Ween Helps Close Out The First Bonnaroo On This Date In 2002

This date in 2002 marked the final day of the inaugural Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee. As we mentioned yesterday, the first-ever Bonnaroo festival brought together nearly every major act in the jam scene including Trey Anastasio (Phish was on hiatus at that point), Phil Lesh & Friends with Bob Weir, moe., The String Cheese Incident, Galactic, Gov’t Mule and Widespread Panic. The event drew approximately 70,000 attendees to Manchester with little promotion after selling out in only 11 days. One act on the bill that showed the diversity that would soon overtake Bonnaroo lineups was Ween.

The New Hope, Pennsylvania rockers not only performed at Bonnaroo 2002, but went on to play the event three more times through 2010 and returned again earlier this month. Ween’s set at the first-ever Bonnaroo on June 23, 2002 was a scorcher filled with the band’s best material. The 20-song masterpiece focused on songs from Chocolate & Cheese including “Roses Are Free,” a song Phish started covering in 1997 and was very familiar to a crowd filled with jam fans. An audience recording of the set can be heard below as well as pro-shot video of “Roses Are Free.”

Watch pro-shot video of Ween’s “Roses Are Free” from Bonnaroo 2002:

Audio (via Archive)