Zappa Plays Zappa announces 2007 tour

Frank Zappa's son Dweezil Zappa is once again taking his father's music on tour. Dweezil has announced the 2007 itinerary for the Zappa Plays Zappa tour, with the 30-date North American leg starting July 18th in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and ending August 23rd in Los Angeles. The shows will feature Frank Zappa on video "playing" with the musicians on stage, and the footage will change throughout the tour.

Dweezil, who plays lead guitar in the group, said, "I think my Dad's music deserves to be heard by a wider audience. I really think he's been misunderstood for far too long, which brings me back to why I'm doing this: I'm so in awe of his accomplishments and want more and more people to know about him, and I think the best way for people to first discover his music is on a visceral level in a live situation. I think you have to be confronted with the complexity and the beautiful subtlety of all of it to fully appreciate the artistry of it."

This marks the second time around for Zappa Plays Zappa, and Dweezil said, "What we're preparing to do for this tour is perhaps even more complex than what we did on the first tour. Last year, we learned about 40 songs from a very popular period of Frank's career, and this year we will be learning about 30 more new ones that are somewhat more obscure. The tour will include material from (the albums) We're Only In It For The Money, Absolutely Free, Weasels Ripped My Flesh, Joe's Garage, You Are What You Is, The Yellow Shark, and much more, including orchestral works."

Dweezil is also working on DVD from the 2006 tour that will hopefully be out in time for this year's dates.

Following a short break after the North American gigs, Zappa Plays Zappa heads to Europe for shows between September 25th in London and October 14th in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Zappa Plays Zappa North American itinerary (subject to change):
July 18 - Winnipeg, MAN - Manitoba Centennial Centre
July 19 - Detroit Lakes, MN - Soo Pass Ranch
July 20 - Chicago, IL - Civic Opera House
July 21 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave Eagles Club
July 22 - Indianapolis, IN - Murat Egyptian Room
July 24 - Cincinnati, OH - Moonlite Gardens At Coney Island
July 25 - Erie, PA - Warner Theatre
July 26 - Columbus, OH - Lifestyle Communities Pavilion
July 27 - Rochester Hills, MI - Meadow Brook Music Festival
July 28 - Cleveland Heights, OH - Cain Park
July 30 - Toronto, ONT - Hummingbird Centre For The Performing Arts
July 31 - Montreal, QUE - Metropolis
August 1 - Quebec City, QUE - Salle Albert-Rousseau
August 2 - Hampton Beach, NH - Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
August 4 - Boston, MA - Bank Of America Pavilion
August 5 - Red Bank, NJ - Count Basie Theatre
August 6 - Westbury, NY - North Fork Theatre At Westbury
August 8 - Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
August 9 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live!
August 10 - Norfolk, VA - The NorVa
August 11 - Asheville, NC - Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
August 13 - Tulsa, OK - Cain's Ballroom
August 15 - Albuquerque, NM - Kiva Auditorium
August 16 - Tucson, AZ - Fox Tucson Theatre
August 17 - Phoenix, AZ - Dodge Theatre
August 18 - Las Vegas, NV - House Of Blues
August 20 - Berkeley, CA - Berkeley Community Theatre
August 21 - San Diego, CA - House Of Blues
August 22 - Anaheim, CA - House Of Blues
August 23 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
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