Smashing Pumpkins @ RiversideTheatre, Perth (12/10/10)

Wed 13th Oct, 2010 in Gig Reviews

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The Perth Convention Centre was a strange venue choice to host the Smashing Pumpkins – one of the 90’s most famous hard-rock bands. More akin to hosting home improvement seminars, Government conferences and .. uh .. Sexpo .. the mood on walking in the Convention Centre’s vast airport-like foyer was very un-rock & roll, with black-tied corporate catering staff proffering wine wine and champagne to the neatly queued punters standing stark in the fluorescent light.

Inside the Riverside Theatre the disjointed opening mood continued. After being stripped of any alcoholic beverages and soft drinks at the Riverside Theatre’s door (that’s right rockers – no Sprite or Fanta allowed inside tonight), punters found their way to their seats as the City Riots took to the stage. Purportedly hand-picked by Billy Corgan for the support duties on Smashing Pumpkins’ whole Australian tour, the City Riots’ sound just wasn’t heavy enough to win over the Pumpkins’ fans. Tracks Signs and Burning Me Out were uptempo foot tappers, but the set was more Veronicas than visceral.

The theatre-style alert bells rang in the foyer to warn punters that the Smashing Pumpkins show was about to begin, the house lights dropped to an eerie blue glow and the familiar bald silhouette of Billy Corgan shuffled onto the stage. Dressed in a Japanese style shirt with grey cuffs, black pants and white trainers, Corgan’s guitar gracefully dived into The Fellowship and Lonely Is The Way.

The roadies removed the covers off the two giant mosaic-mirrored pinwheels which flanked the stage and threw shards of pulsating strobe light onto the crowd, signalling the night’s first mega-hit Today. Swathed in gloriously loud grungy guitars, Astral Plains and Ava Adore quickly followed, with new recruit Nicola Fiorentino pouting as she unleashed Ava Adore’s sexy low slung bass-riff. Fiorentino prowled the stage in her short skirt, fishnets and killer heels, although her comparatively simple bass lines made her look a fourth wheel to the rest of the band.

Corgan’s penchant for heartfelt melancholic vocals shone through on Song For A Son and Drown, before new axe-man Jeff Schroeder wrestled his Fender Stratocaster guitar over the edge of breaking distorted feedback as he traded solos with Corgan on As Rome Burns, Eve and a crowd rousing version of Bullet With Butterfly Wings.

With the stark surroundings of the Riverside Theatre long forgotten by the crowd, it was time for each of the band members to showcase their individual wares. Corgan and Schroeder let rip blistering solos on United States, fusing the US national anthem with the riff from Led Zeppelin’s Moby Dick. It was then time for 20 year old drummer Mike Byrne to tear the roof off the Riverside Theatre with a five minute drum solo that would have made Jimmy Chamberlain blush. Ending the drum solo with three hits on the massive Zildjian gong, the crowd erupted into a standing ovation for the young sticksman whose pint size and young age belied his incredible talent.

“I’ve been watching the morning show here, you Australians love a bargain” mused Corgan before pointing out that new track Spangled is available for free on their website. After pumped-up teenage-haze version of Stumbeline, big singles Cherub Rock, Stand Inside Your Love and Tarantula followed in quick succession. Joking that he would skip the bit where he normally abuses the crowd, Corgan muttered a simple “No” as the crowd called out for Corgan to play Zero and 1979, opting to lead the band into Shame and Freak instead. The main set ended with a rocking version of a string section-less Tonight, Tonight.

After a short break with obligatory foot stomping and clapping from the crowd, Corgan and Schroeder returned to the stage and donned the acoustic guitars for a haunting version of Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide. The fragile beauty was shortlived however, as the rest of the band returned to end the night with the colossal 20 minute psychedelic journey that is Gossamer. The fractured melodies swooped into soaring arpeggios and stratospheric guitar and drum solos, convincing any doubters that this re-incarnation of the Smashing Pumpkins is indeed the finest and closest we’ll ever get to the real thing.

Sure the Riverside Theatre may have been a strange venue choice, and there was no Zero, 1979 or Disarm, but tonight’s two-hour plus show was the mark of a band with a renewed energy for live performance and staggering technical ability.

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