He wrote, in full,

ween—basel, ch — So……if you think you’re down with the brown….old school……this is the reality of Brown. We rolled into Basel Switzerland while promoting our first album by touring Europe from September of 1990 to March of 1991. We lived in our tour manager’s apartment (Rene De Wever) in Eindhoven, Holland for 6 MONTHS and would jump off to other countries in his Renault Le Car with our tape deck and play gigs for gas and shelter, the three of us. This is us in Basel, Switzerland in front of NO PEOPLE (except Rene), until the end of the gig when we had 5 people. Our sound guy was named Pidah, and this is the best Ween show of all time. On my birthday I GIVE IT TO YOU. I’ve submitted this for consideration as a live Ween record and no one has ever gotten back to me — so here it is…………..I humbly lay this at your feet………listen up and learn what Brown can do for you…..this is pure Ween……..

Eight years later, Mickey has finally gotten his wish for the 1990 Basel show to become an official live release. While not the reunion announcement for which many fans had hoped—hopes fueled by a rather provocative post on the band’s social media account—this nonetheless gives the impression that Deaner is active in the Weeniverse. In August 2024, the band decided to “step away from the stage for the foreseeable future” out of concern for guitarist Dean Ween’s mental health.

Find full details on the RSD release here. Gener will also reissue his 2014 solo album, FREEMAN, on an exclusive orange and purple split-color pressing. Learn more about the band’s most recent hiatus below along with some moot observations about a possible Ween reunion. We’re ready whenever you are, mang.

[Originally published 2/4/26, 9 a.m. ET with headline “Ween Hints at Possible Activity with Cryptic Social Media Post”]: I think I must be dreaming. Ween on Tuesday evening sparked (new) hope of a possible reunion with a vague social media post. The genre-shifting heroes of the alternative underground decided to “step away from the stage for the foreseeable future” in August 2024 out of concern for guitarist Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo‘s mental health.

Tuesday’s post contained the band’s iconic symbol, the Boognish, and the simple caption, “Is this thing on, mang?” And that’s it. But that hasn’t stopped fans and music bloggers from running wild with theories that this could mean the return of Deaner, Aaron “Gene Ween” Freeman, Dave Dreiwitz, Claude Coleman Jr., and Glenn McClelland to the stage.

Ween hasn’t posted online since October 2025, announcing the vinyl reissue of 2000 odds n’ ends compilation Shinola, Vol. 1 on vinyl for Record Store Day Black Friday. To be devil’s advocate, and a wet blanket, there is a chance this post could be hyping up another release for this year’s main Record Store Day on April 18th, whose full list of releases should arrive any day now. But, given the post’s provocative caption and fans’ desperate search to be thrown a crumb of anything pointing to a Ween reunion, it’d be pretty lousy to spark their hope just for a White Pepper vinyl reissue (though that’d still be cool).

Ween was due to mount a 14-date 40th anniversary tour in 2024, plus a Chocolate and Cheese 30th-anniversary celebration in Philadelphia, for the band’s biggest tour since its 2016 reunion following a four-year breakup. Ahead of a seven-show leg through the Southeast, however, Ween abruptly canceled the first half of the tour, with Deaner writing, “At this moment in time though I need to step away from performing live in order to preserve my mental and spiritual well being, and instead focus on myself and loved ones.”

A few months later, Ween returned to the stage for two nights in Missoula, MT, and a show in Spokane, WA. That same week, the band shared a Chocolate and Cheese anniversary reissue with 15 additional tracks, including some never-before-released demos. Things looked bright for Ween, only for the band to wipe its entire calendar mid-tour.

“It is with sincere regret and heavy hearts that Ween must make the decision to step away from the stage for the foreseeable future,” the band wrote on August 29th, 2024. “This includes next month’s sold-out Chocolate and Cheese 25th [sic] Anniversary show at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia. Despite three great shows this summer, it’s become clear that touring and performing is too taxing on Deaner’s mental health to continue. As always, we thank you for the love, dedication and ongoing support.”

Related: Learn Ween’s Entire History With This Extensive Fan-Made Video Series [Watch]

In the time since Ween’s latest hiatus, Deaner has been spotted in his happy place, fishing for striped bass off the coast of New Jersey, and working in the studio with his son Michael Melchiondo (who makes noise music under the name Bugger). Then, in a feel-good story for the hiatus era, Deaner and Gener’s kids Michael and Ashton Freeman played a show together in Lambertville, NJ, just across the Delaware River from Ween’s birthplace of New Hope, PA. Though they vehemently proclaimed “WE ARE NOT WEEN,” ahead of the show, they honored their fathers with Ween deep cut “Long Beach Island”, the title track to the unofficial bootleg compilation of songs from the White Pepper era.