2006, 09:36 PM

I saw the show opening night at the Tower in Philly. To tell you the truth he looks like he really knows what he's doing, but I only heard the bass a for a few seconds during the entire show. His sound just didn't cut through the rest of the band. I was disappointed, but to make up for it - Dweezil is amazing, the drummer (Zappa's old tech guy) is absolutely incredible, they have a great sax player/singer and the keyboard/horn section is awesome too. They have the Xylaphone as well. Oh and to top it off Steve Vai comes out halfway through the show and does things to the guitar that simply baffle you.

Hopefully they'll put a live disc out and the bass will show a little more. It was an awesome show, I'm sure he did his predecesors justice - everybody else did.

rulyøngo · #3 07-16-2006, 10:23 PM

Nice!!! Thanx, too bad about the bass not cutting through...

mister fister · #4 07-17-2006, 07:30 AM

saw their third show on the tour in oslo. amazing show, and i was really impressed at the diversity of the bass player.

dweezil was close to tears when he introduced the last songs, and they did 2 extras which wasnt planned

from the zpz blog:
"Last night in Oslo was another great show, and what a fantastic and energetic crowd! Dweezil even added two impromptu numbers during the encore as the audience was screaming so loud for more. He was clearly moved by the warmth and enthusiasm the audience displayed"

Bellbass · #5 10-25-2006, 07:42 AM

Saw the show yesterday in Montreal. Ooh man. Great band (nobody mentionned Napoleon Murphy Brock who sings and blows his horn just like in the old days) and close to perfect execution of the fantastic music of the late FZ. What an evening with the presence of Steve Vaï and Terry Bozzio. Wow. And what a bass player...Pete Griffin is his name? Well, Peter filled those enormous shoes with ease.

For all you FZ lovers, Dweezil's gang is a must-see.

bassmonkeee · #6 10-25-2006, 08:54 AM

Sweet. I'm going to the Atlanta show in December. I can't wait.

P. Aaron · #7 10-25-2006, 02:20 PM

Saw it in August here in Mich. It was awesome, especially when Bozzio came out...the intensity went up immeasureably.

Yeah, I'd see it again in a heartbeat.

P.S. All the musicians were KILLER, not just the bass player.

That stage was a NO SLOUCH ZONE!

Lazylion · #8 10-25-2006, 05:05 PM

I'll be seeing them Monday night in DC!

Ekim · #9 10-25-2006, 10:39 PM

I'll be going to see ZPZ in Louisville in December. I can't wait. Dweezil, Vai, Terry Bozzio and Joe Travers all on one stage. And that's just the guys I know and love!

msquared · #10 10-25-2006, 11:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by P. Aaron

P.S. All the musicians were KILLER, not just the bass player.

That stage was a NO SLOUCH ZONE!

+1

I saw it last week. I feel like I was ripping them off by only paying $45 for a ticket. The show was utterly fantastic, and it was humbling seeing Pete Griffin not only absolutely nailing everything, but doing it while bouncing around and not even bothering to look at his hands.

There is a lot of sound for those JO5s to cut through. Two guitarists at any given time, keyboards, mallet percussion, one and sometimes two horns, a solid-as-the-f-word drummer.. and that's before Bozzio's section of the set. That said, the sound guy could have done better. There were a lot of points in the set where the bass was buried until someone would stop playing, then you could hear the bass quite clearly.

VERS · #11 10-26-2006, 06:48 PM

Oh man what a show the ZpZ concert was, truly amazing. It was last thursday the 19th in KC, MO.

The bassist (Pete Griffin) was also great and his bass did cut through the band for me, very good stuff. He had a Fender Jazz V string (Black with White Pearloid, Rosewood). And I THINK 2 Laklands, 5 string Fretted (Sunburst with Tortoise PG, Maple) and a 5 string Fretless (Black with White, Rosewood).

Terry Bozzio and Steve Vai really pumped up the show. It was an awesome night.

msquared · #12 10-26-2006, 06:52 PM

Actually it was three JO5s. I was looking at the bridges pretty closely and they were all ovals. Later I checked up on his site, which confirmed.

Were you at the KC show? Where in the room were you? I wonder if my bass issues had to do with where I was.

VERS · #13 10-27-2006, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by msquared

Actually it was three JO5s. I was looking at the bridges pretty closely and they were all ovals. Later I checked up on his site, which confirmed.

Were you at the KC show? Where in the room were you? I wonder if my bass issues had to do with where I was.

I was in the back row, but the place wasnt too big, and i had binoculars... coulda sworn one of them was a fender.

rulyøngo · #14 10-29-2006, 07:58 PM

NICE!!!!

Lazylion · #15 10-31-2006, 07:43 AM

Last night's show was one of the best I've seen. I'm very impressed with Dweezil's playing and his "cool" onstage. The crowd was fired up and very responsive. They got standing ovations after every song! Lots of shouted song titles, but Dweezil stayed cool, and just said stuff like "I'm glad to see you're enjoying yourself." He seemed very happy with the reception the band was getting, as well he should have been! Napoleon Murphy Brock was onstage for almost the entire show and was very entertaining to watch, sang great and played sax and flute. Even Dweezil spent a lot of time watching him!
So, Pete Griffin. Wow, where did they find this kid? He did a fabulous job! He rocked out when it was time for that, handled the many difficult passages with ease and skill, and hung with the big boys, Bozzio and Vai, just like he'd been doing it for years. Even did a bit of vocals. I don't know how you could watch Bozzio play that gigantic kit (18 drums that I could see!) and not forget what you were doing, but he managed.
Well, I could gush for hours, but I gotta get to work. If the Dweez is coming your way, DON'T MISS THIS SHOW!!!!!
At the end, he said something about making it a yearly event. Please make it so! I'll be there.

bburk · #16 10-31-2006, 12:05 PM

Going to see ZPZ on Dec. 23. Cant' wait! One of my biggest regrets is not seeing Frank live before he died. (pun not intended, but appropriate none-the-less)

tZer · #17 12-15-2006, 09:45 AM

Just saw 'em last night in St. Louis and I was mentally projecting myself into Pete Griffin and trying very hard to live vicariously through him!

He rocked! He played finger-style, with a pick, slapped, pretty much anything he wanted!

I would love to have his job... If only I were worthy...

Pete Griffin - nice job, you lucky dog...

zombywoof5050 · #18 12-15-2006, 09:57 AM

I'll be seeing them this Sunday in Houston!

Ekim · #19 12-20-2006, 09:58 PM

I saw ZPZ in Louisville last week. Great show, without question. I was seated 2nd row, stage right.

Unfortunately, I couldn't hear the bass all that well, I think because I was right in front of the stage right PA.

But I did get a pick from Steve Vai, who played right in front of me the whole show, so it wasn't all bad!

zombywoof5050 · #20 12-21-2006, 01:08 PM

At the Houston show, he mostly played a 4-string Fender Jazz. He did play the Lakland 5's (fretted and fretless), but the majority of songs were played on the 4-string Fender Jazz.
Great show, BTW!