Fresh off a two-night run in Boston, Ween arrived in New York City on Halloween night to kick off a two-night stand at the famed Beacon Theatre.

Getting in the spirit of the holiday, Gene Ween (Aaron Freeman), Dean Ween (Mickey Melchiondo), Dave Dreiwitz, Glenn McClelland, and Claude Coleman Jr. took the stage soon after 8:00 p.m. in furry, full-body squirrel suits complete with mascot-quality headpieces and detachable nuts. Deaner was quick to toss his nuts into an audience well-dressed in all manner of costumes, but Gener donned his proudly at crotch-level as he pranced through an opening rendition of “I’m Dancing In The Show Tonight”.

[Photo: Andrew Blackstein]

The squirrel suits stuck around through “Take Me Away”, “Touch My Tooter”, and “Object” before the five musicians stripped down to their street clothes, though Gene Ween’s nuts continued to dangle from his microphone stand a few songs longer as a reminder. Gene wasn’t done with costumes, either, trading his squirrel for a feathered blonde wig on “Fat Lenny”, “Pork Roll Egg and Cheese”, and a particularly bombastic “The Final Alarm”. The evening also saw Gene Ween trade in his typical plain black tee for a vibrant pink shirt advertising his ukulele-based retirement plan.

Even once the costumes finally came off, Ween continued to changing faces throughout the night. From peculiar nuggets of country gold like “Help Me Scrape the Mucus Off My Brain”, “I Don’t Want to Leave You on the Farm”, and “Piss Up a Rope” to Halloween-appropriate sing-alongs like “Roses Are Free” and the beautifully deranged “Happy Colored Marbles” to the furious funk stylings of “Voodoo Lady” and beyond, the HalloWeen performance showcased the curious mix of sounds and temperaments that have made Gene, Dean, and company alt-rock cult heroes.

Nothing could stop the shape-shifting rockers’ momentum on Monday night—not a piss break for Gene Ween, which prompted Dean to growl his way through the blast of bass, drums, and small-town punk rock rebellion that is “Pumpin’ 4 The Man”; not an amusing miscue during “Push Th’ Little Daisies”, which lead to Deaner singing the song instead of Gener.

Classics like “Buckingham Green”, “Gabrielle”, “Albino Sunburned Girl”, “Dr. Rock”, and “Waving My Dick In The Wind” fed the swaggering, outlandish energy in the room while slower selections like the sweet, sincere “She’s Your Baby” provided striking stylistic contrast.

After wrapping up the main set with an emphatic “You Fucked Up”, the band returned to the stage one last time for a three-song encore that summed up the show’s joyfully erratic tilt. Thriving as always in the spaces between sophomoric and sentimental, calm and cacophonous, squirrel suits and jokes about junk for no other reason than the pursuit of amusement, Ween closed out the show with the wistful sludge of “Birthday Boy”, the bizarre anthemic rock of “Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)”, and the inappropriate yet strangely touching South Park fare of “Homo Rainbow”.

“We’ll see you tomorrow,” an affable Gene Ween said as the band left the stage. “Happy Halloween.”

Ween returns to the Beacon Theatre on Tuesday, November 1st. For a full list of upcoming Ween tour dates, head here.

Below, check out a gallery of photos from the Halloween night Ween show at the Beacon Theatre via Andrew Blackstein, listen to a full audio recording via Taper420, and watch a crowd-shot video of the show via The Stallion Mang.

Ween – Beacon Theatre – 10/31/22 – Full Audio

Ween – Beacon Theatre – 10/31/22 – Full Video

Setlist [via Brownbase]: Ween | Beacon Theatre | New York, NY | 10/31/22

Set: I’m Dancing in the Show Tonight, Take Me Away, Touch My Tooter, Object, Fat Lenny, Pork Roll Egg and Cheese, The Final Alarm, Happy Colored Marbles, I Don’t Want to Leave You on the Farm, Piss Up a Rope, Voodoo Lady, Baby Bitch, Even If You Don’t, Doctor Rock, Gabrielle, I Can’t Put My Finger on It, The Stallion pt 1, Albino Sunburned Girl, What Deaner Was Talkin’ About, Roses Are Free, Help Me Scrape the Mucus Off My Brain, She’s Your Baby, Buckingham Green, Polka Dot Tail, Waving My Dick in the Wind, Pumpin’ 4 the Man, El Camino, Push th’ Little Daisies, Papa Zit, Captain Fantasy, You Fucked Up

Encore: Birthday Boy, Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down), Homo Rainbow