102607 Ween, Toronto, ON

On October 26th, 2007 I saw one of my favourite live acts, Ween, at The Dock’s in Toronto.  

This was my tenth time seeing Ween, who are truly one of my favourite if not my very favourite live rock bands.  Everyone on stage is just so damn good at what they do and they all do it with a shared passion that pushes the fantastic songwriting far over the Edge of Greatness.  It’s a thing they like to call The Boognish; to me it’s truth in performance, a collective succumbing to the ohm of sonic bliss, and frankly one of the reasons why it’s great to be alive.

I say all of this without hyperbole.  Ween is the real deal, one of the last true vital rock bands out there (just ask Deaner, he’ll tell ya), and I want to see them play a thousand times.  And alas, this could very well have been the last time I saw them.

I don’t remember a lot of specifics about the show but I do remember spending most of my time hovering at the back of the cavernous warehouse-like venue.  It was roomy and beer-near back there, with a dozen friends both local and along for the ride from Ottawa.  I’ve seen this band from near the stage and far and both drunk and sober (I’m talking about both me and the band here – they used to get absolutely legless up there on stage), and while Ween is always a good show and near and drunk is always the best, that sort of experience requires some serious commitment that includes a lot of heavy raging and a not-too-insignificant hangover.  

Anyway, I opted this time for far and drunk with a sober band and it was a great show.  They played a thousand songs that I was hoping to hear and after they closed the show with Dr. Rock I staggered out of there slurring that I would shee thish band forever an’ ever, and then they broke up.  Stupid Gener let rehab convince him to denounce Ween in the press and Deaner would have none of it.  

And then I watched in horror as the great Gene Ween stooped to playing solo shows singing the work of Billy Joel (seriously) while the even greater Dean Ween resorted to running chartered fishing trips for a living (also, seriously).  

Really, that’s it?  A band as (relatively) young as this, with decades of potential still in the wings, and it’s over?  Ten shows is all I get (how selfish, I know)?

And then, strangely, in absentia the band’s popularity started to grow exponentially.  Ween shirts, bumper stickers, and even Boognish tattoos got more and more common, the call for their return got louder and louder and then bam, they got back together and started playing shows much bigger (and pricier) than where they left off.  Without playing a note Ween went from being a bar and club band to a theatre/burgeoning arena band, and it looks like they are finally making some serious coin.

And I get to hop back on the Ween train.  Woo-woo!