Opened by Local/house Band Crockett.

What a scene! 1,500 people jammed the Depot for each of two shows. Hundred Flowers reported that the Flying Burrito Brothers opened, minus Gram Parsons but with pedal steel guitarist Sneaky Pete, Barry Lieden, Rick Richards, and Chris Hillman, the only former Byrd in the group by this time. The Star’s Peter Altman found the country-rock band to be attractive and well-balanced but “without quite enough personality and fire.” They played bluegrass breakdowns, old hits like “Hand Jive,,” Byrds’ favorites like “One Hundred Years from Today,” neo-cowboy ballads and a song about going to Canada to beat the American draft.” They showed “fluency, a variety of styles, and recalled many eras and personalities. There was an inescapable derivativeness about much of the groups music, however, and a consistent failure to come up with the unexpected.” Zappa and the Mothers included the Turtles (Flo and Eddie), aka Howard Kaylan (the one with the shirt on) and Mark Volman (the fat one with no shirt on). Hundred Flowers was fixated on Volman, the fat one, apparently often mistaken for Larry Mondello, the fat kid on “Leave it to Beaver.” Volman joined the movement to petition KMSP to put “Beaver” back on TV. Dr. John the Night Tripper was also there in some capacity. Altman was not at all impressed with Zappa, at least the short 35-minute first show that he saw. “There were scattered shafts of outrageous insult and vulgarity (which were few but funny), but not much else. Musically the group was content to get by with bang, and there was almost none of the weird, oddly appealing sentimentality which in contrast with so much grossness is the key element in the usual Mothers’ formula. [Only] very isolated glimpses were all that could be seen of the Mothers’ antic invention and power to touch…” Scott Bartell’s review reveals that the Mothers did three long pieces, the first two of which were “Call on Any Vegetable” and “Duke.” Bartell said that Zappa told the audience that they were the most laid-back group he’d ever seen, and downtown Minneapolis was the most laid-back place he’d ever seen. Was that a compliment or a dig? Later Barthell reiterated that Zappa said this was the most polite and receptive audience he’d played for.