Dean Ween Makes Most Of Bonnaroo Experience With Backstage Jams & More

As reported, Ween finally made their fifth appearance at Bonnaroo on Sunday after performing at the event four times between 2002 and 2010. For guitarist Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo one set of music wasn’t enough, as he used the group’s backstage trailer to host a bevy of jams with other musicians on the bill at Bonnaroo.

Ween family member Monica Hampton shared a few clips of the backstage jams. The first finds Deaner on bass and former Fleet Foxes drummer Father John Misty (Josh Tillman) on drums for a jam that sounds like “Wipeout.” Kurt Vile – who was seen side stage playing air guitar during Ween’s set – appears in the clip watching the spontaneous jam along with a few kids who snuck in:

In the second clip, Mickey plays drums while his Ween bandmates Dave Dreiwitz (bass) and Glenn McClelland (keys) join in on a cover of “The Girl From Ipanema”:

Deaner also jammed with Les Claypool, Sean Lennon and Mark Ramos Nishita (aka Money Mark) of The Claypool Lennon Delirium though no footage was captured. Mickey explained the situation in a post on a Ween Facebook group, “We went directly from the stage to the trailer and started jamming—we had Kurt Vile and father john someone in tow, unbeknownst to me. monica filmed these. i wanna always have a trailer like this now! great way to meet and jam w new folks—i had a killer jam the night before w claypool, sean, and money mark that was on fire, but sadly wasn’t captured.”

Melchiondo had the opportunity to meet Grateful Dead/Dead & Company guitarist Bob Weir. Here’s the full version taken and shared by Monica Hampton:

Full show, pro-shot video of Ween’s Bonnaroo set can be viewed below: