See the Music XII – Euro Ween

See the Music Vol. XII – EuroWeen 2008
Photos and Story by Beana Bern

It’s not often that I find myself at a loss for words but, if I’m being honest, I have to admit that when it comes to recapping my 4 city adventure with Ween I’m not sure what to say. Out of 7 booked dates, I managed to hit four of them as well as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in London and Robert Plant and Alison Krauss in Amsterdam. Rock and roll fantasy would be the most concise way to put it, but if concise isn’t you’re preferred method of re-cap and you’re up for the scenic route, you can read about each leg over at 2beanornot2bean (Part I – London, Part II – Paris, Part III – Amsterdam and Part IV – Dublin).

Getting things started off at Shepherds Bush Empire was perfect. Good friends, a great space for shooting the show and a happy band playing the music that I love.

Next up was the City of Light, beautiful, beautiful Paris. After hearing about Mickey’s leap of faith in Camber Sands and his subsequent broken heel I had some fear that the tour may mot have come to fruition. Fortunately, Deaner is the kind of rock star that rock stars wish they were and, with his silly euro crutches he hobbled out onto the stage and made it work. Perhaps it was his perseverance or maybe the conquering of the fear that I had when I thought the tour was over, I don’t know. What I do know is that this was my favorite show of the 4 I rock and photographed. The room was like a little French convection oven but the heat seemed to warm up the crowd and the band.

Next up was Amsterdam. Compared to the backwards traffic mayhem of London and the dreamy, glowing bliss that was Paris, Amsterdam felt like an old quilt that I could just relax into and catch my breath. This was the second show I shot at the Paradiso so I was comfortable there and managed to get all my running around done during the first 3 songs so I could camp out in a cool spot and enjoy the show.

The last leg to Dublin was exhausting and, without a doubt, the cherry on top. When I first considered what shows to catch the thought of a Blarney Stone in Dublin was too tempting to ignore. Turns out that was a good call. I found a perch up above the stage and it was lucky that I was up high since there was as much beer and whiskey getting tossed as consumed…

Here is a youtube clip from the show:

This is just a taste of what went down but you can see more by clicking on Part I – London, Part II – Paris, Part III – Amsterdam and Part IV – Dublin

Don’t forget to see the music…

Beana Bern