Monday, September 27, 2010

Ween, 9/17/10, Central Park, NYC

Ween, 9/17/10, Central Park Summerstage, NYC


And now for my Ween review, featuring The Great Ticket Debacle of 2010 to start off the night. Months ago, Erika and I decided to trade +1's for 2 shows at opposite ends of the Summer. Primus Faith No More at the Williamsburg Waterfront and Ween at Central Park. She got the Primus Faith No More tickets and I got the Ween tickets. I had been well aware of this arrangement, even to go so far as putting it into my calendar with the note "Erika is our +1".

Yet somehow, DOS, I said to myself, "Oh, I don't have to bring any tickets to this show, cuz Erika has this one". I only realized that was wrong when standing outside the entrance to the concert, on the phone with Erika (who was speed-walking from Yorkville to the show, which totally started on time, cuz it's Central Park.), who declared incredulously, "No, Lynn-- YOU have the tickets!" Me: That's crazy talk, you have th--- OH FUCK! (as I pictured the envelope with the Ween tickets on top of my stereo, which I had written "ween x 2") -> me buying Kochman's & some random chick's extra. There would be no trip to the merch booth that night. Bad Lynn, no merch.

Side-note: I was wearing a purple Phish Summer 2010 Tour t shirt and was approached by a dirty wook out front who wanted to know if it was a Phish t shirt. When I replied "yep", he immediately offered to sell me drugs. I have no idea what type of drugs, because it was some wacky code-name ("you have what?") that the kids use, but I wasn't really interested in finding out. "No... Thank you?"

At 7:30, the line to get into the Ween show was all the way down and twisting around the Drive. It looked as if they had closed the gates for a little while (no idea why), but then the show started at 7:32 and the (at least) hundreds of people still stuck on this line were not happy. For me, I may be doomed to never make it into a Ween show on time ever again, so I'm used to this shit by now. You can hear everything from outside the gate at Rumsey Playfield, but you're not really at the show until you are being blasted by the music inside. We finally walked in during Take Me Away and it sounded great.


It's nearly impossible to get a clear view of the stage at Rumsey Playfield if you're short. It's a losing battle. And then of course, the Ween crowd was like 94% shit-faced drunk male*, so a short girl ain't gonna win. In fact, I would consistently rank Ween shows up there at the top of the list of Shows I Get Shoved Around At. This is also exactly why I try to stay "friends" with the Ween crowd- because it's really hard to tell if some of them are a split second away from punching you in the face at any given moment. Salvo had an interesting theory on it- Ween have 2 kinds of fans: FAN A) The fans who enjoy loud jammy guitar rock like Ween but also appreciate jambands like moe., Phish, etc. (ie- hippies like us.). And FAN B) The fans that hate hippies like us. If ever a fight were to actually break out- although I am a hippie like me, I would still want to be on whatever side the FAN B's were on. They scare me.

someone snuck a giraffe into the show!


Halfway through the show, Ween busted into a mind-boggling and out-of-control cover of Bowie's Let's Dance-- absolutely brilliant. Around this time, we found some more of our friends on the far outskirts of chuck.side. There ain't nothing like a happy crew of friends to enjoy a show with! I didn't take a photo cuz my flash is all wonky, but here's an artist's rendering that captures the love perfectly.


Baumy totally called Spinal Meningitis.

At some point in the night, the Gener was standing at the end of the stage, radiating his rocker wonderfulness-- and I was ever-so-happy he is alive. The setlist was strong, lots of variety. They were shredding. Fancy Pants was a bit too over-the-top, sometimes their borderline parody stuff eludes me. Mark later made a similar comment about the entire show. I enjoyed pretty much everything else!


Since you've already read the majority of this review, this seems as good a time as any to tell you that while my body was at the Ween show, all I could really think about was Pavement. 3 days with one of my favorite bands of all time was fast approaching. As I type out this review, I also have a copy of the Pavement review open-- because it's really all I'm thinking about.

After the show, we played everyone's favorite game: Is Salvo's Car Still There? And it was! Yaaay! Salvo 1, Gossip Girl 0! Suck it, Gossip Girl!


Have Ween ever used pyrotechnics? If not, they should seriously consider it, even if it's just for special shows. It would just feel right.

Sorry folks, the ol' A.D.D. has clearly kicked into full gear! Ween, 9/17/10, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, NYC: 6.9 HUZZAHS!

SETLIST
Buckingham Green
She Wanted To Leave
Bananas & Blow
Learnin' To Live
Transdermal Celebration
Up On A Hill
Take Me Away
Don't Get 2 Close 2 My Fantasy
Even If You Don't
Push Th' Little Daises
Sorry Charlie
Voodoo Lady
Happy Colored Marbles
Stallion Pt. 3
Ice Castles>
The Final Alarm
My Own Bare Hands
Your Party
Let's Dance
Touch My Tooter
You Fucked Up
Stroker Ace
Waving My Dick In The Wind
Fancy Pants
Waynes Pet Youngin
The Goin' Gets Touch
Johnny On The Spot
The Mollusk
Spinal Meningitis
Mister Won't You Please Help My Pony
Roses Are Free

E:
Fiesta
Mr. Richard Smoker
Dr. Rock

DOWNLOAD THE SHOW! Thanks, Salvo! http://www.archive.org/details/ween2010-09-17.salvo

SLIDESHOW AND HI-RES GALLERY!


*GSW's Friday night Gramercy show in July still had more dudes, but only a weeeeeeee bit more.

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