Ween, the band of weirdos formed in New Hope, PA over thirty years ago, brought the heat to Denver last night to kick off a 3-night Halloween run at Mission Ballroom. The 3,950 capacity venue was filled to the brim with diehard fans both old and new, anxious for the ruckus to get started on stage.
The eccentric cult rockers came out swinging with the first 3 songs off 2000’s White Pepper Album, played consecutively. Fan-favorite “Even If You Don’t” prompted a venue-wide sing-along, the crowd chanting in unison. Known for their bizarre, often-offensive lyrics and face-melting jams, the members of Ween are certainly professionals at this rockstar thing. The band shifted from there into the heavy-hitting “The Grobe”, also from White Pepper, and “Seconds,” varying the pace of the songs.
Something to note is the venue’s sound quality. Gene Ween‘s vocals and Dean Ween‘s shredding guitar solos resonated in that room with notable crispness and clarity. The 30-song show was jam-packed with crowd pleasers and had a very nostalgic vibe, spanning across ten albums. Coming out of the creepy “She Fucks Me”, the band played one of their most heartfelt and beautiful songs, “I Don’t Want It”, which features one of their most poetic guitar solos. These guys are good at giving their faithful troops full-on whiplash. They proved this with a rowdy rendition “Voodoo Lady”, one of their best-known tunes. Deaner’s guitar work during this number was mesmerizing, as he showboated a bit with a wild, assaultive solo.
One of the best things about Ween is their ability to flow from pop to punk to R&B and even disco, making them impossible to describe. The rest of the night included headbanging, swear words, quirky laughs, and visible camaraderie both on the stage and in the sea of dedicated fans. Ween finished off the night with the hilariously filthy favorite, “Piss Up A Rope”. If this first night of the run is any hint to what might come next, it’s a safe bet Mission Ballroom is in for one hell of a ride.
Scroll down to watch few fan-shot videos and check out a full gallery of photos from the show courtesy of Ali Jay Multimedia:
Ween continues their Denver Halloween run tonight, Thursday, October 31st. You can catch Ween at House of Blues Boston on December 13th and The Met Philadelphia on December 14th. There are also a pair of shows scheduled at Terminal 5 in New York City, February 14th-15th. For more information on upcoming shows head to the Ween website.
Setlist: Ween | Mission Ballroom | Denver, CO | 10/30/19
Set: Exactly Where I’m At, Flutes of the Chi, Even If You Don’t, The Grobe, Seconds, The Stallion pt 1, The Argus, How High Can You Fly?, Awesome Sound, She Fucks Me, I Don’t Want It, Voodoo Lady, With My Own Bare Hands, Springtheme, Demon Sweat, Gabrielle, The Goin’ Gets Tough From the Getgo, Pandy Fackler, Sorry Charlie, Ice Castles, The Final Alarm, You Were the Fool, I Don’t Want to Leave You on the Farm, Help Me Scrape the Mucus Off My Brain, Up On Th’ Hill> Take Me Away, Fiesta, Wayne’s Pet Youngin, Frank
Encore: Piss Up a Rope
