The show definitely wasn't half-empty, but I agree the Club would've been a much wiser choice. Forcing everyone into seats took a lot of the energy out of the show, at least from my perspective. And I'm not sure whether it was the lack of crowd energy or the band not being warmed up, but it was definitely in my bottom three of Ween shows.
I really enjoyed the Sonar show, but this one definitely felt like a walk-through. I generally gauge Ween shows based on how many rare songs (or songs I've never seen live) are in the setlist, and how many kick-ass jams they lay done. Unfortunately, the only new songs were two off the new album (the bland "Spiritwalker" and the fantastic "Shamemaker"), and the only rare song was "Beacon Light" which they played at Sonar.
Otherwise, there were no extended jams at all, only a slight longer version of "Zoloft." I did enjoy hearing some of the classics that I haven't seen in a while ("Pony" and "Roses Are Free"), and I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing "Buckingham Green" or "Dr. Rock" live. Unforunately, the rest of the set was just the standards, and it was a pretty big letdown for me. Granted, this is around my 15th time seeing them, so hearing new songs is getting harder, but it was still frustrating.
My other main problem was the crowd: being stuck in seats, even good ones, meant that I could move away to avoid douche bags. A few notes to the people I sat near:
To the hippie guy who brought his own didgeridoo: Please leave it at home next time. No one gives a shit.
To the drunk douche behind me: No, the band doesn't recognize you from the New York show. And no, they can't heard you shouting to them.
To the hot woman in front of me: Please never stop dancing or fist-pumping.
To the women next to her: Please stop dancing. Now.
To the guys adjacently behind me: Shouting for songs that they play at every show is pointless. They'll get to it. They play it at every show.
The to the guys next to them: Yelling for "Old Man Thunder" and "Mourning Glory" is about as funny as yelling for "Freebird." We've all heard it before.
And finally, to the guy next to them: It's not super impressive when you try to guess the next song based on the noodling riffs played between songs, especially when you get it wrong. Seriously, your hit ratio is about 3%. Give it up.
All that being said (and a full novel being written), there's no way I'd miss their next show. I dont' think I've missed them in this area since the Chocolate & Cheese tour, and I'm not about to start. It's just ashame that this one was such a dud.
