Ween Mixes Classics & Rarities At New York City Run Opener
By Scott Bernstein Apr 15, 2016 • 6:22 am PDT
The newly reunited Ween played their first show in the Northeast since Halloween 2011 last night at Terminal 5 in New York City. Co-founding members Aaron “Gene Ween” Freeman and Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo along with keyboardist Glenn McClelland, bassist Dave Dreiwitz and drummer Claude Coleman Jr. kicked off a run of three shows at Terminal 5 with a 31-song performance that mixed some of their best known material with deep cuts including an acoustic segment.
Ween is now five shows into a reunion that began with a three-night stand at 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, Colorado back in February and continued with a set at the inaugural Okeechobee Festival in early March. The five-piece performed before a capacity crowd of rowdy fans and once again shared the stage with a massive Boognish logo projected on a backdrop. Gener and Deaner were all smiles as the band came out and opened with “The Stallion Part 1” featuring Freeman shouting the lyrics into a megaphone. Ween worked in fan favorites “Roses Are Free” and “Happy Colored Marbles” ahead of “The Stallion Part 3.”
The main set rolled on with selections from throughout Ween’s career including the festive “Bananas And Blow” off 2000’s White Pepper, the jazzy “Your Party” from 2007’s La Cucaracha complete with electric piano solos from McClelland and “Japanese Cowboy” off 1996’s 12 Golden Country Greats, an album which Deaner mentioned turns 20 this July. “Japanese Cowboy” hadn’t been played since 1996 by any members of Ween until Gener’s set with Umphrey’s McGee at last year’s Summer Camp Music Festival. Ween did perform the song for the first time in nearly 20 years during the Broomfield run.
Rarity “Beacon Light” was up next along with a sing-along “Even If You Don’t” and Gener showing off his falsetto on “Freedom Of ’76.” From there, Ween played “The Grobe” and dusted off “Captain Fantasy” from 1991’s The Pod for the first time since December 30, 2011. A double dose of fantasies was completed with “Don’t Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy).” Live staple “Touch My Tooter” was followed by Ween’s 11th ever “Mononucleosis” and sixth “Boy’s Club.” An acoustic portion of the set was preceded by “Pandy Fackler,” the evening’s second song that hadn’t been performed yet in 2016 through that point in the show.
Ween played six songs with Gene and Dean seated on stools and utilizing acoustic axes. “Chocolate Town” kicked off the acoustic interlude and was followed by the first “Little Birdy” since 2009. One of the evening’s biggest surprises came next as Ween treated fans to “Get A Little Taste Of You” from Freeman and Melchiondo’s Z-Rock Hawaii collaboration with members of The Boredoms. Ween had last performed “Get A Little Taste Of You” over 15 years ago on January 2, 2001. “The HIV Song” and “Help Me Scrape The Mucus Off My Brain” led into the second-ever live rendition of “Kim Smoltz” which was played by request and closed the unplugged section of the show.
The main set concluded with five more tunes starting with “Pumpin’ 4 The Man,” which Deaner described as a song about pumping gas, and continued with “The Golden Eel,” “Baby Bitch,” “Frank” and “You Fucked Up.” Ween said farewell for the evening with a three song encore that began with the show’s only two tunes off the band’s 1990’s debut GodWeenSatan: The Oneness – the psychedelic excursions “Licking The Palm For Guava” and “Mushroom Festival In Hell.” The weird and wild oldies were followed by a comedown song in the form of “Someday,” another tune that hadn’t been played yet in 2016.
Ween returns to Terminal 5 tonight.
Videos
Setlist (via BrownBase)
Set: The Stallion pt 1, Roses Are Free, Happy Colored Marbles, The Stallion pt 3, Bananas And Blow, Your Party, Japanese Cowboy, Beacon Light, Even If You Don’t, Freedom of ’76, The Grobe, Captain Fantasy, Don’t Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy), Touch My Tooter, Mononucleosis, Boy’s Club, Pandy Fackler, Chocolate Town*, Little Birdy*, Get A Little Taste of You*, The HIV Song*, Help Me Scrape the Mucus Off My Brain*, Kim Smoltz*, Pumpin’ 4 The Man, The Golden Eel, Baby Bitch, Frank, You Fucked Up
Encore: Licking The Palm For Guava > Mushroom Festival In Hell, Someday
* – acoustic
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