While Ween remains on indefinite hiatus for the sake of guitarist Dean Ween (aka Mickey Melchiondo)’s mental health, all fans have are the memories. The hazy, hazy memories. Fortunately, revered archivist ChrisB is active on YouTube again, and this week shared previously uncirculated video from the 1993 Ween tour of Australia.

Captured on October 12th, 1993, at the Dee Why Hotel in Sydney, the video finds Ween still in its duo configuration of Gene Ween (born Aaron Freeman) on vocals/acoustic guitar and Deaner on electric guitar/bass/vocals, backed by their trusty DAT tape machine. Though this still presents Ween in its rawest original form, the band was approaching a transitional period, as reflected in the setlist.

Of the 20-song setlist, most of which is captured on the 42-minute video, three tracks were then-unreleased songs set to appear on the band’s yet-unrecorded fourth studio album, Chocolate and Cheese. The following year, Ween would enter a semi-proper studio for the first time (if you consider a rented room filled with recording equipment in an office building proper) for Chocolate and Cheese. The band would also expand its lineup to include Claude Coleman Jr. for the first time, with the former Skunk drummer proceeding to join Ween on the road along with longtime producer Andrew Weiss on bass to form the first iteration of Ween’s full-band lineup—later followed by Dave Dreiwitz taking over bass and the addition of Glenn McClelland (Blood Sweat & Tears) on keyboards.

But all of that change was still out of view that night at the Dee Why Hotel, where Ween delivered stripped-back versions of future Chocolate and Cheese tracks “What Deaner Was Talkin’ About” (which opened the show), “Freedom of ’76” (still sounding soulful as ever), and “Don’t Shit Where You Eat” (played for only the sixth time). What Ween may have lacked in a full-band lineup at that time, they more than made up for it by filling the small club with boisterous crowd work, with Gener interrogating the crowd, “Do you want to hear some metal?!” before “Sketches of Winkle”.

The rest of the show pulled heavily from Ween’s first full-length album, 1990’s GodWeenSatan: The Oneness, plus selections from the 1991 follow-up The Pod and the next year’s Pure Guava. Even though Ween was still in its nubile state, Gene and Dean’s maturation as songwriters is evident as the “pretty little ditty” (as Aaron put it) “What Deaner Was Talkin’ About” stacks up against the delightfully grating “Poopship Destroyer” or the primal rage of “Nan”. The quintessential “You Fucked Up” is also paired with some brilliantly disorienting camera work, Gene flailing his limbs in the flashing red and blue lights like coming out of a blackout into police handcuffs (to which “You Fucked Up” would be a perfect soundtrack…I’d imagine). Later, Dean plays guitar with his teeth on “LMLYP”.

Other early Ween classics also get some of their initial airings, including the second-ever “The Concert is Over” and Pure Guava‘s “Little Birdy”. Even though the video is missing “Pork Roll Egg and Cheese”, “Vallejo”, “Don’t Shit Where You Eat”, and “Old Queen Cole”, what remains captures a snapshot of the band barrelling toward its next evolution. In 1994, Ween would progress from a goofy, bedroom stoner duo to a (still goofy) formidable live band, one capable of balancing earnest and heartfelt songwriting with serenity-shattering brute force.

Watch Ween perform in Sydney, Australia, on October 12th, 1993, in newly surfaced archival footage.

Ween — Dee Why Hotel — Sydney, Australia — 10/12/1993 — Partial Video

[Video: ChrisB]

Setlist: Ween | Dee Why Hotel | Sydney, AUS | 10/12/93

Set: What Deaner Was Talkin’ About, Freedom of ’76, Sketches of Winkle, Don’t Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy), Poopship Destroyer, Pork Roll Egg and Cheese, Vallejo, Don’t Shit Where You Eat, The Stallion pt 3, You Fucked Up, Fat Lenny, Mushroom Festival in Hell, Old Queen Cole, LMLYP, Captain Fantasy, The Concert Is Over
Encore: Nan, Little Birdy, Puffy Cloud, Tender Situation (tease), Marble Tulip Juicy Tree [1]

[w] w/ “Up on the Hill” lyrics