It's hard to believe that's it been 16 years since I last saw The Smashing Pumpkins perform live. I was 15 years old and it was the first of three Lollapalooza’s that I attended. At the time I was most excited to catch the Beastie Boys and A Tribe Called Quest...neither of which disappointed. The Pumpkins were the headliners that year so by the time they got on stage I was wiped out. I don't particularly remember anything special about the show (I remember it being so crowded during the Beastie Boys that my feet were actually off the ground because of the movement of the audience-still the most frightened I've been in a crowd) although I do remember many nights listening to Siamese Dream on my disc man trying to fall asleep.
Since that time I've been a casual fan of the band, pretty much just knowing the hits. When I saw that they were back together (well Billy Corgan and three new people) and coming to Charleston I felt the urge to check it out. After all they were playing in a club downtown that holds less than 1000 people.
So last night my girlfriend and I ventured off to the music farm.(after stopping by Mia Pomodori for some delicious calzones) For this tour the pumpkins had two opening bands. We timed it just right to get to the venue right before the second band started. Hey I'm all for seeing opening bands but two is pushing it. Anyways the place wasn't too full so we went into the "pit" area of the club and checked out Kill Hannah. I hadn't heard of them before the show. The guys sounded pretty good but the singer reminded me of a young Corey Feldman (from the Dream a Little Dream era) so it was a little distracting. so after they got off the stage the place was increasingly getting more crowded (part of it was the smokers decided to come back in and join the fun) anyways it's a little warm in these parts as it is but once you stick a 1000 people in small quarters it's like a sauna. After being pushed and pulled for 15 minutes my girlfriend and I decided to retreat towards the back to catch the show. One thing that I noticed was that the last 15 years haven't been kind to some of the alternative boys. There were plenty of overweight guys with facial hair holding onto three- four beers cruising through the crowd... i wouldn't really care that much but after about 20 of them "squeezed" by us sharing their sweat and beer i was a bit annoyed.
Once we found a decent spot with a little more breathing room the pumpkins came on. The band opened with a new track that sounded pretty good. They played a few new tunes throughout the set mixing in some familiar ones for us old school/causal fans. He even had a rant calling out Collective Soul saying they ripped off his band. Kind of crazy that's he’s still holding a grudge against them. I 'm not really sure that they're around anymore. Anyways the old songs sounded good but weren't really that "tight". In fact they were a bit sloppy/garage band sounding. It almost felt like Billy knew he kind of had to play some of these songs but he hurried through them to get to the new stuff. I understand you want to move on from the past but when I saw Springsteen two years ago the guy still plays Born to Run like it's a recent top 1o smash. Overall I'd give the show a positive review. The venue's not my favorite because no matter where you stand you're constantly moving out of someone’s way. But once we got past that we had a really good time. The only thing that would've made the show complete was if they ended with Tonight, Tonight. I'd been following the set lists for the last few shows and they've played it every time. Well I guess they just didn't feel like it last night, which is cool but still a little disappointing. So anyways I figured I'll go ahead and post it tonight. Hope you enjoy.
Tonight, Tonight
