- (0) George Melvin Benefit Concert
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- (1) Ezra Furman and the Harpoons
- (0) The Hogwaller Ramblers
- (0) Barling and Collins
- (0) Blue Line Highway
- (2) Derek Trucks
- (0) The Low Anthem
- (1) Olivarez Trio
- (0) The Mike Rosensky and Jeff Decker Quartet
- (0) Thompson/D’earth
- (2) Technosonics
- (0) 6 Day Bender
- (5) Impossible Arms
2008-08-16 Smashing Pumpkins - Charlottesville Pavillion, Charlottesville, 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 did not help that the Smashing Pumpkins did not take the stage until 8:30pm, a full 90 minutes late (’Billy does not like playing before sunset’), or that I was the only 40-something in a crowd of 2000 black-clothed, nose ring-wearing, Emo/Goth teenagers, most 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 pavillion like he was half Hendrix and 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, a miniature doll in a red tutu, black fishnet stockings and black leather boots up to her knees, laid some down some of the most ferocious bass riffs ever with an instrument that she could not have been more than 6″ taller than, when standing next to it. A very sexy ‘dominatrix’ handled keyboards with incredible dexterity.
At one point they played a song called ‘United States’, where Billy just started playing this Hendrix-style version of ‘My Country Tis of Thee’ and then during the next song ‘Heavy Metal Machines’ he quoted Cream, Jimi Hendrix ‘Wild Thing’ and Ted Nugent ‘Stranglehold’ on guitar. The speakers were so loud I actually thought I was having a heart attack.
Then there was a brief set where Billy played some slow Emo-type 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, which I should know, but don’t, and then went into this long extended Pink Floyd-type jam where Billy started out on timpani and then moved to guitar, while the other guitarist played a theremin. I was tripping so hard at this point that I forgot that I hadn’t taken any acid…although a couple of guys were smoking some righteous stuff just in front of me.
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 never felt this good 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 SPs while they are still touring and see what it feels like.
I was really looking forward to this show, having listened to SP since the Siamese Dream days. I own every SP album, including Zeitgeist, plus the two albums in-between the breakup and revival: (Billy Corgan’s ho-hum solo album and Zwan’s Mary Star of the Sea, which is truly great rock record). I also have a ton of live stuff, demos, and bootlegs from the online treasure trove- the Reborn Smashing Pumpkins Audio Archive.
Billy Corgan lost me when he made me stand around for an hour and a half. He doesn’t like to play before the sun sets? Thanks a lot, dick. 4,000 people had to wait for you.
That said, I enjoyed the music until about the halfway point, when the 20-minute feedback fests began. I don’t mind hearing new material at all- but I want to hear songs, not noise.
Billy’s mid-set monologue was a good window into the contradictions of the man. He began to praise the crowd for its youth and open-mindedness, saying how crowds full of 30- and 40- somethings only want to hear old songs. However, when he said “old songs,” most everyone went wild cheering, which apparently ticked him off even though he obliged with soulless versions of “Today” and “Bullet with Butterfly Wings,” two songs we’ve all heard to many times to enjoy anyway. My favorite track of the night? “Mayonaise,” from the early 1990s.
Billy- if you really only wanted to play new stuff you would not have taken out a full-page Chicago newspaper ad a few years back saying you wanted your old band back. You’re not fooling anyone. You re-form the Pumpkins with just Jimmy, and add a new guitarist and a token chick bassist (and a new keyboard player who will stay away from Jimmy’s smack if she knows her history). You sell your songs for advertisements (Microsoft Sync in the car commercials) and soundtracks (Transformers, upcoming Watchmen movie). And going way back, you turned down a major-label deal for “Gish” so you could sign with Caroline and get alternative street cred.
Anyway, there were quite a few older songs, and the new ones were pretty good too. I really thought the instrumentals were filler and a waste of everyone’s time.
I’m 31. And despite what the review above says, most of the crowd was my age. We were past pot-smoking age, at least most of us, and we weren’t taking acid or X, thus we didn’t really dig your attempt to be Thom Yorke banging on the bongos and Neil Young experimenting with feedback. I even had a good buzz on $25 worth of $5 beers, but I just couldn’t get into it. We wanted songs, and you obliged for a while but then it got weird– as weird as…uhhh, as weird as Uncle Fester in a shiny silver skirt.
I enjoyed the show, and it was great to be 50 yards away from one of the best singer-songwriters of the era, but I think I would have better enjoyed saving $45 and watching the Skins beat the Jets and then seeing Michael Phelps get his eighth gold. It was, after all, Saturday night.
Wow, these are great recaps, guys. Thanks for sharing. Billy Corgan sure is taking a public opinion beating these days with this whole next-gen Pumpkins escapade. I’m not one to pile on myself, but that’s mostly because I lost interest back in the Machina days.
“Mayonnaise” is a personal favorite of mine as well. The introduction is so quiet and serene that I usually have to crank up the volume to hear it at all, so then when the band kicks in for real it’s totally overpowering.
While we’re on the subject of those contrasts, I also think the title track from “Mellon Collie” is terribly underrated. Very few people seem to know it offhand, but that album was so important to me at the time that the opening piano soliloquy became seared into my memory as an inseparable part of “Tonight, Tonight.” Maybe I just wanted a way to build up to the overblown grandeur of the orchestral sections; for my money, that song has always been about the drums, not the strings.
Agreed with most of the comments above. When you say the show starts at 7, then have the courtesy to start around then - or at least provide an opening act. I’m sure there are plenty of good C-ville acts who would oblige.
I was in high school when Mellon Collie came out, and have been a devoted SP fan ever since (with the exception of that Adore shit - and don’t get me started on Zwan). I think that put me smack in the middle of the demographic at the show. The first 60-70% of the show was effing great - like the dude above said, Billy rocked it hard. But then, because he’s Billy Corgan and he’s struggling with all his precious pain and angst, he gets cranky when we actually want to hear the SP’s biggest hits. I wanted to hear Disarm, fellas. Or Doomsday Clock. Or even Where Boys Fear to Tread - they opened the show with that back in Greensboro! I did NOT want to hear some covered Pink Floyd shit for half an hour, or an encore piece in which he played a damn kazoo, more for mocking value than anything else, as far as I could tell.
Still a great show. But you never know what Billy’s gonna feel like doing that night.
I didn’t realize they didn’t do “Disarm.” That is unforgivable, especially since there was a lot of instrumental noodling and an hour-and-a-half ego interval at the top of the show.
I later learned that they did not start the show until sunset because the $50,000 lighting system, which was amazing, would not have worked as well. By the way, the reason I probably enjoyed show more than most is because I was unfamilar with the Smashing Pumpkins repertoire and had no expectations. I didn’t even know what their hits were until I got home and started Youtubing. Personally, I really liked ‘United States’, ‘Bullet’ and ‘Set the Controls’, but that might be because I am also a huge Pink Floyd fan.
They played amazing, my only complaint was that it was too much new stuff. They should have played Cherub Rock. The light show was awesome, the band played really well, and Billy Corgan hasn’t lost his stage presence at all. Its got to be tough for him to play a place like the Pavilion when he was packing stadiums 10 years ago, but I am sure glad that they are still playing.
Luckily I got a seat and sat down for the 2 hour wait…and promptly stood up and worked my way up through the crowd when the show *finally* started and everyone stood up in front of me.
A lot of people were also complaining that they did not play ‘Disarm’ or ‘1979′.