For the second night of Ween‘s run at shiny new venue Brooklyn Steel, the band continued to reiterate what has made them such a cult favorite. As a newcomer to the band, I can’t claim to be any kind of expert in the ins and outs of the setlists, but if you’re curious what has made them one of the more welcome “reunions” of recent years, I can offer some thoughts. First, the musical diversity of the band’s sound has long been well-known, mixing bar-room rock, punk, psychedelia, country, new wave, funk and more. Though the recent accumulation of Phish fans to their ranks has been talked about, the more logical touch points for understanding this band are willfully-weird bands like the Butthole Surfers and the Meat Puppets, who similarly can’t be pigeonholed into a genre so much as a vibe. Second, in Ween’s case, there’s a brand of outrageous humor at work in many of their songs, of a kind that prompts debate on the Internet over the funniest Ween songs. Whether or not songs like “Deez Nutz” or “Bananas and Blow” are your thing doesn’t necessarily determine whether you have to like or dislike the live show, just as some Phish get more turned on by the Gamehendge element than others. Personally, I was more fired up about songs like the sprawling 1994 jam “A Tear for Eddie,” or 1990’s Butthole Surfers-esque “Licking the Palm for Guava” (also dedicated here to Gibby Haynes).
Since I know fairly little about the band, I decided to consult a long time fan on the show to get his take. In his read, compared to the previous Brooklyn Steel show, this was a relatively sedate affair, focusing more on the band’s country sound and skipping some of what this fan deemed “essential” Ween songs such as a classic cover, or any of “Dr. Rock,” “Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down),” “Push the Little Daisies,” “You Fucked Up,” “Golden Eel,” and “Buckinham Green” — all of which made it into the first night setlist. Along with the “A Tear For Eddie” that I did, he pointed out that “Mushroom Festival In Hell” and “I’ll Be Your Johnny On the Spot” as highlights.
Wherever you are in your Ween fandom, you can’t deny that they’re as hard working a band as they come. When they promised “an evening” with them, we got one, a full two hours and ten minutes of mostly uninterrupted playing that fired up the slam-packed Brooklyn Steel floor. I have no doubt that the show was ten times more engaging for those better acquainted with the inside jokes and the general band lore, but based on this performance, I’d be up for finding out more.
Finally, if you haven’t been to Brooklyn Steel yet, know that longtime sufferers of its predecessor will finally have a mid-large venue for more popular bands that offers a full view of the stage from almost every place in the room. We’ve already enjoyed a few shows here so far, and look forward to many more. As always thanks to the professional staff of Bowery Presents for making our presence there feel both safe and welcome.
I recorded this set from the “taper’s section” with Schoeps MK41V microphones. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!
Night one was also recorded and will be posted soon.
Download the complete set from its home on the Live Music Archive: [MP3] | [FLAC]
Ween
2017-06-07
Brooklyn Steel
Brooklyn, NY USA
Hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack
Schoeps MK41V (at SBD, PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA>Zoom F8>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CC (fades, compression, limiter)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)
>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )
Tracks [Total Time: 2:10:07]
01 Chocolate Town
02 Tried and True
03 Birthday Boy
04 Help Me Scrape the Mucus off My Brain
05 [banter1]
06 Take Me Away
07 Fat Lenny
08 Cold & Wet
09 Boys Club
10 [banter2]
11 Nan
12 Gabrielle
13 Bananas and Blow
14 My Own Bare Hands
15 A Tear for Eddie
16 [banter3]
17 Licking the Palm for Guava
18 Mushroom Festival in Hell
19 I Can’t Put My Finger on It
20 [banter4]
21 Baby Bitch
22 Flutes of Chi
23 [banter5]
24 I Saw Gener Cryin’ in His Sleep
25 I’ll Be Your Jonny on the Spot
26 [banter6]
27 Learnin’ to Love
28 Deez Nutz
29 Polka Dot Tail
30 [tuning]
31 Drifter in the Dark
32 Powder Blue
33 Hey There Fancypants
34 [encore break]
35 Don’t Shit Where You Eat
36 What Deaner Was Talkin’ About
Thank you so much for this, as always. Sounds great!
This is amazing! Seriously amazing taping of my favorite band of a show i wanted to make but couldn’t! Thank you a million times!
This is fantastic, thank you for sharing!!
One note on track listing, not to be a pain in the ass, but for the “record”
Track 17 – Licking the Palm for Guava 0:00-2:20 -> Mushroom Festival In Hell 2:21-7:17
Track 18 – is the beginning intro of Can’t Put My Finger On It
Track 19 – Can’t Put My Finger On It
Great quality and show!!