Some great live stuff on here - thanks for sharing. Been listening to a lot of Ween again recently, as my 13 year old son has just discovered the awesome sound, so we've been going through the back catalogue together. I've seen Ween live three times - Chocolate and Cheese tour, then White Pepper and finally Quebec - but, being based in the UK, we never got the same kind of shows you got over there in the US. Instead of the more experimental and varied setlists, we tended to get a much more "greatest hits" focused set. They were always awesome, but I'd love to see one of those shows where they just let rip for a few hours and get deep into the brown!
Thank you sir. Much appreciate that. The first show I went to - and it's my personal favourite as I had to fight the odds to get there - there was a big group of us going but the driver dropped out at the last minute and then the rest of the ******* all dropped out too. There was no way I was going to miss it, so I hitched a lift and went up to London on my own and fitfully slept in the train station that night. I say sleep but it was mostly broken up courtesy of a newfound "friendship" with a rather scary and angry Scottish man who was trying to explain his outlook on the world, while generously offering to share his supply of cough syrup with me. Anyway, I digress - it was this one I think - took a bit of googling to be sure, but I'm sure it was at the Garage in Highbury, London 1995 - Ween Setlist at The Garage, London . If anyone is familiar with the area, then if they could confirm the Garage is opposite a pub called The Cock Inn, that'd confirm it - I remember that because Deaner found the name particularly amusing and referenced it many times that evening! That was my favourite show - it was really something special to see them that first time. Still have my t-shirt from that night - can post pics if anyone cares - pinky-red with "ween" in yellow '70s style font on the front, and a middle finger salute on the back! Amazingly, it still fits. Dates of the next two are much easier to find online: Astoria, London - September 7 2000 - Ween Setlist at London Astoria, London Forum, London - December 15 2003 - Ween Setlist at The Forum, London [Edited to correct Astoria date]
First one is unrecorded but we have a setlist Second one is recorded with a setlist Third is unrecorded aswell, also with a setlist. I'll DM the link to the 2nd show.
This reminded me of something I was telling my son about Ween - Claude is - in my humble opinion - among the coolest human beings on Earth. Back in the day before the, now defunct, Ween forum, when us weirdos used to hang around on Usenet on alt.music.ween I got chatting to Claude as he used to post there, and he sent me Amandla demo tapes - to the UK no less - at his own cost for no reason other than because he's a quality guy who wanted to share his music. An absolute diamond of a human being. Had a similar experience with Kramer from Shimmy Disc, who obviously had connections with Ween around the time of The Pod. Another example of a genuinely nice, open person who just wanted to share his music with the fans and went out of his way to do so.
Oh man that's sick! I love hearing little stories about the band and their posse. They all seem so down to earth and nice.
Agreed about Claude. I had the pleasure of chatting with him before their set when I saw them play the Horde festival. Really nice dude. Also chatted with Deaner for a bit, which was very cool.
Never spoken to Gener or Deaner, but I do remember a little story about Gener in London. I was sitting in the pub opposite the Garage in Highbury, on my own, nursing a pint hours before the gig. Gener came in - and I specifically remember this - wearing a Bowie Hunky Dory t-shirt. He stood at the bar and you could see that he was lost - didn't know how to order a beer, looked really nervous and out of his depth. I wanted to go up and buy him a pint, but I'm a shy person myself and before I could summon the courage to go up and chat he bottled it and practically ran out of the pub. For years I cursed that missed opportunity to chat with a hero of mine. Only years later, when Mickey spoke about Aaron's drinking and how people exaceberated the problem by buying him drinks, was I able to forgive myself for not doing exactly that! So yeah, that was my closest encounter with the brothers Ween. Still wish I had at least spoken to Gener, and made him feel welcome in London.
Aw, that's a shame but at least you can feel better about it retroactively. I'm very glad Gener's doing good now.
There is a nice soundboard of the previous night’s show in Philadelphia as well Ween Live at Trocadero Theatre on 1998-01-30 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCFkKHx7uMC80hQ1qxKTW5huRJus7ya0V
I listened to that one while checking for Roxy, it's a really good show yeah. One of my favorite Tender Situations.
Apparently they were recording an album in 2010 but that never came to light. DC Won't Do You No Good might've come from it.
Listening to Shinola Vol. 1 today, and one thing we're all wondering.... where are all the Ween archival releases/reissues? With all the SDE getting made, you'd think Ween (now that they are back together) would be right on that lucrative gravy train. So much has to be languishing in the vault, and those pre-GWS albums and demos have to be burning a hole in the vinyl reissue pocket. C'mon boys, put some more shiz out!
Can confirm the Garage used to be opposite the Cock Inn. I’m an Aussie and my band played there a few times in 2004. We also found the Cock Inn quite amusing. I don’t think we ever went inside though!
Even an archive release, deluxe reissues, live albums, live streams - anything at all!! They seriously do not care about the bands legacy one bit, or trying to make money off recordings at all. Such a shame.
It is a bit weird. Even some decent reissues would be a start, such as The Mollusk to replace the poor Plain records version. Schnitzel did an admirable job of re-releasing their albums on vinyl here in the UK over the last decade or so, but as far as I'm aware that was purely a labour of love by the label owner, rather than anything Ween themselves influenced. And there were gaps (the aforementioned Mollusk again) due to licensing issues I guess. I mean, around the time that Craters of the Sac was released, I can recall Mickey talking about the possibilities of a Pod outtakes box set and the like. I find it really hard to understand why they wouldn't benefit from both the financial side and from injecting some new life into their legacy - which has only grown since the last studio releases. Ween seem far more popular to me now than they did back in the 1990s for example. There's a whole new market for their stuff now - I'd love to see them take advantage of it!
Yeah it really boggles the mind. All I can assume is they’re ‘done’ with the band and can’t be bothered to even think about anything except the lucrative live shows. What they’re not considering is, as you point out, they could easily inject some life into their legacy and gain new fans as well as enticing older fans back. Which would keep the live cash cow going for a lot longer.
One of my favourites that one. There was a thread a while back called something like "pick a song that always makes you smile" and I picked that one. It's the sound of Heaven, in a song. "Stuck in my cabana, living on bananas and blow..." Ah... bliss!
Is Brownbase not turning up in searches? Many people seem blissfully unaware that it exists. All of the known setlists are there and many were provided or confirmed via the band’s live tape archive. Brownbase | Ween Setlists and Statistics | 3/31/1995 London
