The Going Gets Tough: WEEN Cancels Tour Dates For Deaner’s Mental Health

2024 was promising to be a major year for the band WEEN. This September, the guys are scheduled to perform in Philadephia, playing the entirety of their classic 1994 album, Chocolate And Cheese, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its release. Even more monumental is that this year marks 40 years since Aaron “Gene Ween” Freeman and Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo formed the band after meeting in a junior high typing class in New Hope, PA. There will be a handful of Northwest concerts in August, which we’re really excited about, and the recent Phoenix and Del Mar shows they just played in February were supposed to have been amazing. It sounded as if the Brothers WEEN have been firing on all cylinders and things have been looking promising. That is, until today. While these future dates remain unaffected for now, all scheduled shows for April are no longer in the cards.

Earlier today, a post appeared on the band’s social media accounts announcing that, “Ween’s April tour dates have been canceled. Ticket holders will automatically receive a refund from the original point of purchase. The previously announced August and September shows will proceed as scheduled.“

That statement captioned a more in-depth and heartfelt message from Deaner, which you can read below.

This is understandably upsetting news for a lot of fans, but I view it in a more positive light than some might. One reason is that, as of now, the Seattle show that I’m planning to hit up is still scheduled to occur, but more importantly, I love that Deaner is taking the time to get himself right. These guys have been going hard for 4 decades and, when you’ve been doing something for so long that it’s become such a large part of your identity, it can be incredibly difficult to hit the breaks and reflect on it subjectively. Now consider that Mickey and Aaron have been in WEEN since they were literal children. It’s not only part of them, they grew up in this.

It scared a lot of people when Aaron chose to break up the band in 2011, because he knew that being in WEEN was counterproductive to his mission of getting sober. Above all, it shook the rest of the members. Nobody knew if the group would ever reform or how things would move forward. When they eventually did come back together for the reunion shows in 2016, they sounded amazing. More importantly, Gener didn’t look like he was about to die on stage anymore. Although it was easily the best decision he could have made, Freeman has acknowledged that the abruptness in which he made his departure without any warning to the rest of the band is something that he would do differently in retrospect.

Everything surrounding that rift, including Gener‘s need to be secluded away from his bandmates who continued to party together, seemed to split the group into 2 separate factions. I’m sure that Mickey becoming sober in recent years has helped things, but the way that this statement to fans has been worded and delivered reflects another level of growth to me. It indicates that, after all they’ve been through, they’ve discovered healthier ways to address these sorts of obstacles. At this point, they must recognize that they can slow down to address whatever necessary issues they may have without the fear that everything they’ve worked toward will suddenly collapse around them. For Melchiondo to release this statement, tells me that he feels supported. Keep in mind that, the reason they split when they did was because Aaron didn’t feel like he could tend to his needs and remain in the group at the same time. A statement like this isn’t a sign that the band is experiencing problems, it’s a sign that they’ve reached a point where they know how to work through them.

Get healthy, Deaner. We’ll be here when you get back.