Frank Zappa
UIC Pavilion, Chicago, IL
Saturday, August 18, 1984
Source: Sennheiser 421 > D5 > DAT
Transfer: D8 > MAudio DiO 2448 > Soundforge 5.0 > CDWave 1.62 > SHN v3.1

Transferred, tracked, and shortened by Pete (medeski42@yahoo.com)

Disc One:

1.  Intro >					01:25
2.  Zoot Allures >				07:31
3.  More Trouble Every Day >			04:40
4.  Penguin In Bondage >			04:21
5.  Hot Plate Heaven At The Green Hotel >	05:40
6.  City Of Tiny Lights >			07:37
7.  You Are What You Is >			03:40
8.  Mudd Club >					02:43
9.  The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing >		03:02
10. Dumb All Over//				05:22
11. He's So Gay >				03:19
12. Bobby Brown >				02:34
13. Keep It Greasy 				03:22
14. Don't You Want A Man Like Me? >		03:53
15. Carol You Fool >				03:37
16. Chana In De Bushwop >			03:45

Disc Two:

1. Let's Move To Cleveland			14:02

Encore One:

2.  Cosmik Debris >				05:02
3.  Sharleena#					07:23
4.  Ride My Face To Chicago			05:05

Encore Two:

5.  The Illinois Enema Bandit			08:23

# - splice in middle

01/06/02

August 18th, 1984
The first hour of this show is probably the most boring I've heard 
so far from this tour. The playing is tight and accurate, but sounds 
very much routine - especially FZ's guitar solos. Apart from a few 
inspired moments in Green Hotel and an energetic-as-always Dumb All 
Over, it's all just a huge plate of noodles. "What about the legendary 
1984 band humour, then?", you might ask. Well folks, no luck there 
either - the only signs of secret words or chatting with the audience 
during the first hour are four Abbondanzas and FZ telling the names of 
the new albums. 

The only thing that saves this hour from utter disaster is Scott's 
playing, which is overall awesome. The soft, high-pitched chord 
playing in Zoot Allures, the sudden outburst into the Light My 
Fire riff in Penguin In Bondage and his telepathic ability to 
suddenly play in unison with Frank in Hot Plate Heaven...what 
a guy. 

But then, halfway through the show, things begin to happen. FZ throws 
in a couple of "He's gay!" in Keep It Greasey, and the rest of the band 
wakes up, making Honey/Carol/Chana an amusing listening experience. In 
Let's Move To Cleveland, Alan Zavod stretches out in a really long solo 
(not too bad if you ask me). At one point, FZ bursts in with a few notes, 
which made me picture a scenario like "Your time's up, Alan - now's my turn" 
- "Hey, I haven't done *The Volcano* yet". And Alan does his volcano, before 
it's time for the undisputable highlight of the show: The Cleveland Guitar 
Solo From Hell. 

The band has now binned the old Cleveland vamp, instead utilizing the 
spontaneous-vamp-principle. And tonight they come up with a really spooky
 one. I was listening to this in my Walkman, while taking a walk in the 
dark 'n cold Swedish winter night, and did actually get scared. Scott's 
baseline is based on the minor 5th interval, which together with some 
gloomy chords on the keyboards provides a powerful backdrop for FZ's 
solo. And the solo is just as sinister as the rest of the music - terrific! 

When the band enters the stage for the encores, they're noticably more 
inspired than the last time. We are presented with a real rarity: FZ 
just triggers a loop and starts soloing over it while the band catches 
up, a la the 1988 band. An amusing Cosmik Debris follows, with a new 
secret word - something about a detelligent-spray-something, that I 
didn't get. Pretty good solo, and we get an even better one in Sharleena. 

The second encore consists of two songs with regional connection. First, 
FZ announces the world premiere of Ride My Face To Chicago (sorry Frank 
- it was premiered in June 1982 already), still under development and 
different from the version we know. In the guitar solo, FZ shows that 
he did have more than one guitar sound to choose from. It doesn't lead 
anywhere though, almost as if he can't find the key. Lastly, we get an 
Illinois Enema Bandit, full of detelligent, whatever that is. The solo 
is almost inaudible due to the loud vamp. 

--JN