Karina Rykman Debuts Ween's "I'll Be Your Jonny On The Spot" & Much More At Webster Hall [Photos/Videos]

Karina Rykman celebrated her latest career milestone with a debut of “I’ll Be Your Jonny on the Spot” by Ween at her Webster Hall show on Saturday. The effervescent NYC bassist/bandleader filled the Union Square venue with enthusiastic fans new and old for her biggest hometown show to date.

Rykman hasn’t been shy about her fondness for the Boognish, regularly covering “Springtheme” at her solo shows. Back in March, she joined fellow rising stars Dogs in a Pile for a cover of “Voodoo Lady” during the band’s two-night run at Brooklyn Bowl. On Saturday, Rykman took The Mollusk‘s “I’ll Be Your Jonny on the Spot” on a frantic ride that paired perfectly with the bassist’s upbeat energy. Drummer Chris Corsico helped power the cover, and guitarist Adam November added fuel with a heavily wah-wahed solo in the style of Dean Ween.

Saturday’s Karina Rykman show yielded plenty of other surprises, too. In addition to cuts from her 2023 full-length debut Joyride, Rykman threw in new songs “Shoegaze Summer”, “Change My Flight”, “Childlike”, and “Riverside Drive”. After the latter, she riffed, “We’re playing some brand new shit tonight, brand new. My best friends haven’t heard this music. But now we’re best friends, so…”

Fellow New York city kid Marlo Shankweiler (Melt) also made a surprise appearance on an even more surprising cover of Swedish band The Cardigans‘ earworm “Lovefool”. Just like “I’ll Be Your Jonny on the Spot”, “Lovefool” was a natural addition to Rykman’s eclectic songbook—though for very different reasons. The high-energy affair then came to a euphoric close with a cover of Beck‘s “Loser”, with Karina’s former Inappropriate Happiness co-host Isaac Slone on her golden bass, Shankweiler back on guitar, and an entourage of friends on backing vocals.

Both Rykman’s charismatic excitement on the mic and the familial atmosphere in Webster Hall throughout the night underscored the joy and community that have always been central to her ascent—even down to the band intros: She didn’t stop at glowing over her guitarist, November (“He’s so beautiful, I love this man”), or drummer, Corsico (“the atomic clock”); she introduced her friends onstage and her dad in the audience, shouted out her new front of house tech for his first gig, pointed out grade school teachers, her gynecologist, the Zabar’s general manager who facilitated 40 tie-dye “Babkarinas” for the occasion (perhaps the most perfect artist merch collab in recorded history).

She looked for her mom in the balcony to introduce her, too, and the grin that grew on her face when she finally found mom getting down on the GA floor was the widest of them all. “She’s in the middle of the shit!” Karina beamed. “This is the best moment of my life, and I now consider you all family.”

Watch Karina Rykman debut “I’ll Be Your Jonny on the Spot” by Ween and some other videos from Saturday’s sold-out Webster Hall show, and check out photos from Maggie Miles and David Gray. The entire concert is available to stream on nugs. Not a nugs subscriber yet? Sign up here. [Editor’s Note: Live For Live Music is a nugs affiliate. Ordering your nugs subscription or purchasing a download via the links on this page helps support our coverage of the world of live music. Thank you for reading!]

For a list of upcoming Karina Rykman tour dates, head here.

Karina Rykman — “I’ll Be Your Jonny On The Spot” (Ween) — 5/10/25

Karina Rykman, Marlo Shankweiler — “Lovefool” (The Cardigans) — 5/10/25

[Video: danimal710]