Ok. I'm not sure how to start this. I can't think of a good way to begin the post except with a standard and uninspired "Holy fucking shit." So here we go.
Holy fucking shit.
I cannot express just how fucking mind blowing, how fucking ball busting, how fucking ROCKING the Ween concerts were. In fact, I won't just now - rather, I will start by filling you in on the events surrounding the concerts.
When the tickets went on sale, Lilly and I weren't quite sure where we would be for the concert, so we bought tickets for both Sydney and Brisbane, and figured that we could either sell the ticket for the other venue (ha) or make our way to it and see them twice. We (thankfully) ended up going to both.
Brisbane (also thankfully) was on last Friday night at The Tivoli. Ween didn't have any support acts this tour (who needs 'em when the main act plays for over 2 hours), so we got in there at about 7:30pm, for an 8:15pm start. They played through till about 11pm. Hell fucking yeah.
It was awesome. I bought a TShirt, silk flag, and button for my bag. Because of that, I couldn't afford any drinks, but that wasn't a real problem anyway, as I don't really enjoy drinking at concerts.
Here is the setlist:
BRISBANE SET LIST
Buckingham Green
Spinal Meningitis
Bananas and blow
Piss up a rope
Voodoo Lady
Your Party
Don't get 2 close (2 my fantasy)
Take Me Away
Transdermal Celebration
Even If You Don't
Object
Exactly Where I'm At
Mutilated Lips
Roses Are Free
Learnin' 2 Live
My Own Bare Hands
Wavin' My Dick In The Wind
Johnny on the Spot
Mr Would You Please Help My Pony?
Mr Richard Smoker
Fat Lenny
Pandy Fackler
The Mollusk
Ocean Man
Stroker Ace
Touch My Tooter
Dr Rock
Shamemaker
Fiesta
LMLYP
So I was pretty stoked. Both Lilly and I really wanted to hear King Billy (so many fond memories), but, alas, they played it at neither of the shows. But I was super stoked to hear Don't get 2 close, Dr Rock and Mutilated Lips. Oh, and Voodoo Lady (I would have been bitterly disappointed if they didn't play that). It was crazy cool. Deaner takes every opportunity to bust out a rockin' solo. Gene looked high as fuck. He was floating around the stage, moving like a reggae master; smiling to himself, laughing to himself, pointing at the crowd and laughing at little jokes only he understood. I think at one stage someone threw some drugs on stage for them, too. Awesome.
The Tivoli is a nice venue! It's an art deco style, and there are TVs above the bar and merchandise stall showing the concert that is going on (which I think is a nice touch). It has a mezzanine level, and is small enough so that you can't get too far away from the stage (not as small as The Anandale though). I'm gonna go see Air there at the end of this month, which I look forward to.
Oh, and I saw Amie after the gig, too.
But Lilly and I couldn't go too hard Friday night, as we had to catch our flight to Sydney the next morning, which meant being ready for the cab at 4am. Yesch.
But we did it, which meant us arriving in Sydney at around 8am (curse you, Daylight savings!).
We met Mumma at the airport, and went and had a (shit) breakfast with her, Alex and Hannah. We then had to get dropped at Carlingford in order to spend the day packing the last of our stuff into Lilly's Dad's car and his trailer. This was so that Allan (Lilly's Dad) could drive her and I back up to Brisbane on Sunday (and he could drive back to Sydney on Monday - bless him). We got almost all of our stuff (books are really all that's left in Sydney) - including the fridge, the bed, the dining table and all the other bits and pieces of life. I'll just quickly say here that it's great to have a bed again, and the semblance of a house (we're still unpacking).
So having finished packing and getting ready, we ended up in Newtown just past 7pm. We met Ross, Boggle, Linden, Boom and Carlie at an African food store, and had a small bite to eat there, too. It was good.
Fearful of crashing after a day of packing after a night of only 4 hours sleep after a rockin concert, Alex nicked 5 tablets of Mum's Dex to help Lilly and I through. So Lilly and I took our 2.5 tablets with dinner (as prescribed, haha), and were both surprised at how quickly we felt the buzz. By the time we felt this buzz, we had finished our dinner and were walking to the theatre. It was on this walk that Boom and Carlie pulled Lilly and I down the side street for a joint. Shit yeah. I wanted - and was quoted as saying - to go into orbit for this concert. I did. It was awesome. I can say with all confidence that the Sydney show blew the ass out of the Brisbane concert. To quote Dean Ween "I would have to rank this gig up there with some of my favorites of all time." You fucken heard it. In fact, he's gone on to say "Overall I would have to rank this as one of my favorite ween tours ever." So I'm thinking they could come back here again in the not-too-distant future. Fuck yeah.
