When I was in 4^th grade, I befriended a girl named Lisa. One day she asked me what bands I liked. I shyly stated one of two songs that I knew at the moment: “Don’t Look Back In Anger” by Oasis. The other was “I Would Do Anything For Love” by Meatloaf. Oasis was apparently the right choice, because from that moment, we were superfriends. Lisa was the rebel of grade school; together, we staged an anti-Hansen revolution that had their staunch supporters in tears by the end of recess. Lisa loved Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins, and since she was a hell of a lot cooler than I was, I figured I should too. Nirvana sorta scared me (one of their CD covers featured a nude baby, and you could see his willy, and I was NOT OKAY with that) but the Smashing Pumpkins had cool music videos with rocketships and a funny bald man. Thus, the Smashing Pumpkins became the first band I ever really, really loved.

Like most elementary school friendships, mine and Lisas’ did not survive the transition to middle school. My love of the Pumpkins did. I briefly flirted with Destiny’s Child and No Doubt (girl power!) but by freshman year of high school, I had almost all of SP’s CDs. “To Sheila,” “Disarm” and “Today” were the first songs I ever learned on guitar; theirs was the only band messageboard I ever was a member of, and for a long time I insisted to my horrified parents that “Stand Inside Your Love” would be the song I played at my wedding. They broke up before I reached the age of unsupervised concert attendance, and I mourned being unable to ever see my favorite band play live.

Then, Billy Corgan announced a reunion.

As a Pumpkins purist, I was extremely skeptical. I haven’t liked anything Corgan has done since the release of Adore (Virgin), and when I found out he didn’t even tell D’Arcy Wretsky and James Iha that the band would be reforming, I almost wrote him off right there. However, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I dropped a nice wad of cash on some tickets, and headed to the Tower Theater on a Monday night unsure of what to expect.

In every way possible, it was both the best and the worst concert I’ve ever been to. My cousin and I arrived and went to the box office to try and get our tickets changed so our seats were next to each other. We ended up getting moved from the balcony to orchestra row J, at which pointed I almost asphyxiated with joy. The roller coaster ride then began when we found out that thanks to LiveNation’s shitty website information, we completely missed openers Explosions in the Sky (another of my Top 5 favorite bands ever). Bummer.

After letting the sold out crowd have a good half hour to check out the beautiful Tower Theater, Corgan and friends took the stage to thunderous cheers. When the band launched into set opener “Where Boys Fear to Tread,” everyone basically lost it. The band sounded tight for not having half its original members. The insane stage lighting helped with the surrealism of the concert experience; think the spaceship from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” hovering over one of the 90s biggest rock bands. This impression was enhanced by teal jumpsuit-clad Corgan’s striking resemblance to an alien.

The euphoria of the first few songs wore off when it became apparent Corgan would be playing a new material heavy setlist. Plainly, it sucked. I didn’t like the new album Zeitgeist (Reprise) to begin with, and seeing the songs live only confirmed this opinion for me. Corgan’s infamous ego was on full display as he ended song after song with ten minute long shitty prog-rock jams. A solo acoustic performance of “God and Country” was particularly grating.

Also disappointing was Corgan and the rest of the band’s lack of actual performance. The musicianship was impeccable, but all the band members basically stood in place and played the entire show. I miss 1994, angry, godless, out-of-his-mind-on-drugs Billy Corgan who broke half his guitar string playing “Disarm” at the MTV Video Music Awards.

For all the suckiness of the new material, the older songs were everything I hoped they would be and more. He played a bunch of stuff off of my favorite Pumpkins album Siamese Dream (Virgin), and all the singles. “Tonight, Tonight” was probably the single most amazing concert moment I have experienced to date. A pleasant surprise was Corgan’s acoustic rendition of “To Sheila,” one of my personal favorite Pumpkins songs I never expected to hear.

For all the ups and down of the night, I am amazed to have had the opportunity to see this band live.

“Tonight, Tonight.”

Tags: Smashing Pumpkins, show review //