Ween – February 12th – 1stBank Center

Estimated read time 8 min read

Ween 2016-02-12-62-3978
Photos by Jim Mimna

The Scene:  To say there was a nervous level of anticipation bouncing around the 1stBank Center on Friday would be an understatement.  After more than a four year hiatus, Ween was back and fans were lined up early and wrapped around the building for a chance to once again worship at the foot of The Boognish,  the band’s creepy mascot/demi-god that permeates their mystique and lore.  The Ween crowd, like the band’s music, is an eclectic group with a healthy smattering of Jamband fans, burly rockers, and just good natured weirdos. It makes for an interesting mix but I have always said that regardless of how you self identify, you have to be a bit of a freak to love Ween.  I was not alone in worrying with these shows being such a tough ticket and becoming, and I never thought in a million years I would ever say this, a trendy/cool thing to do, that the crowd would suffer but it was your typical Ween mixing pot of weird. Despite there being more than a few completely confused noobs and first timers in the crowd the vibe did not suffer at all.  

Ween: It’s been a very long time since I bore witness to anything like what happened in Broomfield on Friday night.  Over four long years of angst and anticipation seemed to instantly melt away as the band took the stage to one of the more emotional ovations I have ever seen.  After what felt like a few minutes of basking in the adoration of their fans, lead singer Gene Ween exclaimed “I am Gene and this is Dean and we are Ween” and to no surprise the crowd reacted with another thunderous ovation before the band, dropped into “What Deaner Was Talking About.”  I highly doubt I was the only one with goosebumps.  

For most, it’s safe to say that Ween is an acquired taste and, to the uninitiated, it can be very hard to wrap your brain around what is happening at one of their shows. I liken going to a Ween concert to getting into a back alley brawl. Things are flying at you from all angles, at a frantic pace, and if you don’t have your head on a swivel you are going to get knocked on your ass, at least in a musical sense.  Friday’s show fell right in line with that idea as the band rattled off song after song after song, barely giving fans a chance to catch their breath. They wasted no time busting out some huge fan favorites like “Buckingham Green,” “Spinal Meningitis,” “Bananas and Blow,” “Japanese Cowboy,” before raining confetti down – “Like a Flaming Lips show” as guitarist Dean Ween joked – during their most popular song “Roses Are Free.”  While “Roses” certainly got even the biggest Ween noob into the mix, “A Tear For Eddie” – an eerie instrumental from Chocolate and Cheese – delivered the highlight of the first part of the show.  Deaner took the spotlight and delivered a blistering guitar solo that echoed vibes of David Gilmore on The Wall.  

At this point in the night my only regret is that we had sat so close to the speaker stack and unfortunately the sound, especially Deaner’s guitar, was all over the place. Things got slightly more dialed in as the night wore on (by Saturday this was a non-issue) but it was rough going for at least the first 10-15 songs.  After the first part of the show highlighted some of their more straightforward, rock-n-roll songs, the band took things to a more fevered and heavy direction and dug a little deeper into their catalog with songs like “Nan,” “Puerto Rican Power,” “Tick,” and “Wayne’s Pet Youngin” before hitting one of the weirder, and I mean that in the best way, songs in their catalog “The Going Gets Tough From The Getgo.”  Weirdness at a Ween show is a relative term as pretty much anything they do has some sort of weird stench to it (affectionately referred to as “Brown” by the band and fans) and that stench would permeate throughout the whole building as we pushed into the 2nd half of the marathon 33 song performance.  Aside from “Gabriel” – a Thin Lizzy-esq rocker off of one of the band’s later releases, Quebec, we were surrounded on both sides by some of the classic “browness” Ween fans crave.

“Mister Richard Smoker,” a loungy number about little boys, Crystal Meth, and tangoing in the street, along with “Waving My Dick In The Wind” gave the crowd a chance to boogie a little bit before “Awesome Sound,” “Big Jim,” and “The Stallion Part 3” had the entire place swimming in the brownness.  From there things took a very, very dark turn as the band brought fans into the deepest recesses of their catalog for “Lick The Palm for Guava->Mushroom Festival In Hell.”  As the latter title implies, these songs are not for the faint of heart and force the listener to either embrace the brownness or head for the beer line.  After that journey to the 3rd or 4th layer of Hell, things went in a little more uplifting direction with “Even If You Don’t” another fan favorite before one last drive through Brown Town on “Sorry Charlie,” another rarity from The Pod and My Own Bare Hands a heavy, hardcore, rocker that had everyone in the crowd fist pumping to the song’s chorus “I can do so many things…. With my OWN… BARE… HANDS….”   

One thing any Ween fan will attest to is that the band is like a chameleon, shifting genres seemingly at the drop of a hat.  To say they are eclectic would be the understatement of the century and their comeback show reflected the many, many faces of Ween.  From lounge songs to Country, Rock and Punk anthems to subtle love songs, the band hit on it all and to close out the night they hit on one of my favorite Ween genres, something we affectionately call “Gay Ween.”  After another rare bust out, “Don’t Laugh I Love You” (about which Deaner said “I’m surprised we didn’t save this for Valentine’s Day but fuck it…”), the band closed out the marathon set with “Boys Club;” a goofy celebration of manness that the band, according to Gener, had “never played right before.”  “Boys Club” had even the most serious of fans laughing, dancing, and yeah yeah yeahing their way into the end of the evening before the band dropped into something I have been waiting to hear them play for over 15 years.  If you are a huge fan of a band for any significant amount of time you are inevitably going to have that one song that you have never heard live but have always been dying to hear – a White Whale if you will.  With Ween, my White Whale has always been “Homo Rainbow” – a song originally recorded and debuted on the “Chef Aid” episode of South Park.  To close out the set with the song I had been waiting my entire existence as a Ween Fan to hear was more than I could ask but, of course, the band was not done.

After the short, punchy, and irresistibly catchy “Fiesta,” the Ween boys still had one more big bullet left in the chamber and let it fire on the crowd with “Buenos Tardes Amigo.”  It’s funny what a few years away from one of your favorite bands can do to you.  There was a time when I was so sick of hearing them encore with this song that I probably would have made an early exit to beat the crowds.  But, after a four year hiatus I was happily singing along with the rest of the crowd.  It was a fitting way to end what was an amazing comeback for the band.  As I said before, their music can be all over the place and, while Saturday night’s show may have flowed a little better and been a bit easier to digest, Friday’s show ran the full gamut of what Ween has to offer.  You will laugh, you will cry, you will wonder why the hell you love these weirdos, but, most of all, you will rock your ass off and walk away with one thought in mind.  “All Hail The Boognish,  God Bless Ween.”  Who knows how successful this comeback and reunion will be but, if this past weekend was any indication, Ween fans all over the world should be very excited.  

Energy: A
Musicianship: A
Sound: D
Stage Presence: A
Set/Light Show: A-

Overall: A

Gary Mellini

Gary is a lifelong music fan raised in Chicago. He is the "G" of J2G Live, a Denver based music production company that brings you "Dance Party Time Machine," "Revenge of the 90's" among other great events.

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2Comments

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  1. 1
    Mike B

    You gave the sound a D because you sat in the wrong spot? Rookie.

    It sounded AWESOME in there. Kirk is the man. I don’t think I’ve heard the 1stBank Center sound better.

    • 2
      Oren Paisner

      ^^Agreed. Typically the first bank center does not have good sound and there is a strong echo. That being said I was impressed with how well that was dealt with. I think a D might have been harsh I myself would have given it a solid C+ or b-

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