The Smashing Pumpkins, TheCity Riots @ Festival Hall,Melbourne (15/10/2010)

Sat 16th Oct, 2010 in Gig Reviews

The morning after and its tinnitus and white blotches in vision – the result of the sole remaining Smashing Pumpkin screaming through Festival Hall’s sound system assaulting our eyes with walls of intense lighting. If The Smashing Pumpkins wanted to impress the faithful – old and new – last night, then their two plus hours of playing to the people of Melbourne did the job.

One of Festival Hall’s lesser attributes (we all know there are a few) is that the barn has a curfew – which means support slots are always pushed early. So whilst many were still finishing their dinner, The City Riots played to a half-house. Sharing a producer with the famed headliners seemed to have paid off for the local quartet to get a spot with the Pumpkins, and their short set resembled how chuffed they were; the band delivering their solid rock and roll eagerly to a not so eager crowd.

For a band that was one of the biggest successes of the 90s, the complete lack of fanfare as The Smashing Pumpkins strolled on stage was a bit of a surprise. Billy Corgan didn’t need to do much once he was there, though; he simply raised his hands to the sky and the crowd erupted for him. Clearly the faithful were in the house.

The Fellowship then opened proceedings, Corgan chanting “are you with us tonight” repeatedly as the band members stuck their feet behind their respective instruments. You couldn’t help but feel that this crowd wasn’t “with them” just yet however, and the first two songs certainly faded into nothing when the Pumpkins really started things with Today. On came the wall of back-lighting, on came the strobes and from beneath two drapes appeared a pair of mirrored windmills (yes, you read that correctly). More importantly though, out came a defining song – the first of many highlights to come.

The first half of the set saw little more than playing, as Corgan reserved his banter and just made his way (often in a very lengthy fashion) through each track. Ava Adore reserved the first solo of the evening, with Corgan producing the kind of psychedelic guitar work that reminded us why he was so cool in the 90s. This was the first of many “instrumentals” to come and whilst everything is great in moderation, the amount of filler that was produced later in the set kind of wasted the better moments of playing like this.

New songs from the Pumpkins’ Teargarden by Kaleidyscope project were scattered throughout the set; A Song For Son getting a nice and heavy live working as it progressed. But, of course, the real joy of it all was in the classics; a fact that Corgan knew too well as he playfully teased the crowd – opening Bullet With Butterfly Wings then stopping and shrugging off the reaction. He eventually gave it to the crowd (at one point literally, with the whole room singing its chorus) and whilst he may have sped it up, it still went down awfully well.

Zeitgeist track, United States, followed and quickly became the epitome of rock and roll clichés, while also proving Corgan’s mouth can still produce its best screams. Corgan’s guitar was played by his teeth and against the amp, and mid song there was the age-old departure of band to leave Mike Byrne bashing the skins solo up back. And Byrne was damn good, too (good enough to excuse his serious strutting at the show’s conclusion).

Corgan’s reluctance to chat was soon over when he began his 15 minutes of self-appreciation (say we’re not counting the jams): “Thank me for still giving a shit. Thank me for still writing great songs, for still being one of the greatest bands in the world. Not many can compete with us.” It was all well and good (pretty amusing), except he then just went on and on, jeering the Australian rugby team, heckling a heckler and bragging about his girlfriend. It was funny, but eventually became annoyingly so.

The second half played out much like the first – song after song after song (he’d gotten the talk out of his system). A double hit of Cherub Rock and Zero was perhaps one of the set’s greatest delights – the crowd firmly chanting “Wanna go for a ride!?” when given the opportunity. And despite Corgan’s chuckling at a fat naked man in the song’s opening moments, Tonight, Tonight proved to stand above the rest as the night hit its closing stretch. Once again the Pumpkins’ lighting was plain blinding; but the fact that made the track truly so good was the thought that – despite this man wearing silver skirts, despite his responsibility for Zwan, and despite his dating a Veronica – he’s created some of the best rock anthems of our time.

An encore ensued, as of course it would, though things took a new direction as Corgan and guitarist Jeff Schroeder walked back with acoustic guitars. The Pumpkins cover of Landside was played, a real departure from the main set that seemed to go down well, before finally (or so we thought), Gossamer began. 20 minutes later the track was still working through (though it’s been known to go the half hour), the lyric “we aint going anywhere” proving to have never been more true. It was certainly the long way out for the Pumpkins; a decision drawing mixed reactions from the departing thousands.

Despite its divergences into the band’s personal enjoyment streaks (which those high enough would have equally loved), the Pumpkins Festy show certainly hit a decent amount of the right moments. Corgan may be a bit mad, but he’s excused for having the majority of these songs (many real classics) behind him. Now, for the next 30 odd instalments of Teargarden to see if, just maybe, we get another…

CHECK OUT PHOTOS FROM THE NIGHT HERE