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In 2011 my favourite live band – Ween – broke up. Though they broke up with each other in a series of very public and somewhat nasty interviews, announcements, and internet innuendos, it felt like I was the one getting dumped. I was sad and depressed at the futility of having something so joy-emitting still walking this Earth and yet it was broken, sadly and impossibly out of my grasp.
I sat around in my track pants for months and ate a lot of ice cream.
And then out of the blue Ween booked a couple of shows in 2015! Sure, it was no tour or anything, but a smattering of random live dates kept hitting the fan until, like a late-night phone call from an ex full of wine and regret, Ween announced that they would be playing at the Toronto Urban Roots Festival (TURF). I was elated! They were giving me one more chance!
And so on September 17th, 2016 four of us drove to Toronto, checked into an air bnb downtown*, and walked to the nearby festival site, which was happening at the very nifty and historic Fort York. We got there in time to see The Sadies, which was fine, and after meeting up with a pile of friends we ended up at another stage for The Barenaked Ladies.
Now, I like BNL much, much more than the average person in my demographic. I think Gordon was one of the best Canadian debut albums of all time, and their next couple of albums stayed pretty strong too. And I gotta say, though on the surface the kitschy, teen-comedic Barenaked Ladies could be seen as the absolute antithesis to the dark, brutal melodic force that is the mighty Ween, I detect a line of consistency running between the two bands; one that is hard to put my finger on. Let’s just say that I see Ween as the Mr. Hyde to BNL’s Dr. Jekyll.
This was my first time seeing BNL since the unceremonious departure of their great frontman Steven Page, and though the show was fun and quirky I was much, much more in the mood for Hyde. My anticipation for the evening’s headliners was palpable and distracting.
And I assure you, good friends, that Ween did not disappoint (as I half-expected them to). Actually, it’s pretty fair to say that they were on fire, and were playing to a crowd that ate them up like bacon. It was a beautiful night, the crowd was sizeable but roomy, and Ween was clearly in a good mood. They played some of my absolute favourites (like Voodoo Lady, The Mollusk, and Buckingham Green) and they played them well. They had a lot of fun with Pollo Asado with Gener pontificating from a pulpit, they made us laugh with Bananas and Blow, Piss Up a Rope, and Waving My Dick in the Wind, and just completely raged it over all the rest.
Man, it was so much fun.
I had really, really thought it was over. I had thought that my life with Ween had ended abruptly at a mere ten live concerts. But now we were back together again, and it felt just so right! Gosh, I love the band so much…I hope they stay together forever.
Now I just have to keep Ween from hearing about my thing with Phish.
*This was my first time staying in an air bnb – my friends had booked it – and though it was convenient and relatively inexpensive I definitely thought it was weird. We had the guy’s whole apartment (he wasn’t there), and all of his stuff was in it. His food was in the fridge, his nicknacks were on the shelves, his toothbrush was in a cup next to the bathroom sink…it was so weird. Though it gave me hope in people on the whole, because if most people were disrespectful jerks air bnb wouldn’t have lasted a month.
Todd Man Out 