Ween Night 1 - Stubb's

Update: Pictures added, but I'm not done yet!

Thursday I drove down to Austin to see Ween perform at Stubb’s Barbecue. You have to understand that Stubb’s is considered to be one of the best places to see the Ween. They recorded a legendary live CD at Stubb’s and have performed renowned shows there several times since. So seeing Ween at Stubb’s is kind of like some sort of Ween pilgrimage. I left work early so I could make the 3 hour drive to Austin with several hours to spare.

Upon arrival I checked into my fleabag motel and tried to decide what to do about dinner. Stubb’s is a barbecue joint as well as a performance venue, but I really didn’t feel like eating there. I wanted something that I could take back to motel room since I figured that being around humans for the 5 hours required for the concert was quite enough, thank you. I ate dinner and then headed for Stubb’s. The doors opened at 7, with the concert starting at 8:15. I got there around 6:40, which was later than I wanted to. I wanted to get as close to the stage as possible, but there was already a fairly sizeable line. I had not been able to determine whether I would be able to bring my camera into the venue. Ween allows cameras and recording equipment, but some of the places that they perform do not. The security people were far away from the gate and I couldn’t get their attention, so I asked the people at the front of the line who happened to have tripods and they said it was OK. So I went back to my car to get my camera and then I got in line.

Things moved pretty fast once the gates open and I headed straight for the front of the stage. Unfortunately all of the barricade space was already taken, so I just got as close as I could and proceeded to just stand around for an hour and 15 minutes (fun!). You never know if you’re going to get social JC or antisocial JC, but this particular night it was antisocial JC. I didn’t talk to anyone. I would have talked to someone if they talked to me, but no one did. So I just patiently waited for the show to start while gawking at people and taking a few photos of the stage.

The show was scheduled to start at 8:15, and it did. The sound was very good for an outdoor venue, although that may have been because I was so close. The crowd was really into it, and except for some mayhem during one song they were fairly well-behaved. I didn’t have to fight to keep my position all night like I did in Tulsa (F’in Okies!). The band sounded great and Gener was in fine voice. In case any Ween fans stumble across this review, the setlist is shown below. Some of the highlights were “The Golden Eel”, “Final Alarm”, “She F***s Me” and “Booze Me Up and Get Me High”.

During said mayhem there was a girl next to me who had just wormed her way up to the front, and she was holding some kind of mixed drink. People started getting shoved around a bit and that drink was making me really nervous. Sure enough, at one point she proceeded to spill some liquid in the vicinity of my camera. I was kind of getting pissed off and I yelled at her to lose the drink as I was putting my camera back into my camera bag. What kind of moron tries to keep a beverage in a cup during a mosh-pit type of scenario? She decided to dump it onto the head of the teenager in front of her. Hey, I just wanted her to dump it on the ground! But the whole ruckus caused her to leave, so that was good.

It was uncomfortably hot. The thing about Texas is that the humidity doesn’t go away when the sun goes down, which means that it stays hot and muggy until late in the night if not all night. If the day has been hot it can easily still be in the 90s at 10PM. I saw several women resort to removing their shirts in an effort to stay cool. Free bottles of water were being offered at the refreshment stands, but since I didn’t want to lose my place I didn’t try to get any. By the end of the show when I was singing along my lips were sticking to my teeth because my mouth was so dry. As much as I enjoyed the show I couldn’t wait to get out of there so I could get something to drink and turn on some air conditioning.

One very cool benefit of allowing shows to be taped is that most of them end up online fairly quickly. In fact, I already have this show burned to CD and it sounds great!

Setlist:
The HIV Song
The Golden Eel
Baby Bitch
Spinal Meningitis Got Me Down
Even If You Don't
Transdermal Celebration
Touch My Tooter
Slow Down Boy
Waving My Dick in the Wind
Voodoo Lady
Zoloft
Exactly Where I'm At
Push the Little Daisies
Piss Up a Rope
Final Alarm
She’s Your Baby
Frank
The Mollusk
I’ll Be Your Jonny on the Spot
Stroker Ace
Puerto Rican Power
Ocean Man
A Tear for Eddie
The Party
She Fucks Me
I Can't Put My Finger On It (With Arabian chant)

Encore:
Fiesta
Sketches of Winkle
Sorry Charlie
Booze Me Up and Get Me High
Someday