Zappa, the musician-performer

Zappa was never what you would call theatrical. While his ideas were certainly out there, he was never in the business to put on a show. He was there for the music, and wanted to put the emphasis on it.

At the beginning of the "Does Humor Belong in Music?" DVD, he even states:
NO LASER WEAPONS
NO FOG
NO OVER-DUBS

it was really just his band, playing their songs. While they were a bit crazy, he wasn't going to put on a show just to please people. He was enough of a show by himself. And people loved it. The crowd during this show was very into it, despite the lack of special effects or dance breaks. And why would you need them, when Frank's music was so interesting already?

Zappa brought concerts back to the way they should be. At a Zappa concert, it was just the audience, Frank, and the talented musicians he was playing with. There would be no guitar smashing, no stage diving, no costume changes (though he did a bit of that in DHBIM, for comedic effect!). If the performers on stage hammed it up a bit, that's just because that's their personality. He never put on a stage act. What you saw with Zappa was what you got.

Zappa was very professional, both in the studio and onstage. He expected his band to perform to a specific standard no matter when they were playing, and was not afraid to speak his mind when people got out of line. He hand picked his performers to be the best of the best, and expected that to show on stage as well as in a recording.

And he did a damn good job of it, too - he motivated his band to do things that people had never heard before, and still can't be fully replicated today.