The patron saint of basement stoners and renegade drunks, the Almighty Boognish, was spotted Thursday night in Morrison, CO where Ween staged its first headlining concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in five years. The one-off show at the famed natural amphitheater arrived as part of Ween’s first full-fledged tour since 2016.
The alt-weirduo of Gene Ween and Dean Ween (Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, respectively) along with Claude Coleman Jr., Dave Dreiwitz, and Glenn McClelland appeared at Red Rocks last summer as part of the cartoonish South Park 25th-Anniversary Concerts featuring Primis and show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Despite the band’s recent visit, walking back out onstage to greet the crowd was still a site to behold, with Gene exclaiming “Well would you look that this?! Fucking A, man.” For his part, Deaner a.k.a. The Marlboro Man opted for a simple “Aye!” following the opening “Pork Roll Egg And Cheese”.
With hellos out of the way, it was time to begin with the past in front by way of “Exactly Where I’m At”. In what proved to be a 37-song performance, the Brothers in Boognish wound through 30 years of material, touching on rarities and classics alike to deliver the kind of Ween show that would delight any fan.
While this tour so far has yet to see any huge bust-outs like in years past, some of those same songs that previously laid dormant have since become regular participants in the band’s setlists. “I Wuz Nothin”, which returned to the fold in October 2021 following a 20-year absence, came early on in the show, with the newly resurrected “Suckin’ Blood From The Devil’s Dick” appearing at the tail-end. Clearly aware of Denver’s robust reputation for quality Mexican cuisine, Gene took a seat on his stool for the fourth “Pollo Asado” in six years (and the second this tour).
In the years since Ween’s last proper tour in 2016 coming out of a four-year breakup, the band has satiated fans with sporadic multi-night stands—often playing three nights across two cities over the course of a weekend. Some lucky locales like Las Vegas and The Capitol Theatre were able to tie the band down for full three-night runs. But these extended stays (and a lack of any heavy touring), allowed Ween to take deep dives into its catalog, playing around 100 unique songs over three nights, resurrecting seldom-seen songs, and even offering live debuts.
That has not been the case thus far on Ween’s ongoing summer tour. The 14-date trek does not feature a single multi-night engagement, with the band seldom playing more than one show in the same state (California and Missouri excluded). When the wheels go up, the deck is reshuffled again and all songs are fair game.
Instead of major bust-outs or many shocking rarities, what fans have seen so far on this Ween tour has been classic songs played with vigor and, frankly, enthusiasm seldom seen in the post-reunion years. Gene Ween, for one, appears happy and healthy as he sports an ear-to-ear grin on a nightly basis. No signs of any “Falling Out” between the Ween brethren, with Dean supportively egging on Gene to keep lighting off solos during “I Wuz Nuthin’”—Deaner enjoying the playing as much as anyone in the crowd.
The band’s headlining return to Red Rocks marks simply another high-water mark for the redemption phase of Ween’s decades-long rise, fall, and redemption storyline. Happy and healthy, these men literally climbed a mountain to get to where they are, and assuredly the view looks pretty good from up there. How high can you fly?
Check out videos from Ween at Red Rocks by The Stallion Mang and full audio from spitback.
Ween – “Roses Are Free” – 8/3/23
Setlist: Ween | Red Rocks Amphitheatre | Morrison, CO | 8/3/23
Set: Pork Roll Egg and Cheese, Exactly Where I’m At, Piss Up a Rope, Learnin’ to Love, I Wuz Nothin, Polka Dot Tail, Roses Are Free, The Stallion pt 3, Gabrielle, Stroker Ace, Touch My Tooter, Frank, The Mollusk, Chocolate Town, Stay Forever, I Don’t Want It, Ice Castles, The Final Alarm, Happy Colored Marbles, Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down), Tried and True, Voodoo Lady, Bananas and Blow, Take Me Away, Object, I Don’t Want to Leave You on the Farm, Mister Would You Please Help My Pony?, Buckingham Green, Tender Situation, Pollo Asado, Suckin’ Blood From the Devil’s Dick, Vallejo, Your Party
Encore: Waving My Dick in the Wind, Don’t Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy), Ode to Rene, Fluffy
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