Smashing Pumpkins: Fresh Fruit or Rotten Veg?

Literally every riff from the Pastichio Medley is more compelling than this

flappy bird otm. I'm still marveling over how bland "Solara" is for a lead single. "Tarantula" was not the best, but in comparison to "Solara" it stands out as a f-ing classic.

as much as i think the song is whatever, i think the video is pretty rad, which i haven't thought about a sp video since they broke up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do3tSdZucyA

Nice video, way more interesting than the song.

I like that Billy is going full goth again

I really like that video a lot. Made me like the song more, but that video deserved a better song. Agree with Brad that it's the best post-2000 SP/Billy video. Noticed his son make a cameo at 3:53.

Your Favorite Band Sucks podcast features SP on the latest episode.

So, the tour has started. Was anyone at the first couple of shows? I've watched/listened to a few videos via youtube and they do sound and look pretty good.

You get your money's worth with the apparently 3hr-ish, 30+ song set as well, though I could really live without the Led Zeppelin cover...

https://i.redd.it/st0eld2j5z911.jpg

the setlist is awesome

I'd like "I Am One" in there, but otherwise it's hard to fault, bar my Stairway complaint.

https://imgur.com/gallery/vWdeJb1

It is ridiculously good, I'm honestly surprised. Can't see myself going but credit to him for figuring out exactly what would work best.

Store nearby is selling an original Adore 1998 vinyl copy for 40 euros. Yay or nay?

yes! it’s in mono!

a friend of mine was at the first show & loved it. One of the many texts I got that night: “I think Corgan’s rocking a kilt.”

I’m seeing them in a little less than 2 weeks, v excited

Bought it! Looks mint can’t wait to give it a spin when I get home.

that kicked a ton of ass

all the footage I've seen of it looks pretty fantastic and the best they've been in a long long time, glad you had a good time. hope they bring it here

highlights, avert your eyes if you don’t want to know anything:

- probably the best incarnation of the smashing pumpkins i’ve seen (didn’t ever get to see them until ‘07 lol)
- james playing an ebow onstage makes all the difference
- the three guitar approach is pretty rich and harmonic throughout the whole show (especially on “stand inside your love,” those guitars sound like the ocean!) only occasionally do they feel like they’re burying each other
- “siva” tore the roof off
- “porcelina” was fucking unearthly
- and “the beginning is the end is the beginning” was amazingly crunchy and gothy, prob the best song of the night which i was not expecting to think
- “stairway to heaven” was super unnecessary but i really like the “space oddity” cover????
- the visuals were corny and tasteful at the same time? like obviously drawing on mellon collie romantic imagery and weird billy corgan iconography, but it was really effective and playful; the improvisational (?) dance they filmed for “for martha” was actually moving
- mark mcgrath filmed two vaudeville... things for this show, one of which is an intro to “blew away”
- cried during “33”

k think that’s it

- billy sidehugged james for a major portion of "eye," couldn't tell whether james was into it or not

I forgot to post after the show here last week. What kind of seats did you have, Brad? I was in the nosebleeds - Billy has never looked smaller. I like arena shows if it's sold out or nearly sold out and basically everyone is into it, which it what happened last Friday. Looked super empty during Metric but by the opening montage (which I loved and was one of the more emotional sections of the show for me) it had filled out to probably 90%. I heard they sold out MSG tonight, which is shocking, there must've been so many walkups. The place where I saw them has notoriously bad acoustics but the band sounded fucking great up there, which was really surprising. Three guitars + keys + JAMES make this feel more like SP than anything since I first saw them, in 2010.

my personal highlights were Porcelina (holy shit) and awkward Billy/James banter, which I always hear on bootlegs and have obviously never heard in person. Just them making lame joke about whatever city they're in. It was... so... awesome.

I felt pretty disengaged from the whole thing though, probably because I was so far away. But they sound great and crafted a really nice setlist + production to remind the public at large about the band. Everyone in the band seems happy and response tends to determine whatever Billy does next so... good news ahead? I'm glad at least 3 of them are on good terms. This show is a loving tribute to the Smashing Pumpkins.

wish they were doing The Boy, though. kinda lame that Billy uses Blew Away for a costume change but w/e

Hell yeah @ Brad enjoying "The beginning..." most. now let's redo the poll so it can place.

Ugh this is making me feel a tiny bit regretful about my decision not to see them - I was excited when I first heard they were doing a reunion tour but Billy’s involvement with Infowars makes me feel so angry and disappointed that I just refuse to put any money in his pocket. I idolized the pumpkins when I was a teen, had the hugest crush on billy. I could’ve put aside the fact that he’s actually kind of a dick, but the infowars stuff is just straight up dangerous and hateful. I’m so mad at billy for ruining this for me!

