Ween Keeps The Bust Outs Coming In Brooklyn

On Wednesday night Ween concluded a two-night stand at Brooklyn Steel in New York City as part of their most extensive tour of the decade. The five-piece featuring guitarists Aaron “Gene Ween” Freeman and Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo, bassist Dave Dreiwitz, drummer Claude Coleman Jr. and keyboardist Glenn McClelland continue to mine the extensive Ween repertoire for gems and last night both started and ended with acoustic segments.

Ween opened with the guitarists on acoustics for “Chocolate Town,” “Tried & True” and “Birthday Boy.” A rare “Help Me Scrape The Mucus Off My Brain” ended the initial unplugged section. The quintet went electric at first to power through “Take Me Away” and “Fat Lenny.” Up next was a huge treat as Ween dusted off “Cold & Wet” from GodWeenSatan: The Oneness for the first time since September 15, 2001 and just the second time since 1993.

The band continued on with a mix of staples such as “Bananas & Blow,” “I’ll Be Your Johnny On The Spot” and “Learnin’ To Love” as well as more rare material including “A Tear For Eddie,” “Mushroom Festival In Hell” and “Flutes Of The Chi.” A fun moment came towards the end of the set when Ween gave “Deez Nuts” a go. “Deez Nuts” is the band’s rendition of “These Eyes” by The Guess Who. Deaner & Co. tried to work through the different sections of the tune and Claude had a good time improvising lyrics. Ween hadn’t performed “Deez Nuts” since September 30, 2003.

Up next was “Polka Dot Tail” after which Deaner strapped on an acoustic. He teased portions of “Over The Hills & Far Away” and almost goaded his mates into following along, but instead “Drifter In The Dark” began. Gener played harmonica for “Drifter In The Dark.” Melchiondo kept using the acoustic for the set-closing sequence of “Powder Blue” and “Hey There Fancypants.” The encore also saw the guitarists go unplugged on “Don’t Shit Where You Eat” and “What Deaner Was Talking About.”

Watch a selection of fan-shot videos from Wednesday’s show:

[Help Me Scrape The Mucus Off My Brain | Captured by Monica Hampton]

[Birthday Boy | Captured by Jordan Thomas]

[Learnin’ To Love through End Of Show | Streamed by Paul Cockren]

Setlist (via Brownbase)

Set: Chocolate Town*, Tried and True*, Birthday Boy*, Help Me Scrape the Mucus Off My Brain*, Take Me Away, Fat Lenny, Cold and Wet, Boy’s Club, Nan, Gabrielle, Bananas and Blow, With My Own Bare Hands, A Tear For Eddie, Licking the Palm For Guava> Mushroom Festival in Hell, I Can’t Put My Finger on It, Baby Bitch, Flutes of the Chi, I Saw Gener Cryin’ in His Sleep, I’ll Be Your Jonny on the Spot, Learnin’ to Love, Deez Nuts, Polka Dot Tail, Over the Hills and Far Away (tease), Drifter in the Dark, Powder Blue> Hey There Fancypants

Encore: Don’t Shit Where You Eat*, What Deaner Was Talkin’ About*

• *acoustic
• – Deaner on acoustic for Over the Hills tease through Fancypants
• – Gener on harmonica for Drifter