I am going to be seeing the Smashing Pumpkins live this evening at the Fabulous Fox Theatre as a part of their 20th Anniversary Tour. I am going with the guy I work with: we have both been looking forward to this concert for quite some time. We bought tickets the first time they were available.
We're hoping the band will perform more of their older tunes that helped sky rocket them to the forefront of alternative rock in the '90s. They are only playing one show in St. Louis, so it seems unlikely that they will force a pointlessly jam-filled appearance on the St. Louis crowd unlike the band's first show in New York towards the beginning of the tour.
I personally really like the Smashing Pumpkins because I think that Billy Corgan was one of few musicians during the '90s that could succesfully write and play epic songs. The band seemed, earlier in their career at least, to have a significant understanding of the use of dynamics and the excellence in subtle shifts in genre from alternative rock to pop-based movers and shakers. Billy Corgan's voice, which is annoying to some people, was never really a problem for me.
I actually thought the band's most recent full-length release (Zeitgeist) was a fairly decent album. There were some obvious differences between that album and the band's earlier works of note (Gish, Siamese Dream, and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness), but the album was still mildly enjoyable.
So, I'm hesitantly looking forward to the show this evening. And I wanted to ask my fellow Hatrackers what they think about the Smashing Pumpkins. And if there is anyone else who can share Smashing Pumpkins concert experiences with me.
Posted by solo (Member # 3148) on :
I like most of the Pumpkins stuff. Never seen them in concert but from what I have read about this tour it sounds like they aren't playing much in the way of fan favorites and are taking the attitude of if you don't like it, go home. If that's really how it's going down, then I think they need to get a grip.
I think that my favorite Pumpkins song is Mayonnaise from Siamese Dream.
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
That's what we're concerned about. It's a 20th Anniversary Tour. They should be playing the fan favorites. We've been joking about taking legal action against the band if they don't deliver the goods as promised.
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
I heard the OP in the voice of Patrick Bateman.
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
I'm not sure who that is...
Posted by Launchywiggin (Member # 9116) on :
When they came to Boston last year, they played lots of the old stuff from Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie. And the new album stuff rocked pretty hard live.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I like them a lot, although I only have a few of their songs. I hope you have fun! Let us know how it was!
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
quote from Patrick Bateman (fictional character):
quote:I've been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that, I really didn't understand any of their work. Too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Duke where, uh, Phil Collins' presence became more apparent. I think Invisible Touch was the group's undisputed masterpiece. It's an epic meditation on intangibility. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums.
It's no comment on you specifically, I just hear pop music commentary in his voice.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
I loved the Pumpkins but I think they peaked with Mellon Collie. Let us know how the show goes. They used to be fantastic live, I hear. I never got a chance to see them.
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
I'm not hearing anything good from people I know that went. They did 3 shows in Chicago (was supposed to be 4 nights in a row but Corgan got sick and rescheduled). Every single night he went off on vulgar rants on stage at the audience. Apparently the set lists are sorely lacking and confusing. They had themes for alternating nights (I think it was something like Black Sunshine and White Shadows?) but nobody could figure out what those were supposed to mean, including the newspaper reviewers.
Posted by dabbler (Member # 6443) on :
In general I've heard over the years that they're not so great in concert. Billy Corgan used to scream and not carry the tune. I saw them once in Providence about 9 years ago. It was in a tiny joint called Lupo's where the tickets went on sale only two days before the show. A friend of mine and I stayed up all night on the local college shopping street waiting for the tickets to go on sale. The best part of the show was the acoustic set, about 30 mins long. At the time, I think D'arcy wasn't with them. I think Chamberlain was back with them for a bit by then.
Smashing Pumpkins made up my primary music from Gish to Mellon Collie. That was roughly ages 12-19. I bought Adore and listened to it a decent amount, but never listened to Zeitgeist.
I hope it was a great show.
Posted by Reshpeckobiggle (Member # 8947) on :
quote:Originally posted by scifibum: I heard the OP in the voice of Patrick Bateman.
I seriously laughed out loud at this.
Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
As long as we're talking about Smashing Pumpkins, I thought I'd post a link to something that helped me appreciate them in a whole new way.
Under that, click on either "Listen to the MP3 stream" or "Download the Podcast," and skip to about the 10:30 mark.
Fascinating stuff.
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
They actually sounded really amazing. Billy Corgan actually seemed to be really into the show which was contrary to some complaints of earlier shows on the tour.
Unfortunately, the show was about 60% songs and about 40% pointless jamming. The closer for their set was a nearly 20-minute long instrumental jam that was mostly guitar feedback, timpani smashing, and bird calls. And that was the end of the show. No encore or anything like that.
Everything before that was really good. They played a lot of the songs I was hoping for (though there were still a few like "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" and "Jellybelly" that were lacking) and a number of other songs that I liked but were less well known.
They did play "Zero" which I know they didn't do at some previous shows. In fact, they had a really sick transition from "Cherub Rock" straight into "Zero" which was totally slamming.
And Mr. Corgan seemed downright friendly and calm compared to reviews of previous shows. He joked around with the crowd and only cussed when the song lyrics called for it.
*shrugs*
Pretty much, it was awesome.
Posted by aiua (Member # 7825) on :
I live right down there, so I really, really wanted to go, but.. I'm home for the weekend. Perfect timing. Glad to hear you enjoyed it.
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
Yeah, the sound was really huge and epic. I was concerned about the acoustics because The Fox is so open. But they sounded really great.