Frank Zappa concert review
Auckland Town Hall in Auckland, New Zealand
Fri, 16 Jan 1976

I don’t know what gig the above fan/reviewer attended but it was not the 1976 Auckland Town Hall gig. Neither Don “Sugarcane” Harris nor Jimmy Carl Black were part of the band Frank had with him that evening. Original bass player Roy Estrada was there along with drummer extraordinaire Terry Bozio, saxophonist Napoleon Brock Murphy and a keyboardist who’s name has escaped my memory.
But the gig was completely brilliant. One of the very best I’ve ever witnessed.

A fabulous concert! First thing to note is that on arrival at the entrance to the Town Hall, a crowd of us were told the show was oversold, so despite already having tickets we should leave and seek a refund on Monday! I immediately took action in all the commotion and slipped through inside unnoticed, taking a seat ultimately directly behind Zappa the band where plenty of seats were in fact empty. It was a classic lineup as i recall with the likes of Sugarcane Harris raging on violin and Jimmy Carl Black doing his declaration of being “the Indian in the group” (I’m surprised that his byline was never noted in the doco Rumble: the Indians who rocked the World)☀️ Zappa, shirtless most of the concert was on form playing searing guitar and also probing fluffy toys while the saxman Napoleon threw up green jelly on people in the front row It would great to find the song list but for sure the Mothers that night played a stack of their classics of that era☀️????