The first 2/3 of the show were great and rocked.

The experimental stuff sort of got old. Especially the kazoo numbers and the 15 minute long spacey-sounds song.

2008-08-16 Smashing Pumpkins - Charlottesville Pavilion, VA

Billy Corgan changed my life tonight. Maybe it was the full moon. Maybe it was the lunar eclipse, but Billy is part magician, all genius and he was on fire tonight. I arrived not knowing what to expect and it didn’t help that the Smashing Pumpkins did not take the stage until 8:30pm, a full 90 minutes late (’Billy does not want to start playing before sunset’ - anonymous security guard), or that I was the only 40-something in a crowd of 1000 black-clothed, nose ring-wearing, Goth teenagers, some of whom may have been in diapers when the SPs released their first album, ‘Gish’, in 1991.

When Billy finally took the stage wearing a shiny silver metallic skirt, I did not know what to expect and, not being too familiar with their songs, I was slightly disgruntled at first. Very soon that feeling left as Corgan rocked that pavilion like he was half Hendrix, half Pearl Jam with some Peter Gabriel-style showmanship thrown in for extra measure.

Jimmy Chamberlin was very competent on drums, but I could barely take my eyes off Billy long enough to notice that he was there. The bass player, Ginger Reyes, looked like a blonde doll in a red tutu, black stockings and black leather boots up to her knees, but laid some down some of the most ferocious bass riffs ever with an instrument that was almost as tall as she was. A very sexy ‘dominatrix’ handled keyboards with incredible dexterity. ‘Our keyboard playing will be handling all of your domination needs after the show’ Billy said as he introduced keyboardist Lisa Harriton.

At one point they played a song called ‘United States’, where Billy started playing this Hendrix-style version of the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ and then during ‘Heavy Metal Machines’ he quoted Cream, Jimi Hendrix ‘Wild Thing’ and Ted Nugent ‘Stranglehold’ on guitar. The speakers were so loud that I actually thought I was having a heart attack.

Then there was a brief set where Billy played some slow songs on a miniature piano and drum set, while the rest of the band took a break. I also went for more wine during this interlude. When I got back, things really got crazy.

They played several of their hits, such as ‘Bullet’, and then went into this long extended Pink Floyd-type jam called ‘Set the Controls’, where Billy started out on timpani and then moved to guitar, while Jeff Schroeder played a theremin. I was tripping so hard at this point I forgot I hadn’t even taken acid…although a couple of guys were smoking some righteous stuff very nearby.

As I walked off into the night, completely transformed and fully satisfied, I could hear Billy playing some kind of bizarre kazoo solo and I was thinking to myself “I have not felt this good in a long time and I wish that I could share this feeling with everyone.” That’s what music does: it energizes, transforms and inspires us to feel the best we are capable of feeling. Everyone with a pulse should try to catch the Smashing Pumpkins while they are still touring and see what it feels like.

i second that emotion.
Lapislee, hook it up for a brother. you know we’re in a drought!

Awesome. Given how in-depth you were with the Pumpkins stuff above, I’m really looking forward to it.