Ween @ Stubb's, Austin, Part Two (08.10.2007)

Second night in a row seeing these boys, pumped as hell. No anecdotal preliminary crap this time, lets get right to it.

The setlist (there was one I couldn't identify):
01. She Wanted To Leave
02. Marble Tulip Juicy Tree
03. ?? (Something about "Freaking out", possibly new)
04. Bananas And Blow
05. Take Me Away
06. Mr. Richard Smoker
07. The Grobe
08. Mister Would You Please Help My Pony?
09. I Got To Put The Hammer Down
10. Roses Are Free
11. Buckingham Green
12. Happy Colored Marbles
13. Pork Roll Egg And Cheese
14. Nan (A Tear For Eddie Teaser Intro)
15. Gabrielle
16. Doctor Rock
17. Pandy Fackler
18. Chocolate Town
19. Birthday Boy
20. Mutilated Lips
21. Joppa Road
22. Help Me Scrape The Mucus Off My Brain
23. I Don't Want It
24. Flies On My Dick (with Dickey Moist)
25. Tick
26. You F**ked Up
27. Fat Lenny
(Break)
28. Springtheme
29. Don't Get 2 Close 2 My Fantasy
30. Never Squeal (Claude Drum Solo)
31. Fluffy

Jesus, these guys have outdone themselves. Two nights in a row, 30+ songs both times, AND NOT ONE REPEATED SONG! Two completely unique setlists, these guys are prolific as hell. The sound was incredible again, as always at Stubb's. Once again, there was no shortage of jamming out: the end of "Happy Colored Marbles" was extended a couple minutes; Glenn went nuts on the keys for a few minutes in the middle of "Pandy Fackler"; Deaner cranked out some extended riffs for a bit during "Fat Lenny"; they unleashed Claude for a 10-minute drum solo during "Never Squeal"; and to top it all off, Dean absolutely destroyed the place with a mind-blowing 10-minute or so solo during "Fluffy" to close out the show. I just sat there with my jaw dropped, it was insane!

Aside from Dean's guitar jam mastery, the highlights of the show for me were the perfectly executed renditions of "Doctor Rock" and "Don't Get 2 Close 2 My Fantasy". These two songs, more than any others, sent the crowd into a total frenzy, every person screaming the lyrics and pumping their fists in the air. I don't think I've ever witnessed two more fun songs live, I felt completely drained after each one. Its also worth mentioning, I suppose, that Dickey Moist (singer for the Moistboyz, who Deaner is also a member of) joined the band on-stage and provided the vocals for "Flies On My Dick". Apparently he lives in Austin. I'm not a huge Moistboyz fan, and there was nothing particularly remarkable about this song, but I thought I'd mention it.

The pace of the show was very different than the first night, I thought it varied much more. Whereas Thursday night's show was a pretty consistent trade-off between faster and mellower tunes, this show made a couple more abrupt pace changes. The first half of the show was pretty much non-stop fan favorites, culminating in a badass performance of "Gabrielle" and the aformentioned "Doctor Rock" greatness. The whole show at that point had just continued to build momentum, to the point where "Doctor Rock" was about to make the place explode. After that, they pulled in the reigns a bit, starting with the sprawling keyboard jam of "Pandy Fackler". They then switched up and went into an accoustical set for 5-6 songs. It was a nice change of pace, and they absolutely nailed those songs (especially "Birthday Boy", hell yeah!).

Here is where the only problem of the whole 2 nights occurred. They never fully recovered their momentum after the accoustical set. They started to, with "Tick", "You F**ked Up", and "Fat Lenny", but those went by pretty quick (mainly because the first 2 are pretty short), and then they went into their pre-encore break. So, the energy they were just starting to re-build ended up being just kind of a false start. And then for the encore, they started nicely with a sweet performance of "Springtheme", and then the glorious "Don't Get 2 Close 2 My Fantasy". But instead of building on this with a couple more rockers and really blowing the place out, they switched back into the plodding groove of "Never Squeal", which almost immediately regressed into Claude's 10-minute drum solo. Now, it was cool to see the solo, and if it had been placed earlier in the night, when you have ample time after it to re-build your momentum, I think it would have worked better. But being so late in the show, as interesting as it may have been, it was a drastic enough pace shift to really kill any kind of build-up to the finale. Now, I will admit, they did an amazing job with "Fluffy", and it still ended up being an incredible finish. But I think it would have packed more of a punch if they had rolled two rocking songs into that time instead of the drum solo.

Anyway, there was way too much ass-kicking going on the last two nights to dwell on the one minor negative detail. These were two of the best shows I've ever seen, bar none. I was so worn out after last night's show, I slept like a rock. I didn't get up till noon today, and I still feel tired. Always the sign of a good time!!

In summary, Ween is back, and they are just as formidable as ever! When they set the schedule for the Fall tour after the new album is released, do yourself a favor and get your ass to one of their shows. You will thank me. And more importantly, you will bow to the Boognish!!!!

[Note: It has been announced that Ween's new LP will be titled La Cucaracha, and is tentatively scheduled for release toward the end of September. Hell yeah!!]