Ween at Constitution Hall, 1/23/08

26Jan08

Though I’ve heard “love ‘em or hate ‘em” reviews of Ween by critics and real people alike, the only response by a voyeur after a live show has been “FUCKING AWESOME!WOO!!!!” The Wednesday evening show at Constitution Hall will have no shortage of people screaming its praises, but you might have to ask the person saying so how many whip-its they scored from the guy selling them outside. Could have been the build up that left me as unsatisfied as my girlfriend’s libido (and for the same reason), it could have been that weekday concerts never live up to their potential, or it could have just been that I was surrounded with people who’re already so fucked up from whip-its they couldn’t give me directions to get any orange balloons myself. Whatever the culprit, I can’t help but feeling that I got a different Ween than I was promised.

Now, that’s not to say it was all bad, or even half bad. All the songs I wanted to hear, they played. All the songs I didn’t know I wanted to hear but ultimately NEEDED to hear, they played. But it certainly took a while for the performer/audience relationship to become cohesive. A good portion of the crowd showed up late (which I’ll blame on Constitution Hall for their notorious track record of ambiguous show/door times) until they reached full capacity about 20 minutes in, and the band kinda followed suit. Just like a “real” person at their shitty day job who shows up to work on time but spends a half hour dicking around the coffee machine and water cooler, Ween came out of the gates swinging live staples like “Pork Rolls and Cheese” and “Spinal Meningitis,” but did so somehow unenthusiastically. It took until the chorus of “Bananas and Blow” that Ween realized the audience was there in full force, and the band made the proper face-melting adjustments by way of a trademark Dean guitar solo, of which many throughout the night would follow. With an introduction like, “I’m gonna try to sing this song and not vomit” by Gene, “With My Own Bare Hands” was the early climax of the show, rocking each and every sock off in the room. This song was the REAL beginning of the evening.

 

What followed was a barrage of upbeat and downbeat songs for a solid 2 1/2 hour set totaling some 20-odd tunes.  The upbeat one’s were great only because the songs are great themselves, but the lackluster performances of the slower ones showed that it truly was Hump Day.  Now I understand the importance of crests and troughs in a concert performance and songs like “Your Party” and “Spirit Walker” add to the contour of the night, but there’s quite a difference between playing a slow song and playing a song bored.  “Voodoo Lady’s” mini-lightshow looked great in the huge ceilings of D.A.R. (though, I remain, the venue was never meant for rock shows), and was another of great performances.  Gene crooned, lounge-swinger style, to “Take Me Away,” and they busted out their big hit “Ocean Man” and turned the entire place into a great, big, campy 1950’s teen beach party.  But once that was over, and it was encore-time, they just kinda came back out.  They should have stopped high energy with the ending of the real set as the encore was hardly worth hearing. It was some three songs I don’t know and couldn’t recall if I heard them again.  The lighting by this time was getting way overzealous, with obnoxious strobe lights for no reason, and then the band bid farewell.  Just like that.  No kiss on the cheek, no phone call, nothing.  Had they finished the set and not performed this lame encore, the last thing the crowd would hear would be “WEEN!” being shouted for ions, instead of confused patrons dumbfounded asking,”Really…?”   Let’s just chalk this one up to venue.

I’m happy to blame basically everything bad that happened on the Constitution Hall, believing that Ween truly is everything we all want them to be, and that this was just a fluke, some performance that got off to a lousy start and never got the kind of momentum Ween is famous for. I’ll definitely go back and see them the next time they come anywhere around the area, but will pray that they pick somewhere that people can dance freely and not have to nitpick about who’s got a better seat. Deep down, we can sleep at night just knowing that Ween rocks, and that everything’s gonna be alright.

Filed under: DC Rockers   |  1 Comment
Tags: concert review, WEEN