Forty years ago in a seventh-grade typing class in New Hope, PA, the almighty Boognish appeared to Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo Jr. and commanded them to start a rock band. Forty years, nine albums, a thousand-plus concerts, one breakup, and a reunion later, those boys are now known as Gene Ween and Dean Ween respectively and together they command one of the greatest forces in live rock music.
Ween celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and the band kicked off its party, our party, and “Your Party” on Wednesday at The Van Buren in Phoenix, AZ. The show was the first of a two-night run in Phoenix and ignited a four-show, two-city Valentine’s Day week/end run that will continue on Saturday and Sunday in Del Mar, CA.
Related: Ween Announces 12-Date Tour Celebrating 40th Anniversary
In the spirit of the holiday, Ween loaded up its 33-song setlist with songs from throughout its catalog that encapsulate all the highs and lows of love. After an opening run of classics “What Deaner Was Talkin’ About”, “Exactly Where I’m At”, the nautical “She Wanted To Leave”, “Piss Up A Rope”, and “Buckingham Green” (along with underrated Friends EP bop “Light Me Up”), Ween started feeling the love. “Stay Forever” ignited the stretch of thematically romantic tracks which also included “Roses Are Free”, “I Don’t Want It”, Deaner’s aggressively affectionate “I Wuz Nothin”, Gener’s scorned “Take Me Away”, and “Gabrielle”.
The show wasn’t all little puppy dogs, buttons, and bows though. The marathon two-and-a-half-hour engagement also included plenty of hard-rocking Ween classics like the one-two punch of classically-infused “Ice Castles” into the prog masterpiece “The Final Alarm” along with “Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)”, “Touch My Tooter”, “Stroker Ace”, “Frank”, and more. As Ween has moved toward full-scale touring and away from selective multi-night runs, the band’s setlists have become more solidified as the cards are reshuffled almost every night. The result is show after show filled with classics beloved by Ween fans for decades.
One of the highlights of Wednesday’s Valentine’s Day concert was The Pod‘s “Of My Dear (Falling in Love)”—a song so nice Ween played it twice, kind of. After running through the surprisingly tender cut off Ween’s 1992 sophomore album, considered among the tribe to be the epitome of Brownness, Gene goaded Dean by remarking “I mean, that solo was alright.” This challenge of guitar machismo re-ignited the song for a brief back-and-forth guitar gauntlet between the two axe slingers that was all in good fun.
Ween – “Oh My Dear (Falling In Love)” – 2/14/24
The Valentine’s Day show rolled on with more lovely Ween anthems including Gener’s breakup banger “Birthday Boy”, the ode to self-love “Even If You Don’t”, “Suckin’ Blood From the Devil’s Dick”, and more—in addition to the SpongeBob SquarePants doubleheader of “Ocean Man” and “Loop de Loop”. Ween is nothing if not inclusive, and the main set ended with “Homo Rainbow” as the band encouraged us all to let our colors shine. Finally, putting a cap on the enchanted evening was Ween’s paradigm of politeness “Your Party” as the band’s 40th anniversary bash was now officially underway.
Ween returns to The Van Buren tonight, February 15th, for its second of two shows in Phoenix. Tickets are available on the band’s website. See below for full video and audio from Wednesday’s Ween Valentine’s Day show.
Ween – The Van Buren – Phoenix, AZ – 2/14/24 – Full Video
[Video: The Stallion Mang]
Ween – The Van Buren – Phoenix, AZ – 2/14/24 – Full Audio
[Audio: jbanyai97]
Setlist: Ween | The Van Buren | Phoenix, AZ | 2/14/24
Set: What Deaner Was Talkin’ About, Exactly Where I’m At, She Wanted to Leave, Piss Up a Rope, Buckingham Green, Light Me Up, Stay Forever, Roses Are Free, I Don’t Want It, I Wuz Nothin, Take Me Away, Gabrielle, Object, Ice Castles> The Final Alarm, Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down), Tried and True, Polka Dot Tail, Waving My Dick in the Wind, Touch My Tooter, Stroker Ace, Frank, Pandy Fackler, Oh My Dear (Falling in Love), Oh My Dear (Falling in Love) (reprise) [1], Birthday Boy, Even If You Don’t, Suckin’ Blood From the Devil’s Dick, The Stallion pt 1, Ocean Man, Loop de Loop, The Mollusk, Homo Rainbow
Encore: Your Party
[1] Dean and Gene both reprised the song to play guitar solos
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