Smashing Pumpkins get a warm L.A. reception
Kevin Bronson on
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[Since I’m still ravaged by a cold and living on fluids ending in “-Quil,” I’m going to leave the serious reviewing to others. LA Weekly has Timothy Norris’ photos from the night here; the OC Register reviews here. Here are some quick observations from last night:]
The 20th-anniversary Smashing Pumpkins tour ought be called “If You Will Indulge Me.” Said in the most polite way, of course. Frontman Billy Corgan made it clear early on he wouldn’t pander to nostalgia and merely play greatest-hits sets [see his chat with the L.A. Times here], instead mounting two-hour-plus shows that mix a smattering of the familiar with a doses of the future and old-fashioned fun. Some fans and critics saw that as an indulgence by which they simply could not abide.
Not so at the Gibson Amphitheatre on Tuesday. The opener of the Pumpkins’ two-night stand was almost feel-good, a carnival midway of music that even Corgan acknowledged might not sit well with the die-hards. “For 20 years we clawed our way in your hearts,” he jokingly told the crowd,” and what’d we do? We pissed in it.”
If you were there to relive your radio days of the 1990s, you were in the wrong place. Instead, you got 2 hours and 12 minutes of wildly eclectic music and ace musicianship. (Jimmy Chamberlin remains a marvel to watch.) A few energetically delivered hits, heavy-metal freakouts, a 16-minute space jam, a theremin sighting, three acoustic numbers, horns-strings-and-keyboards arrangements, sing-alongs and a kazoo-serenaded finale — that’s quite a range. From a purely aesthetic point of view, it was impressive, and entertaining. Absent was the caustic banter between Corgan and the crowd that has characterized some shows on the tour.
Judging from this night, there’s nothing wrong with the Smashing Pumpkins’ tour except its packaging. By calling it an “anniversary” tour, it was weighted with implied nostalgia. “Smashing Pumpkins: Into the Third Decade” — now that would have been more like it.
The setlist:
Rocktopus (Chamberlin’s opening drum solo)
Everybody Come Clap
Tarantula
G.L.O.W.
Siva
Eye
Mayonnaise
Tonight, Tonight
Speed Kills
Transformer
Superchrist
United States
Once Upon a Time
Again, Again, Again (The Crux)
The Rose March
Today
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning
Heavy Metal Machine
Glass
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (Pink Floyd cover)
[Encore:]
We Only Come Out at Night
Close to You
Photo courtesy of Timothy Norris and LA Weekly
FYI-“To Martha” was played and then lead into a piece of “Once Upon A Time”
[…] Kevin Bronson of Buzzbands.LA: A few energetically delivered hits, heavy-metal freakouts, a 16-minute space jam, a theremin sighting, three acoustic numbers, horns-strings-and-keyboards arrangements, sing-alongs and a kazoo-serenaded finale ”” that’s quite a range. From a purely aesthetic point of view, it was impressive, and entertaining. Absent was the caustic banter between Corgan and the crowd that has characterized some shows on the tour. […]
The show was awesome. It’s rare for a jaded LA crowd to be so into a show but they were. Can’t wait for tonight’s show.