Rob and I returned home from North Carolina yesterday evening, exhausted but still emotionally pumped from the Smashing Pumpkins show the night before at The Orange Peel in Asheville. After a fairly dull opening band (I can't help but get annoyed by openers; I just see them as a obstacle keeping me from seeing the main act) the Pumpkins finally took the stage at ten o'clock and proceeded to blow us all away.
This is the kind of show where you can't help but be a little disappointed by the set list, because no matter how awesome the show is, there's no way the band can possibly play all the songs you want to hear. That said, there wasn't a bad song out of the entire, massive twenty-seven song show. They played most of the classics like "Today," "Zero," an up-tempo version of "Bullet with Butterfly Wings," acoustic versions of "1979" and "Rocket," and a heavier "Tonight, Tonight". There were some reworked older songs like extended versions of a couple Machina tracks, some rare songs like an acoustic "Daydream" from Gish, "Lucky 13" and "Home" off of Machina II, "Translucent" (which I believe was played live for the first time ever), and what may have been my favorite song from the whole show, "Starla" from Pisces Iscariot. They also threw in a good number of songs from the upcoming Zeitgeist album which were all impressive, and further increasing my hope that the new album will be quality (although I'd really like to know who I should be angry at for being a bunch of greedy jerks--the band or their record label--for releasing the album in a regular version, special edition, and with three different exclusive tracks available at Best Buy, Target, and iTunes [link]). During the solo acoustic set, Billy also introduced an untitled song that he had just written the night before. It took him a couple tries to get it going, but I think everyone enjoyed being the first ones to ever hear it.
As for the band themselves, I have to believe that the pre-reunion Pumpkins would have had their work cut out for them to top this performance. Some naysayers may claim this isn't a true reunion since James Iha and D'Arcy Wretsky are missing, but I think many people will agree that the Pumpkins have always been about Billy Corgan. As long as he has Jimmy Chamberlin to back him up on drums, I really don't think it matters who else is playing. I should give Iha some credit since he is responsible for co-writing a few classic Pumpkins songs like "Mayonnaise" (of course, he's also responsible for crap like "Take Me Down") and he's a decent guitarist, but he clearly is not an essential part of the band when it comes to live shows. Billy Corgan's vocals were spot on, he played spectacular lead guitar, Jimmy confirmed my belief that he is the best drummer of the past twenty years... after Dave Grohl, and the rest of the band (guitarist Jeff Schroeder, bassist Ginger and sometimes-present touring keyboardist Lisa Harrington) filled their roles just fine. Obviously the stars of the show were Billy and Jimmy--in that order-- with Billy both playing his heart out and hamming it up with the audience in between songs and Jimmy taking some short solos throughout the show to impress the crowd.
By the time everything was said and done, the band had played an epic concert nearly three hours in length. I think it is safe to say that no one was left wanting more after this show. Had the band played longer, we would have stayed and loved every minute of it, but after an amazing two hours and forty-five minutes, we were exhausted and happy. One of the coolest things about the show is that the band openly encouraged people to bring in cameras, camcorders, and audio recorders (which Rob and I did not take advantage of). I've found some cool pictures so far and I hope some good recordings surface online soon. Thanks to Mom and Dad for letting us use their Marriott reward points to get a hotel room. Rob and I decided that trying to come home after the show would have been both impossible and border-line suicidal on the mountain roads.
(full band set one)
United States
Doomsday Clock
Bleeding the Orchid
Today
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Glass and the Ghost Children
Home
Hummer
Lucky 13
Come On Let's Go
Blue Skies Bring Tears
---
(mostly solo acoustic set)
For God and Country
Daydream
Rocket
1979
unnamed new song
---
(full band set two)
Translucent
Starla
Tonight, Tonight
Tarantula
Starz
Zero
Disarm
Gossamer
---
(encore 1)
Shame
Silverf***
---
(encore 2)This is the kind of show where you can't help but be a little disappointed by the set list, because no matter how awesome the show is, there's no way the band can possibly play all the songs you want to hear. That said, there wasn't a bad song out of the entire, massive twenty-seven song show. They played most of the classics like "Today," "Zero," an up-tempo version of "Bullet with Butterfly Wings," acoustic versions of "1979" and "Rocket," and a heavier "Tonight, Tonight". There were some reworked older songs like extended versions of a couple Machina tracks, some rare songs like an acoustic "Daydream" from Gish, "Lucky 13" and "Home" off of Machina II, "Translucent" (which I believe was played live for the first time ever), and what may have been my favorite song from the whole show, "Starla" from Pisces Iscariot. They also threw in a good number of songs from the upcoming Zeitgeist album which were all impressive, and further increasing my hope that the new album will be quality (although I'd really like to know who I should be angry at for being a bunch of greedy jerks--the band or their record label--for releasing the album in a regular version, special edition, and with three different exclusive tracks available at Best Buy, Target, and iTunes [link]). During the solo acoustic set, Billy also introduced an untitled song that he had just written the night before. It took him a couple tries to get it going, but I think everyone enjoyed being the first ones to ever hear it.
As for the band themselves, I have to believe that the pre-reunion Pumpkins would have had their work cut out for them to top this performance. Some naysayers may claim this isn't a true reunion since James Iha and D'Arcy Wretsky are missing, but I think many people will agree that the Pumpkins have always been about Billy Corgan. As long as he has Jimmy Chamberlin to back him up on drums, I really don't think it matters who else is playing. I should give Iha some credit since he is responsible for co-writing a few classic Pumpkins songs like "Mayonnaise" (of course, he's also responsible for crap like "Take Me Down") and he's a decent guitarist, but he clearly is not an essential part of the band when it comes to live shows. Billy Corgan's vocals were spot on, he played spectacular lead guitar, Jimmy confirmed my belief that he is the best drummer of the past twenty years... after Dave Grohl, and the rest of the band (guitarist Jeff Schroeder, bassist Ginger and sometimes-present touring keyboardist Lisa Harrington) filled their roles just fine. Obviously the stars of the show were Billy and Jimmy--in that order-- with Billy both playing his heart out and hamming it up with the audience in between songs and Jimmy taking some short solos throughout the show to impress the crowd.
By the time everything was said and done, the band had played an epic concert nearly three hours in length. I think it is safe to say that no one was left wanting more after this show. Had the band played longer, we would have stayed and loved every minute of it, but after an amazing two hours and forty-five minutes, we were exhausted and happy. One of the coolest things about the show is that the band openly encouraged people to bring in cameras, camcorders, and audio recorders (which Rob and I did not take advantage of). I've found some cool pictures so far and I hope some good recordings surface online soon. Thanks to Mom and Dad for letting us use their Marriott reward points to get a hotel room. Rob and I decided that trying to come home after the show would have been both impossible and border-line suicidal on the mountain roads.
(full band set one)
United States
Doomsday Clock
Bleeding the Orchid
Today
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Glass and the Ghost Children
Home
Hummer
Lucky 13
Come On Let's Go
Blue Skies Bring Tears
---
(mostly solo acoustic set)
For God and Country
Daydream
Rocket
1979
unnamed new song
---
(full band set two)
Translucent
Starla
Tonight, Tonight
Tarantula
Starz
Zero
Disarm
Gossamer
---
(encore 1)
Shame
Silverf***
---
With Every Light
1 comment:
YOu're welcome.
Glad you enjoyed the show.
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