Lunes 7 Abr 2008, 0:16
Wed 2 Apr – The Smashing Pumpkins, Queens of the Stone Age
I've been to some gigs at the enter centre that sounded really good, (Muse, Pearl Jam & the Cure spring to mind) so I had high hopes for this first time I've seen Smashing Pumpkins live.
While others were lining up in the hail to make sure they had good position for the QOTSA I was enjoying a big thick steak, a sparkling and a lovely bottle of shiraz. So it turns out this was a good decision. I did catch the last 20 minutes or so of the queens, (seemed like 50) and I'd prefered to have stayed for dessert at the Argentine Grill.
I found QOTSA to be inane and boring, I found the antics of the frontman (Josh Homme or soemthing like that) immature and transparent. The juxtaposition of his statement "I like to drink, I like to fuck!" with Billy Corgan's "Its not about the record companies or album sales, or even about the music, its about getting together having fun and sharing a little love" goes to show who the top band was on the bill and why.
We were in the centre of GA infront of the mixing desks etc, a good spot with good sound and a good view.
They opened with the dreamy melody of Porcelina of the vast oceans, from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. This was a magnificent start to the concert, the rich mellow opening stepped up when they reached the high intensity part of the song and it then really got going.
Following on was their new song SuperChrist which absolutely rocked. With a big bad sabbathesque riff and Jimmy really giving it to the drum kit with ferocity the heavy straightforward sound was a real pleasant surprise. Its well worth a listen if you like the new album, its on a disc "fresh cuts"
Next up was a track from the new album zeitgeist(come on) lets go. This was a great start up song choice for early on in the concert, its fast paced and catchy with the same wailing distorted guitar and wailing vocals everyone expects from a SP song.
Tonight, Tonight followed and when it kicked in it was very well recieved, clearly a favourite for many people and one that probably had lots of radio play back in the day too. When the lead guitar line kicked in I could feel people around me collectively go "ahhhhh" like a big sigh of pleasure, and when the lyrics kicked in it really sunk in.
Mayonaise was next up, a slow starting song with unmistakable layered richness that marks most of the songs from the time of Siamese Dream. This song is a showcase for Billy's poetry and his great delivery of it in his songs. I didn't have SDream back in the day, so I don't remember this track well from the night.
Lily (my one and only) was next a slower paced sauntering song from Infinate Sadness. Its abit like the Wild Mood Swings tracks by the Cure. this one had a few folks in the crowd smiling and swaying.
One of my favourite songs of all time followed, Today and I am so glad I've got to see the pumpkins do it live, what a great song.
Havign woken up the crowd with this absolute ripper of a song they went into the high octane Tarantula, starting with a fast driving rythym, with great wailing through the middle. Great rock song. That songs like this are still being made by bands like SP, Muse and RATM is a good sign for the music biz. :)
Stand inside your love was next, this is one of my favourite pumpkins songs from the late 90's. To my ears its really easy to pick the era from which a SP song comes, the early albums to me are rich and layered, MC&ISadness is both more energeticly frantic, and more mellow and introspective, usually not in the same song however. I think after Adore (which is easy to pick without Jimmy on it) the energy and melodies were worked together into songs with well matching lyrics that are as good as the anthemic songs of the first two albums. I suppose people call this 'song writing', well I think from about Machina onwards they've had it down pat and its still with them today in the new songs.
Ava adore came next, the only song from Adore in the performance, I gather this is a huge fan favourite and rightly so, it has funky bass driving it and passionate vocals.
Another big fan favourite came after, Drown which to my ears is still one of their best songs, a simple song with nice catchy poetry and a beautiful catchy riff. This one of those gems you might have missed, I know SP have alot of them, but this one is worth getting. If I had any musical talent this would be one of the songs I'd love to learn.
The place really came to life when Bullet With Butterfly WIngs came on and it absolutely went off. It seemed to go for a long time, I expect this will be many people's highlight, it certainly was a standout for me.
1979 followed and got a good reception, clearly many of the people around me were fans of this album and of the early singles.
The acoustic version of that's the way (my love is) turned the song from one I really didn't notice much on the new album into an instant favourite. Billy sang this with such emotion and fervour it was aparent he really loves this song and there is some feeling there that the song links him to, or its cathartic for him in some way.
My Blue Heaven was performed again with Just Billy and Lisa with acoustic guitar and keyboards respectively. Not amoung my favourite songs, but an interesting interlude while the other 3 were off having a spell.
the Everlasting Gaze was worth the wait and was probably my favourite part of the performance, it was violently energetic, uplifting and inspiring like a call to arms against apathy.
Magnificent.
I don't know Cash Car Star from Machina II as well as most of their other stuff and boy! I wasn't alone. I've heard the album plenty of times, but this song never really stood out to me, though I believe its a bit of a fan fave. Didn't really do it for me.
Crush from Gish was up next, with a spacious, dreamy, funky, jazzy rock sound that was a perfect lead into the best surprise of the night.
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun is one of Billy's favourite songs (aparently he put it on rage when guest programing) and I can imagine this being something he played long before pumpkins formed. The 6 minutes of Floyd seemed more like 20, the haunting ominous sound was very well recreated on the night, and while I'm not a big fan of Piper at the Gates of Dawn or a saucerful of secrets this is easliy my favourite Floyd song from the time.
Aparently lots of people have been complaining about the end of the concert, they didn't like the halfhour reworking of the new song United States that ended the main set, or the acoustic Billy-only encore of If all goes wrong (Which showed how good his voice is, check a different performance of it on youtube here
They say they would rather have had a normal length United States and instead of running over time this way they should have played Disarm and Zero (or insert favourite old song here), to them I say wake up sunshine, its not 1996, they treated us to a kickass freeform rock extravaganza of fresh rock wizardry. I thought it was great and I love to hear bands do stuff live they don't put on albums, like covers, acoustic versions or colouring outside the lines on some songs. I find it rare that a band plays a new song that isn't from an album, (ie brand new stuff) and I loved this aspect of this concert, I'd not heard SuperChrist or If all goes wrong before, and its just a testament to how prolific a song writer Billy is, the variety should be celebrated, not made to be the grounds for complaint!
the progression from Crush to Set the controls for the heart of the sun to United States was great and any time Billy Corgan decides to play strains of the star spangled banner with his teeth its AOK with me.
Fight
I wanna fight
I wanna fight a revolution
Tonight