New Hope rockers Ween continued a series of reunion shows at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on Friday and Saturday nights. The concerts marked the group’s first performances in the Bay Area in over five years and first in San Francisco proper since 2009. Guitarists Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo and Aaron “Gene Ween” Freeman as well as keyboardist Glenn McClelland, drummer Claude Coleman Jr. and bassist Dave Dreiwitz treated fans to a pair of marathon, career-spanning shows.

Ween’s opening show on Friday focused on material from their first two studio albums, 1990’s The Pod and 1991’s GodWeenSatan: The Oneness. The band played five songs a piece from each LP as well as five songs from 1994’s Chocolate And Cheese and two a piece off 12 Golden Country Greats, La Cucaracha, Quebec, The Mollusk and White Pepper. “Play It Off Legit” was the only tune from 1992’s Pure Guava to make the setlist on Friday.

When Gene, Dean, Claude, Dave and Glenn began their reunion back in February, they kicked off their first show in five years with “What Deaner Was Talking About.” Surprisingly, Ween didn’t play “What Deaner Was Talking About” at any point during their next 17 shows. The Chocolate And Cheese classic finally returned on Friday. The concert featured a three-song encore that began with “What Deaner Was Talking About.” Then, Dreiwitz swapped instruments with Deaner for “Don’t Laugh (I Love You).” The third “Laura” of the year brought the evening to a close.

Saturday’s show was the first of the reunion to start with an acoustic segment. The six-song unplugged mini-set featured regularly played acoustic tunes “Birthday Boy,” “Chocolate Town,” “Tried And True,” as well as the recently debuted obscurity “Kim Smoltz” and the title track from 1997’s The Mollusk. Ween then fit in one beloved song after another for the majority of the 25-song main set including “Transdermal Celebration,” “The Grobe,” “Buckingham Green,” “The Stallion, Part 3,” “Voodoo Lady,” “Zoloft” and “Touch My Tooter.”

Last night’s concert also saw “Israel” and “Mononucleosis” continue to find their way into regular rotation, the fourth “Pollo Asado” of the year and a set-closing run of “You Fucked Up,” “Pandy Fackler” and “Tender Situation.” Ween said farewell with a “Stroker Ace”/”Someday”/”Fluffy” encore. “Fluffy” featured impressive guitar work from Mickey throughout and spanned nearly 10 minutes. Next up for Ween is a three-night stand at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester November 25 – 27.

Full Shows Audio (Shared on YouTube by Boognish Monster)

[Friday, October 14]

Setlist

Ween at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium Did You See Me?

Nan

Take Me Away

Tick

Happy Colored Marbles

Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)

I Play It Off Legit

Roses Are Free

Back to Basom

Licking the Palm for Guava

Mushroom Festival in Hell

Learnin' to Love

Beacon Light

Dr. Rock

Object

Piss Up a Rope

It's Gonna Be a Long Night

Ice Castles

Final Alarm

Frank

Sorry Charlie

Wavin' My Dick in the Wind

Wayne's Pet Youngin'

Mister Richard Smoker

Demon Sweat

Ocean Man

Buenas Tardes Amigo Encore What Deaner Was Talkin' About

Don't Laugh (I Love You)

Laura

[Saturday, October 15]

Setlist