Billy’s involvement with Infowars makes me feel so angry and disappointed that I just refuse to put any money in his pocket

totally fair, i nearly didn't go for the same reasons (and probably wouldn't have gone had i not taken my mom)

What kind of seats did you have, Brad?

i was on the floor. i feel like even then i was disengaged at times bc the show is so goddamn long

metric fucking ruled too btw

I should add that I’ve never seen them live so that made this decision extra hard (I lived in New Zealand so not many opportunities and I was usually too broke the few times they did come down my way), and also makes me extra mad at billy

this tour has been pretty successful so you'll probably have another chance next year... audience response has been almost unanimous, really positive, and more shows are selling out / filling out as the tour goes on and word of mouth spreads.

and fwiw tonight's 30th anniversary show in Camden, NJ has been sold out for a while despite a show in nearby Philly last week. Courtney is going to be there.

They played Bodies & Snail and Chino Moreno sang

Show is still happening, can't wait to hear what Courtney did

https://www.stereogum.com/2008699/watch-the-smashing-pumpkins-cover-sugar-rays-fly-with-mark-mcgrath/video/

no

Wow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Kv3lqEyDE

Chino fucking killed it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zds91QxFc4

that youtube of "snail" is the best thing that's ever happened to me

Goddamn now that 0.001% of regret I have is twingeing real hard right now ;_;

Chino is a surprisingly perfect guest vocalist

Holy shit, I hope they do a UK tour.

Lol Hooky in his cargo shorts for "Love Will Tear Us Apart."

omg, those videos of chino moreno are the best thing ever.

Nice piece about the 30th Anniversary Show by Michael Tedder for Stereogum.

We’ll see. Yes, there is a bit of “the aging Alt Nation enters the Vegas years” aspect of a once innovative and world-beating arena act bringing out their friends and dazzling the crowd with some of the most basic covers one can imagine. And that is at least a little sad. I saw Radiohead in Philadelphia earlier this week, and there’s no way they would ever do anything like what I saw the Pumpkins do. They don’t need to.

People have fun in Vegas, and I had fun last night. Billy Corgan wants the world to love him again, at least for now. I’m sure in the near future he will go back on the despicable Alex Jones show, fire Iha or feud with, like, Deafheaven or take a photo with Jordan Peterson or do something aggravating and squander the goodwill he worked so hard to win back. But he once worked his ass off to be one of the best songwriters in the world and last night he worked his ass off to make me like him again. And for a few hours, he got there.

Although that jerk didn’t play “Hummer.”

lmao @ this pic
https://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2018/08/manny-carabel-pumpkins-1533327803-640x564.jpg

every day is ash wednesday for billy corgan

Billy Corgan: the Fat Bob years

Corgan surely must be chuffed that this tour is being as well received as he wanted it to be. I really, really hope he doesn't do what he's prone to do and blow it.

(He probably will)

As opposed to the Fat Billy years?

Looking like a Gary Numan rhythm guitarist

^ lol

Hahahaha OTM.

Come to think of it, isn't Corgan a Numan fan? I think SP covered 'Cars' at some point. I like a lot of what's Numan's done from Sacrifice onwards, as it happens.

*what

Starchildren (Billy, James, Jimmy, + members of Catherine) covered Cars in 1994 and yes, it rules: https://archive.org/details/tsp1994-06-18.shn

also has a killer super fast version of The Boy and the first performance of Here is No Why.

new source for 2/7/96 show in San Francisco: https://we.tl/AhIHvlzsJk

01. Tonight, Tonight
02. In the Arms of Sleep
03. Cupid de Locke
04. Billy talkin' and noodlin'
05. Thirty-three
06. Today
07. Soma ->
08. Take Me Down
09. Beautiful
10. Rocket
11. Disarm
12. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
13. Where Boys Fear to Tread
14. Zero
15. Fuck You (An Ode to No One)
16. Here Is No Why
17. To Forgive
18. Bullet with Butterfly Wings
19. Thru The Eyes Of Ruby
20. Galapagos
21. Geek U.S.A.
22. Cherub Rock
23. Porcelina of the Vast Oceans
24. encore break #1
25. 1979
26. X.Y.U.
27. Muzzle
28. Silverfuck -> Space Jam (tease) -> Drown (tease)
29. Farewell and Goodnight

Thru the Eyes of Ruby
Corgan: I'd just like to say one more thing, as long as we're chatting. Uhm, we also realize that the whole notion of our crazy double record thing wouldn't be possible without people actually buying the record because if no one bought the record then they'd think we're fucking crazy. So thanks for buying our records, too.
Wretzky: We're really not crazy. We're not crazy at all.
Corgan: No we're not crazy, but people would say we're crazy if no one bought the records, then people are buying the record...
Wretzky: Well, we're not.
Iha: Well they were just speaking metaphorically, didactically, allegorically, we think that the root of the...
Corgan: We know you went to college, alright.
Wretzky: James bought everyone a thesaurus.
Iha: Get off my back.
Corgan: One, two, three, four...
Galapogos

UK show went on sale about a month or two ago... Wembley Arena only...i am quietly hyped as i never saw them and setlist + reports have been gone enough for me to put aside the billy being an insane asshole (well more than usual) in the last few years.

weirdly only 2 european shows announced at all so maybe they're waiting to see how those sell before slotting in more?