Smashing Pumpkins

Finally saw the Pumpkins on their November 2011 'Other Side of the Kaleidyscope' UK tour:

First started listening to them in sixth form, after I saw the video for Tonight Tonight on MTV2 at a house party:

It truly is a fantastic video, based on Georges Méliès' 1902 silent black-and-white film 'A Trip to the Moon' (Le Voyage dans la Lune). Apparently Air have composed a soundtrack to a full-colour restoration. Should be interesting:

I'd already heard the majority of Gish during high school, but I hadn't really explored any further. Received Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness for Christmas in 2001. It's probably my favourite album. After a house party in my second year at university, me and a friend listened to both discs until five in the morning.

Attended the first night of the tour at the Manchester Apollo. Corgan was on good form, during the encore at least. The setlist was interesting:

• Quasar
• Panopticon
• Starla
• Geek USA
• Muzzle
• Window Paine
• Lightning Strikes
• Soma
• Siva
• Oceania
• Frail and Bedazzled
• Silverfuck
• Pinwheels
• Pale Horse
• Thru the Eyes of Ruby
• Cherub Rock
• Owata
• My Love is Winter
• For Martha

• Zero
• Bullet with Butterfly Wings

The main set was heavily composed of songs from the Gish and Siamese Dream eras (including Pisces Iscariot), as well as a fair few new songs from Teargarden by Kaleidyscope and their forthcoming album, Oceania. I suppose this makes a lot of sense. The reissues for Gish and Siamese Dream were released just before Christmas. Pisces Iscariot will follow next. In fact, Billy Corgan has tweeted in the past few days about work on the remaster and the bonus disc. A release date for Oceania is due to be announced in the next few weeks.

The gig was a little eventful. Ringo Deathstar were pretty entertaining, then we headed towards the front of the crowd for the main event. Ready for our first 'corgasm'! The first couple of songs were good, if a little underwhelming. The problem with most of the new songs was that nobody knew them. As such, the crowd did tend to get a little restless. Unfortunately, during Starla one of our party fainted. A short trip to the medical room followed and we returned to the back of the crowd around fifteen minutes later. Of course, I don't mind ... but we did miss some excellent songs, including Muzzle. That was a little disappointing. I do love that song. So, anyway ... we enjoyed the rest of the gig from the back of the venue. This was quite interesting actually. The setlist tended to comprise of a couple of new songs followed by a few classics, although these did lean heavily towards the earlier stuff. The crowd did seem to lose focus during the new songs. One guy spent the entirety of the gig calling for 1979, whilst abusing Billy. Whilst I can't condone this behaviour, I could appreciate that people had paid £35 for their tickets and probably expected a few more 'hits'. Sreaming abuse when the band are playing such classics an Thru the Eyes of Ruby (from Mellon Collie) and For Martha (the only song they played from Adore) was ludicrous though. Interestingly, nothing was played from either of the Machina albums. Presumably this will be rectified around the time they get a double-disk reissue in 2013. Looking forward to that. Still, songs like Cherub Rock and Soma received a decent reception. The new songs sounded pretty interesting too. I'd be interested to see them played after I've had chance to digest Oceania later this year. Sounded infinitely better than Zeitgeist.

And the encore:

Stole this video from youtube, not my own work. Some nice banter from Billy. Evidently a Smashing Pumpkins crowd aren't really that fussed about the Stone Roses reunion. Bit of antagonism too. Obviously Billy had noticed that some of the new songs weren't that well received. Asking the crowd if they liked anything:

"Might even play some songs you know next time. Oh, you like that one eh? Cheeky bastards"

Nicely agressive versions of Zero and ... "ah, forgot it" (what a tease) ... Bullet with Butterfly Wings, played at around a million miles an hour. Love the scream around 7.35. That was the corgasm moment, right there.

So, summing it all up. I really want to see them when they tour this year. The new drummer is excellent, particularly on the newer tracks where the comparison to Chamberlain wasn't as evident. The gig was a bit of a weird one, for various reasons. I do want to buy Oceania. The focus on new tracks and the Gish/Siamese Dream era left me a little cold. That probably has a lot to do with the fact I think Mellon Collie/Adore are the better albums mind. Nothing from Zeitgeist, thankfully ... although nothing from Machina either. The new songs throughout the set didn't help the atmosphere either. If they'd played the newer songs predominantly in the first half and classics during the second half, it may have worked better. Perhaps that's just me. Overall, I'm glad that I went.

That was a long post. Have been meaning to write something about this gig since November mind...