I fill with rage when the haters dismiss Ween as a joke band, a Weird Al for stoners. This is such bullshit, because while Gene and Dean may not take themselves seriously, they certainly take rocking seriously. And their refusal to follow the tides of musical fashion or to be defined by a particular style has allowed them to pursue their sick, crazy, glorious experimentations wherever they may lead.

Ween’s live shows tend to combine all of the sundry weirdness of their albums and Friday’s show at McCarren Park Pool was no exception: three solid hours of pure Ween goodness, unadulterated by opening bands, and featuring songs from all ten of their studio albums, from GodWeenSatan (1990) to La Cucaracha (2007) and everything in between—though 12 Golden Country Greats was tragically underrepresented. Each song was played with passionate gusto, with Gene’s ever-morphing vocals and Dean’s thrashing guitar solos rounded out by bassist Dave Dreiwitz, drummer Claude Coleman, Jr. and keyboardist Glenn McClelland (who, no kidding, is the same age as my grandma), amazing musicians all. Unfortunately, I couldn’t photograph Coleman from where I was standing, so you’ll have to take my word for it that he was there and, although he didn’t sing “Put the Coke on My Dick” this time, he was awesome. I tried to compensate by capturing as many of Deaner’s facial contortions as possible.

The last time I saw Ween, they covered “Band on the Run” and “Enter Sandman.” There were no covers this time, but they did end with “Bananas and Blow” and “Dr. Rock,” so that made up for it.

At some point, through the thick haze created by joints (and a few smoke machines), I saw a shocking number of what appeared to be very young sorority girls in the crowd. Then I saw that most of them seemed to know every word by heart, even the old stuff. This made me think: Are experimental rockers capable of redeeming even the lamest elements of society? Well of course not. But it makes me feel good to know that Ween can at least bring together drunk jocks, pregnant hippie ladies, Joe Lo Truglio (that guy from “The State”), computer programmers and yes, even sorority girls, even if for only three hours in a giant emptied-out pool.

Watch:
“Buckingham Green” (live, from this show)
“Booze Me Up and Get Me High” (live, from this show)
“Dr. Rock” (live, from this show)

Setlist:
“Exactly Where I’m At”
“Take Me Away”
“Transdermal Celebration”
“Nan”
“Even If You Don’t”
“Learning To Love”
“Voodoo Lady”
“With My Own Bare Hands”
“Mutilated Lips”
“Marble Tulip Juicy Tree”
“Buckingham Green”
“Spinal Meningitis”
“Your Party”
“The Stallion, Pt. 3″
“Touch My Tooter”
“Gabrielle”
“I’ll Be Your Johnny on the Spot”
“Frank”
“The Mollusk”
“Booze Me Up and Get Me High”
“The Argus”
“Ocean Man”
“Wavin’ My Dick In The Wind”
“Mister Richard Smoker”
“Fat Lenny”
“Zoloft”
“SomedayShamemaker”
“Fiesta”
–ENCORE –
“The HIV Song”
“You Fucked Up (Hey Joe)”
“Bananas and Blow”
“Dr. Rock”

Check out Ween on MySpace or at www.ween.com. Especially worth noting is Deaner’s detailed recipe for pasta with meat sauce, including photos.

*above slideshows created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.