Ween Performs ‘The Mollusk’ In Its Entirety In 2017

Yesterday, Riot Fest announced its initial 2019 lineup. Notably, the festival — which is scheduled from September 13 – 15 at Chicago’s Douglas Park — announced that Ween would serve as one of its headliners, marking the Pennsylvania-based act’s first confirmed appearance of 2019.

This year, Riot Fest has a number of artists tapped to play full albums in their entirety, such as The Flaming Lips performing Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots and Bloc Party performing Silent Alarm. For Ween’s set, the group has been tasked with re-creating their fan-favorite 1997 album The Mollusk. However, the group is no stranger to performing the 14-track album in full, as they formerly offered a complete rendition of the LP back in 2017 in celebration of the record’s 20th anniversary.

On July 1, 2017, Ween performed The Mollusk to open their show at Bend, Oregon’s Les Schwab Amphitheater. While many of the songs have been standard fare for their live shows in the past, the recreation also spurred the bust outs of two rarely performed tunes. First, “It’s Gonna Be (Alright)” was offered up after “The Blarney Stone,” marking the track’s first performance since May 17, 1998, during a set at the Ogden Theatre in Denver. The number was followed by “The Golden Eel” and the second major bust out of the night, “Cold Blows The Wind.” The latter number was performed for the first time since August 4, 2003.

Following the performance of The Mollusk, Ween made use of the rest of their one-set show by filling in fan-favorites from the rest of their wide-spanning catalog. After The Mollusk‘s album closer “She Wanted To Leave,” the band offered up takes on classics like “Boys Club,” “Bananas and Blow,” “Roses Are Free,” “Pork Roll Egg and Cheese,” “The Stallion, Part 1” and more.

To preview Ween’s upcoming performance of The Mollusk at Riot Fest 2019, here’s audio of the July 1, 2017 show for this week’s Throwback Thursday. Stream the audio, which was captured by Shutup & DANce, below: