Carl-Diem-Halle, Würzburg, Germany – April 22nd, 1988
Disc 3 (78:32): Crowd/Tuning, Heavy Duty Judy, Band Intro, Ring Of Fire, Packard Goose Medley, Cosmik Debris, Who Needs The Peace Corps?, I Left My Heart In San Francisco, What’s New In Baltimore?, Inca Roads, Advance Romance, Disco Boy, Teenage Wind, Bamboozled By Love, The Torture Never Stops Medley (incl. Inca Roads), I Ain’t Got No Heart
Disc 4 (65:10): Love Of My Life, City Of Tiny Lights, A Pound For A Brown, Stairway To Heaven, Encore Break, Ring Of Fire II, Bolero, Encore Break #2, Bobby Brown, Joe’s Garage, Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?, Encore Break #3, Ring Of Fire III, I Am The Walrus, The Illinois Enema Bandit
Würzburg is the best show in this collection and is perhaps the best Zappa show in 1988. The official release The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life has much of this show including part of “Heavy Duty Judy,” “Ring Of Fire,” “Cosmik Debris,” most of “Who Needs The Peace Corps?,”I Left My Heart In San Francisco,” the saxophone solo and ending of “Inca Roads,” part of “The Torture Never Stops Part One.”
The same three Germans from Cologne Dirk, Tom and Tommy beg for a secret word and get one. Zappa gives a long introduction, saying: Hello! Boy, got y’all JAMMED in here, don’t dey? What’s that say?
“Okay . . . Alright, guys, you’re looking for another secret word? The secret word for tonight is RING OF FIRE! Let me try ‘n explain this to you, folks: This afternoon at the hotel I was introduced for the first time to Johnny Cash, and Johnny was going to come to the concert tonight, and he was going to sing with us.
“Unfortunately his wife got sick so he can’t come tonight, BUT . . . this afternoon we actually learned how to play a reggae version of ‘Ring Of Fire,’ and we’ve been trying to decide whether or not we oughta play it even if Johnny’s not gonna sing it. Now, maybe you can help us decide. How many people would like to hear ‘Ring Of Fire’ if Johnny is not going to sing it? How many people DON’T want to hear ‘Ring Of Fire?’ I think most people want to hear ‘Ring Of Fire.’ Okay, here it comes, folks . . .”
The secret word, and reoccurring musical motif, is the reggae arrangement of Johnny Cash’s “Ring Of Fire.” Midway through the show, Ike remembers all the fun he had in the ’84 tour, when Secret Words ran rampant and nothing was sacred. He thus play games such as in “Bamboozled By Love” singing silly lines like “You know I ring her nice and kind, the way no other fire can”, and “I caught her ringing off some other man.”
Frank adds to the fun, singing his lines in a horrible yet hilarious Johnny Cash voice and by the time “Ain’t Got No Heart” rolls around, everyone is doing it.
“Stairway to Heaven” becomes “Stairway to Fire” and the three instrumental tunes of the evening, “Pound,” “Bonanza,” and “Bolero” are riddled with “Ring Of Fire” references. Frank is having such a good time that he even takes requests, playing “Bobby Brown” in response to an audience chant, throwing in the line “Tell Rosalyn she can kiss my heinie.”
And to top it all off, the band plays “Ring of Fire” two more times (with a mariachi verse thrown in), because as Frank says, “that is the sickest thing we could do.”
There are solid improvisations and performances in addition to these with such stand outs like “Inca Roads”, “Bamboozled By Love”, “The Torture Never Stops”, and especially “Advance Romance.” But Würzburg is really good for the humor, loosening up the band dramatically and driving the band into interesting musical directions.
Die Texte sind vielleicht vor 40 Jahren provokativ gewesen, bewegen sich aber überwiegend unter der Gürtellinie und erinneren eher an den Fäkalhumor eines Kindergartenkindes.
