Trading Places: Watch Dean Ween Lead ‘Push Th’ Little Daisies’ At Beacon Theatre

Ween celebrated Halloween last night with their first of two concerts at New York City’s Beacon Theatre. Guitarists Gene Ween and Dean Ween swapped roles on the classic “Push Th’ Little Daisies” towards the end of Monday’s main set with Deaner singing the tune normally sung by Gener.

The interesting moment came with 28 songs within the band’s 34-tune performance. “I still wanna do ‘Push Th’ Little Daisies,'” Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo exclaimed before the band — which also features bassist Dave Dreiwitz, drummer Claude Coleman Jr. and keyboardist Glenn McClelland — started the beloved Pure Guava cut and after about a minute brought the tune to an abrupt end. Aaron “Gene Ween” Freeman didn’t begin singing and told Deaner he wouldn’t do so. With that, the five-piece began the song again with Melchiondo on lead vocals.

Watch Dean Ween helm “Push Th’ Little Daisies” in fan-shot footage below:

Last night’s show saw the five members of Ween emerge at the beginning of the night dressed as squirrels. The quintet looked to 1997’s The Mollusk in opening with “I’m Dancing In The Show Tonight.” The high-energy “Take Me Away” followed along with “Touch My Tooter” and “Object” before the band took off their costumes. Gener did don a mullet wig for the ensuing “Fat Lenny” and “Pork Roll Egg & Cheese.”

Ween sounded “The Final Alarm” next and proceeded to power through material from nearly every era of their pre-breakup career. Highlights included a well-extended “Voodoo Lady,” which was one of seven songs from 1994’s Chocolate And Cheese to make the setlist on Halloween in New York City. They also played five tracks off their 1990 debut LP GodWeenSatan: The Oneness and four songs a piece featured on The Mollusk and 1991’s The Pod.

Late in the set, the Deaner-sung “Push Th’ Little Daisies” came after Ween’s first “El Camino” since June and led into the first “Papa Zit” since July. A run of “Captain Fantasy” and “You Fucked Up” brought the set to a close. Ween treated fans to a three-song encore featuring “Birthday Boy,” “Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)” and “Homo Rainbow.”

Stream full-audio audio captured by Taper420 and watch fan-shot video of the entire show below:

Setlist (via Brownbase.org)

Set: I’m Dancing in the Show Tonight, Take Me Away, Touch My Tooter, Object, Fat Lenny, Pork Roll Egg and Cheese, The Final Alarm, Happy Colored Marbles, I Don’t Want to Leave You on the Farm, Piss Up a Rope, Voodoo Lady, Baby Bitch, Even If You Don’t, Doctor Rock, Gabrielle, I Can’t Put My Finger on It, The Stallion pt 1, Albino Sunburned Girl, What Deaner Was Talkin’ About, Roses Are Free, Help Me Scrape the Mucus Off My Brain, She’s Your Baby, Buckingham Green, Polka Dot Tail, Waving My Dick in the Wind, Pumpin’ 4 the Man, El Camino, Push th’ Little Daisies, Papa Zit, Captain Fantasy, You Fucked Up

Encore: Birthday Boy, Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down), Homo Rainbow