The Smashing Pumpkins Smashed My Dreams: How I Became a Non-Believer

*Taken from www.partylikesteve.com...

The night of August 16th 2008 will always be remembered as the day the music died for me. It is no mystery that I had been waiting to see the Smashing Pumpkins since I was the ripe age of 12. Through the miracle that is my job, I was able to not only see The Pumpkins on August 16th in Charlottesville, Virginia, but I was also able to float backstage and hear the band interact.

The first words I hear as I walk backstage is "Billy isn't happy".

Great.

The Charlottesville date was apparently the only date on the mini tour that did not sell out. Come on Billy, its a rough economy, people gotta eat!

As I walked backstage and weaved through various guitar cases I passed Jimmy Chamberlain chatting with a roadie, Ginger Reyes walking to the dressing rooms and Billy Corgan taking a nap on top of a stack of amp cases. Given that it was 4 pm and they were due for a soundcheck, I felt this was a disheartening scene. I was later informed that the show was pushed back 45 minutes for a multitude of reasons. One, traffic was miserable on all major highways for some reason? I had experienced this same traffic on my drive from Va Beach to Charlottesville and believe me it was not fun. Second, Billy and Co. decided that they would not go on stage until the sun set.

The Pumpkins took the stage around 8:20 pm as opposed to their projected start time of 7:30. The set began with Trantula, a great track off of their newest full length album. Dear friends, this is where the entire image of the Pumpkins died for me. The rest of the show was full of extended jam-like intro and outros. Some may call me an inexperienced Pumpkins fan, but I was not under the impression that Billy and Co. wanted to be a new age jam band? A few songs later the opening bars to Tonight, Tonight were played and the crowd rejoiced. I can say this song along with The End is the Beginning is the End were the highlights of the night for me. There came a point in the night, right before "Today", where Billy addressed the crowd's demographics.

Billy said that he was used to playing to crowds in their 30s and 40s who only come out to hear the old songs. To which the crowd cheered. Billy responded by saying "man, if you guys knew me you would know not to cheer for old songs, and you can boo me..I've been booed alot in my life". "I was going to dedicate this next song to you guys for being cool, but nevermind."

And with this the band began "Today". Billy let the crowd sing the entire first verse. Some would see this as a crowd pleaser, but given his previous statement this was clearly done out of spite. After "Today" came the most lackluster performance of "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" I could have ever imagined.

The night also brought timpani solos from Billy Corgan, which no one saw coming. I also did not expect to be let down. Zero, Ode to No one, Cherub Rock..none of these were played. Not even their newest hit "Thats The Way"! I'm not exactly sure if underwhelming was the effect Billy was going for, but it was surely achieved.

I left during "Heavy Metal Machine". Or something that sounded like it? I couldn't really tell due to the distorted intro. I realized during my departure that I had just witnessed the "NEW" Smashing Pumpkins not the Smashing Pumpkins that I grew to love as a teenager. I completely understand Billy wanting to make sure The Pumpkins stay relevant in their current reworked lineup. I must admit that the band sounded great when they were playing coherent songs. I Just wish I could have witnessed a straight-forward Smashing Pumpkins set.

Congratulations Billy, you've re-established your band as a force to be reckoned with in the 21st Century. Unfortunately, you've pushed your band into new territories that do not include your core fanbase.

Setlist:

Tarantula/G.L.OW./Siva/Eye/Mayonnaise/Tonight/Speed Kills/Transformer/Superchrist/United States/Once Upon a Time/The Crux/Rose March/Today/Bullet/The End is the Beginning is the End/Heavy Metal Machine/Glass Theme/Set The Controls/We Only Come Out At Night/In The Summertime

Beach - www.partylikesteve.com