Staff Editor on September 1st, 2018

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Smashing Pumpkins staged a sonic and visual spectacular on Thursday night at the Forum, playing a 3 1/2-hour concert as part of their Shiny and Oh So Bright Tour that included hits, deep cuts, the new tune “Solara,” cover songs and the occasional humorous moment.

With founding members James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin back on board and the Pumpkins having marked their 30th anniversary in August, Billy Corgan played lord of the very big ring, going through several wardrobe changes as the concert segued between sections, separated by videos of Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath, dressed as a carnival barker, introducing each. They played out against spectacular visuals created by longtime Pumpkins collaborator Linda Strawberry.

The staging/artwork was Art Deco-inspired with many religious motifs, as well as throwbacks to classic Ziegfeld performances including the iconic Hedy Lamarr stars scene in “Ziegfeld Girl.” The stage setup consistently changed with triangular prism panels on rotators. One side was Art Deco mirrors, another were led lights and the others were screens. Also, there was a staircase brought in and out. Corgan moved up and down it during their cover of “Space Oddity,” as well as to the McGrath videos.

One of those videos introduced Iha (for the one or two people in the arena who weren’t familiar), as well as the song “1979.”

About halfway through the show “Tonight, Tonight” was sandwiched between a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” and another of led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” During “Stairway,” a sculpture of what looked like the Virgin Mary was pushed throughout the floor. After the song, Iha joked, “That was ‘Stairway to Heaven’ by the Smashing Pumpkins. Performed at the Forum. You can cross that off your bucket lists.”

Metric opened the night.

Setlist: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Disarm, Rocket, Siva, Rhinoceros, Space Oddity (Bowie cover), Drown, Zero, The Everlasting Gaze, Stand Inside Your Love, Thirty-Three, Eye, Soma, Blew Away, For Martha, To Sheila, Mayonaise, Porcelina of the Vast Oceans, Landslide (Fleetwood Mac cover), Tonight, Tonight, Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin cover), Cherub Rock, 1979, Ava Adore, Try, Try, Try, The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning, Hummer, Today, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Muzzle. Encore: Solara, Baby Mine

Photos by Annie Lesser