Ween's weirdness unites generations at Red Rocks

While we waited in Red Rocks incredibly slow entrance line, music rumbled behind the rock outcropping where we stood. The showtime was 7:30 and at 7:45, An Evening with Ween revved up, no opening act required. 

They reached back to their early days with Pork Roll Egg and Cheese from The Pod. I didn’t know the first song, but they followed it with Exactly Where I’m At, the opener to White Pepper. 

By the time we cleared security, they moved onto Piss Up a Rope, a favorite from Twelve Golden Country Greats, their 1995 country album. Once hated by country fans and Ween fans alike, it has aged pretty well and might be their most consistent album after The Mollusk. Later they returned to Golden Country with I Don’t Want to Leave You on the Farm (my personal favorite). First came Learning to Love, a country-rock banger from La Cucaracha, Ween's most-recent record of new songs.

At Red Rocks, I sought redemption from Ween. Twenty years ago, a drugged-out Ween show with a misbehaving audience effectively killed my fandom. Quebec came out days later and I never listened to it. With my friends Ben and Jeff in the confines of Red Rocks, we sought to exorcise that rotten show. 

Credit to setlist.fm

The Red Rocks setting helped but Ween took care of the heavy lifting this night. The crowd still reached Ween levels of strange but Ween more than made up for the past. 

Although they weren’t talkative, Ween didn’t come to drop 90 minutes of music and leave. They churned out nearly three hours of tunes, turning many songs into extended jams.  

Across 34 songs, Ween represented most albums pretty well, with eight getting three songs or more into the set. Despite a night that felt heavy on songs from their later albums, Chocolate and Cheese netted five tracks, just as many as White Pepper. Ween didn’t shy away from all the cringey songs, as Spinal Meningitis (Got me Down) appeared in a slightly different form than its Chocolate and Cheese incarnation. 

There were a few hitches. Aaron Freeman (aka Gene Ween) flubbed the guitar on Chocolate Town then went back into song a few seconds later. 

But the weak moments barely registered. Too many good songs filled out the set. With Ween not recording new music, their song choice guaranteed any seasoned fan would know most of the set. The Mollusk fluttered by with its light psychedelia. Crowd favorite Bananas and Blow soared with its faux-Jimmy Buffett structure. 

They could shift from silly to serious and back from song to song. That’s the most memorable thing about Chocolate and Cheese, and it was on display as they went from the galloping Take Me Away to Mister, Would You Please Help my Pony? Few bands have discographies that range from children’s songs to the dirtiest lyrics imaginable. 

With their drug days behind them, Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo (aka Dean Ween) had no problem cruising through such a lengthy set. They had a tight backing band in support. Both seemed to be enjoying themselves even as they kept the banter minimal. If a band drops 30-plus songs during a show, no one really misses the chatter. On the songs I didn’t know, the jam section was enough to keep me engaged. 

Beyond Red Rocks, patches of lightning lit up clouds on the horizon the entire evening. No rain fell on Red Rocks, although Green Mountain and its surrounding hills were greener than the last time I saw them. 

The Ween crowd matched the weirdness of previous encounters with a surprise twist – young people. We ended up next to a small mob of people barely into their 20s that found a danceable vein in almost every song. Where Ween, who has released two albums since 2003 and none since 2007, found a fanbase of 20-somethings, I have no idea. They must get heavy play on streaming services. 

But the crowds was much more age-diverse than the gray-haired majorities I join at most shows these days. But a youth movement embraced the weirdness of Ween, if only at Red Rocks, which ran close to capacity if it did not sell out. 

The great distance to our car along a narrow Red Rocks road forced us to leave at the break before the encore. We could still hear it in parts – Ween returned to The Mollusk once more with Wavin’ My Dick in the Wind. Few other bands could construct a meaningful song around such a title but Ween always accepts that challenge. 

Fluffy, another track from 12 Golden Country Greats, closed out the night. That we couldn’t hear, but in my ears, Ween had more than earned its redemption with this impeccable set.