Last night, as an early birthday gift, Connie took me to see the modern incarnation of the Smashing Pumpkins at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City. Before the show, I looked into several things:
1. Which
venue sold out to Gibson, and subsequently read about the amphitheater's amazing acoustics.
2. What the
Pumpkins' setlist was on their recent tour, and subsequently read about Corgan's ego being the fifth member.
3. What the traffic would be like to Connie's office, because it's always good to be prepared.
On to the show itself. First off, here's the setlist from the Pumpkins' site:
They also played "Eye," their marvelous inclusion on the
Lost Highway soundtrack, pretty early into the set, maybe right before "Mayonaise." Combining this with the aforementioned sound quality of the venue, and I'd say about 90% of the show kicked ass. The hits were amazing, and songs like "Stand Inside Your Love" and "Tonight, Tonight" played live completely blow the album versions out the water. "Once Upon a Time," "The Crux," and "The Rose March" were played semi-acoustic, which was also great.
Personal highlight for Connie and me: Before going into "Once Upon a Time," Corgan intro'd it as a song on "Ado-ree" that was written for his mom. Two rows in front of us, some long-haired kid started jumping up and down gleefully, and called his friend to let him hear the song on the phone but hung up about 10 seconds into the song. Personally, I think he assumed it was gonna be "For Martha" and hung up when it turned out otherwise. Connie's highlight: the jumping. My highlight: the disappointment.
The other 10%: Twenty minute renditions of "United States" and "Heavy Metal Machine." Pretty much everybody around us zoned out, and at one point I turned to Connie to ask, "What the fuck is going on?" The linked Pumpkins setlist site probably had the best synopsis, which, in a nutshell, stated that Corgan has no sense of rapport with the audience, instead going into long, improvisational jam sessions that only serve to feed his ego. Miles Davis he thinks he is, but Miles Davis he ain't.
Still, overall, great show. Much obliged, Connie.
This is what Corgan wore. The bottom half is a dress. No lie.
