As much as we talked about going…we might as well tell you how it was.
Let’s start with the venue. We had great seats. Incredible seats. Row A. Riding the rail so to speak. Except at the Carolina Theater, said rail is wooden and about a foot wide, perfect for resting your beverage of choice on while waving your arms like a lunatic or slaying the air guitar.
The bad part is that they ran out of beer way too early. Before half way. By the end of the show I was riding the rail with a large styrofoam cup full of red wine. Booooo-urns.
There wasn’t much security so there wasn’t much of a line to get in, a very welcome surprise for a sold out show, as it was about 30 degrees outside. So, other than their inability to provide adequate beer, there aren’t a lot of complaints.
The boys were hot. They came out hot and maintained through the whole damn thing. They opened with Nan, probably the most aggressive opening song I’ve ever heard at a concert. Which is what you hope for and expect from Ween.
Hi, I’m fuckin’ Eddie Dingle
I met this girl named Nan
She, she overpopulated my senses
And fuckin’ dicked me over
From Nan they went to the Vegas lounge style of Take Me Away, and then to The Grobe and Transdermal Celebration, which always seems to be a crowd pleaser….it was more or less the standard fare of a Ween live performance (I think they’ve played Buckingham Green at every live show ever).
I was expecting a heavy dose of material from their latest album, La Cucaracha, but other than Object, the brahsome.com favorite Your Party, and Fiesta, they stayed with the old stuff…which is always welcome. As long as they’re both making weird faces, grimacing like you have them by the nips with a pair of pliers, it doesn’t really matter if it’s from 1985 or the latest release…because you know they’re feeeeeeling it.
About 2/3 of the way through they took it down a notch. Coming out of Captain they went acoustic for a four song stretch that included Tried and True, Help Me Scrape the Mucus Off My Brain, Mutilated Lips, and ended with I Don’t Want It…one of those great tunes that stands on it’s own, without any of the power chords or Ween Weirdness, as just a hell of a song.
Without missing a beat they came out of the acoustic set with a Dr. Rock that got everyone (if not everyone, me.) pumping their fists. They then closed the set with Fiesta, an all instrumental tune that gave Claude Coleman a chance to work in a drum solo for the ladies. Or fellas. Whoever likes drum solos.
For the encore we got Mollusk and Poopship Destroyer, both of which were over 7 mins long and included long, mellow jams and Gene yelling through a megaphone. While I might have preferred to end things on a somewhat higher note, both were a lot of fun.
Some of my show highlights were Piss Up a Rope, Stallion Pt.5, and The Grobe.
If you’re interested in getting your hands on the show, you can download it from Brown Tracker. This is legal, as Ween allows audience recordings. The site does require registration.
If this review was just so incredible that you have to go out and see the very next Ween show possible, you can see the tour dates here.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Ran out of Beer? This is a downright travesty. I usually bitch about the slow bartenders or long beer lines at shows but running out of beer completely? Someone needs to be fired.
It seems that the Carolina Theatre always runs out of beer. At the last show I saw there, Derek Trucks Band, they not only ran out of beer..they stopped serving wine shortly into the second set. Good thing I usually sneak in some knobb creek or a couple of bottles of wine when I go there.
Ween kicked ass in Richmond the night before…I imagine they did in the Bull City as well.