Photo: Cortez/AFP/Getty
The Smashing Pumpkins played the Chicago Theater on Tuesday night, with classic cuts like "Tonight, Tonight" and "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" as well as newer tracks like "G.L.O.W." and even a few covers, including the Searchers' "Everybody Come Clap" and Pink Floyd's "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun."
Journalist Greg Kot wrote in the Chicago Tribune: "For part of the 2 ½-hour show, he kept up his end of the deal with original Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin at his back, and an assortment of replacement Pumpkins and backing musicians --- a nine-piece band in all – playing with a road-tested roar that was spirited, lacerating, goofy and indulgent, sometimes all at once.
"And then it all ended in deflating weirdness, with Corgan ranting on the microphone while the crowd filtered out wondering what happened. After a rousing first half, the momentum ebbed and flowed, and then finally nosedived."
In the end, Billy Corgan ranted into the mic. "Why are you upset with us?" Corgan asked. "It's 'cause we don't do what you want us to do… We don't know what the fuck you want from us."
Let us tell you, Billy, what the fuck we want:
1) We want a few songs from Gish. How about "I Am One," "Rhinoceros" and "Bury Me" -- songs that remind us what a brilliant album that was.
2) We want a few guilty pleasures from Siamese Dream, like "Soma," "Hummer" and, say, "Cherub Rock."
3) We want all 11 minutes and 1 second of "Starla," from Pisces Iscariot -- the greatest Pumpkins song ever.
4) We want you to play more hits from Mellon Collie. Why not "1979" and "Zero"?
When you play songs that people actually know and enjoy, then you have the opportunity to stretch out and perform new songs and deep covers.
When you play new songs that no one's ever heard, songs that are half-baked and pale in comparison to your catalog of brilliant work, no one will pay attention.
Share
Email
Stumble
AIM
Del.icio.us
DiggThis
Fark It!
- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC.
Get RS Mobile
RSS
to late rock has gone to the land of once upon a time kids | December 23, 2008 9:36 AM
what the fuck has happened to music?
all the life is dead and gone.
i'm glad billy is trying,
i'm just glad....
it gave me hope.
music is so full of shit now, that i just listen to fucking metranome tracks.
someone out there for fuck sake, do something new, take a risk, go on, fucking do it.
i would if i could, but i can't, i need someone with talent to do it.
billy can.
so billy, don't do old hits, please make new stuff that pushes the lid off the fucking dryest era music has seen since 1695.
mike moroney | November 28, 2008 9:16 AM
I saw your nov.19th show at Chicago Theater and it was awesome.
I also think billy is right about the Cubs.
There was no rant at this show just great music.
Thats what i expect from the pumpkins and thats what i got.
Thank you
BLEH | November 25, 2008 5:02 PM
Check it out,
They've been playing almost all the songs that you named since they've been back. They played Starla almost every fucking night at the residencies and it's on the new DVD. Zero, 1979, Cherub Rock, Hummer. All played since the reunion. You're gonna judge them based on one setlist? They can't play every song that every person wants to hear EVERY NIGHT. As for Gish, they're planning a Gish era tour, so yes, they are thinking of you as well.
Thank god the Pumpkins want to know what the fuck we want from them. And thank god they're not playing the same singles setlist over and over.
Joe Togger | November 23, 2008 3:29 PM
To Billy,
F**k 'em all.
Just give them what you want. I ove it all.
I have only seen The Pumpkins seven times and you can play what ever you want. Smae song 2 times , I don't care. Just come to Charleston, West Virginia so that I won't have to drive so far.
Love and peace!
Hippie, baby bommer from 1953!
HokieJoe
T | November 21, 2008 3:53 PM
Billy sounds like he's being a self-involved twit. The whole thing sounds contrived and canned (the "i'm going to yell at the audience bit")...
normally, i'm the first one to get pissed at weekend warrior concert go-ers that just want to hear "hits," but c'mon... I heard he did the same thing (went off on the crowd) here in Boston and on other stops. Why the gimmick? shut up and rip it up and the crowd will allow you all the freedom you want...
DH Bennett | November 21, 2008 1:42 PM
Smoking Section, we used to be so cool! What happened? You changed! Ragging on your fav artist for not playing the songs you want at shows is sooooooo Baby Boomer! Have all of us Children of the 90's gotten so old so fast that we can't allow ourselves the ability to just be excited? Are all our days filled with such Titanic amounts of expectation that we can't just get mildly-to- mindlessly drunk and let our heroes do as the will. Isn't their vision what made us love them in the first place?
Take a long look at yourself in the mirror Smoking Section. Are you ready to be come the old hippie dude who's smoked so much herb he doesn't even remember what Dead song he's screaming at Dark Star Orchestra (GD cover band)about? Or his little brother with the mullet screaming at that dude, who is not Steve Perry, to sing "Mr Roboto" even though that's a Stxy song and not Journey?
I don't think you are smoking section. You're too classy for that. Look i hear you, Corigan can be a little over the top. I hear you! But what if all of us just cheered him on? Maybe then he'd want to give something back to us?
Or maybe just maybe, we should open our minds and just listen. Maybe if we didn't just judge "the new album" for not being as good as "the old album" we might see something we liked about the old in the new?
Think about it Smoking Section...We'll grab a latte sometime and talk.
Peace,
jojo | November 20, 2008 8:44 PM
the customer is always right. give the people what they want or get out of the business, because in the end mr. corgan knows thats what he's into.
he's already expoited his band and fans to an almost embarrassing extent. you can't get away with that for very long before you go under.
take a hint from built to spill who are currently touring and playing the 'perfect from now on' album exclusively to EXCELLENT reviews. why? thats what people want.
just do it, as a very successful business says.
Marty | November 20, 2008 1:28 PM
You know what the fuck I want, Billly? I want to see Cheap Trick.
B | November 20, 2008 1:16 PM
Not sure how much you've been paying attention to the set lists but on the second night of any 2 night stand 1979, Zero, Cherub Rock and Soma are all being played along with other favorites like Bodies, Disarm, Galapogos and Landslide.
All those brilliant songs people want to hear were new once upon a time too. Crowds are always resistant to embrace new material at a live show which I think is part of the problem happening here. I understand certain frustrations with the drawn out jams but I think people are being a little too unrealistic with their expectations for these shows. They're still a functioning band putting out new material which they are obviously going to want to perform live. After 20 years there's only so much you can do to keep it a mix of new and old. If people only want to hear the radio hits go see a cover band.