Here is the setlist, it speaks for itself:
SYDNEY SETLIST
Fiesta
Take Me Away
Transdermal Celebration
Waving My Dick In The Wind
Mr Richard Smoker
Learning To Love
Voodoo Lady
Your Party
Spinal Meningitis
Buckingham Green
Happy Colored Marbles
Back To Basom
My Own Bare Hands
Touch My Tooter
Gabrielle
Zoloft
I'll Be Your Jonny On The Spot
Object
Bananas And Blow
Piss Up A Rope
Frank
The Final Alarm
Booze Me Up And Get me High
The Mollusk
Ocean Man
Mister Would You Please Help My Pony?
Tick
You Fucked Up
ENCORE:
Nan
Stroker Ace
The HIV Song
Fluffy
SECOND ENCORE:
Buenas Tardes Amigo
Oh shit yes. Holy balls. How awesome is that list? Still, notable lack of King Billy and Push Th' Lil Daisies (they played Daisies in Adelaide though, which makes me want to follow them around the country next time they come out - especially as Adelaide was such a tiny venue).
But wow. What a show.
Before they started, someone in the crowd was inflating and distributing blue balloons, which I thought was a nice touch. Also, a giant white volley ball appeared and bounced around for a while, and then during the show a blow up doll made it's way onto the stage. Cool things. All more interesting than the Brisbane concert.
During Zoloft, Boom and I sparked up another J, and it was perfect. They were playing this huge guitar solo as an outro to it, and it was amazing. When it ended, I was screaming my delight, absolutely blown away by the magic of the moment, when they started the solo again. They knew I wanted more, and they delivered - I never wanted that moment to end. When that second solo ended, I was in ecstasy, writhing with bliss, exultations of supreme joy leaving my body. Then they went back into the solo for a third time. They sealed it. Best fucking band ever. It was magic. It was Earth moving. It was a defining concert of my life. The sheer diversity of the styles they played is a testament to their awesome. Man. I cannot say enough how fucking awesome that show was. Fucking, fucking, fucking, fucking, fucking awesome. Fucking one of the very fucking best concerts I've ever fucking been to. Fucking wow. Fucking fuck. Wow. Fuck. Fuck wow. You get the picture.
Actually, during the show, it appeared that Claude (the drummer) was telling the others of a sore hand. It also seemed that they changed the setlist because of that. Actually, between shows you could see the band talking and deciding what song to play next - which is awesome. If I was nearer the stage I would have shouted out "King Billy" or "Reggaejunkiejew." But I didn't.
I ended up taking about 720 pictures, and about 10 minutes (maybe?) of video. There were about 340 photos taken at The Tivoli, with a similar amount of video. I'm going to sort the photos ASAP, as well as optimise the videos and post them both to the web. I'll post the links here when they're up.
But wow.
And Buenos Tardes. I can't express it in words.
Unfortunately, when Boom, Carlie Lilly and I got inside (after losing the others and going to smoke a spliff), I called Ross and found out that they were in a different section to us. So that was a big disappointment; that I couldn't see Ween play with those that I had grown to love them with (Jon included - oh man I wish you coulda been there - I really hope you can make it to see them in Amsterdam). So that would be my one request for improvement - to have been right there with more of my mates.
After the show we met up and went back to Ross' (very, very cool) new pad in Newtown. Being on a dex binge (and despite knowing I had to be up at 5:30 the next morning), Lilly and I stayed there for a little while. Boom and Carlie soon left, and Linden went to bed, but a friend of Ross' came around (his name was Jon, I think) and we ended up going to a pub. While at the pub Lilly was checked out by a chick. Hehe. Not a bad looking lesbian either, one of the good ones. Chance of a threesome, I wonder?
Unfortunately amphetamines have a habit of putting me inside my head after a while, and this combined with the loud music meant I wasn't at my social best. We soon left the pub (primarily Gothic types there), to head to another. By now it was nearly 3am (I think, or was it nearly 2am? Daylight savings, I curse you again!), so Lilly and I decided it was time to go home. Sleep didn't come easy, and was restless, but the amphetamines made it easy to wake up. We piled into the car and were on our way to Brisbane. I am very happy to say that the trip went off perfectly. We made great time (12 and a half hours including unpacking) and the unpacking also went of flawlessly. Fanfuckingtastic. I don't think I would have been able to handle a disaster.
To celebrate, Allan, Lilly and I headed out to West End for a fucking delicious (and well priced) Greek dinner. The garlic sauce rivalled even Abdul's in strength.
All up a fucking BRILLIANT weekend.
5 stars.
EDIT: Videos from the concerts can be found on my
YouTube Channel. Enjoy.
