So officially, the tour doesn't end until tonight but, I'm getting a jump on things. Tell us your thoughts on how this tour went. What were your favorite or least favorite shows. Do you think this tour will be viewed as a success or a failure in the future?

I personally think they did a nice job at picking the songs for both the 2 night stands and the SS shows. It's a shame that most of the media didn't feel the same way. A lot of times, they even got criticized for not playing any hits when in reality, they played almost all of them. Sure, I would have rather heard a few more deep cuts during this tour but, considering how extensive the Pumpkins back catalog is, I think it was the smart thing to do, playing the hits and trying to please the majority of the audience. I think the people that were bitching about the set-lists for this tour are going to appreciate what was played a bit more in the future. Especially if Billy sticks to his guns and abandons the old songs completely during any future outings.

Anyway, what are the must-have recordings for this tour? I already have both the DC shows, as I was at those shows. I'll probably get a lot of the SS shows as they are the only shows with different set-lists. What were the best Black Sunshine / White Crosses shows?

The highlight of the tour was the surprise inclusion of Geek USA and Spiteface tonight.

Highlights: Matt Walker joining the band on 11/21
FROGS. the fucking Frogs at aragon.
Jesse Corgan/Anderson playing set the controls and the entire encore with BC.
getting to watch corgan have a meltdown on 11/18

OH and standinsideyourlove last night at aragon................. <3

The entire show at the Aragon. Including the Frogs opening. It was phenomenal. The inclusion of Soma. And Cara nailed it with Jesse's inclusion during Set the Controls. He had the crowd going wild.

highlights: everything about the aragon. thats definitely a must download
mayonaise last night - never really loved that song until now.
meeting cool people from italy and brazil and wisconsin and chicago
99 floors,sunkissed, gossamer, eye

not-so-highlightable
cleveland show.
someone stealing my tshirt from under my feet.
old men yelling at billy to "take off the dress"
all the bad press this tour has gotten. hopefully it'll end on a high note

aragon aragon aragon aragon aragon aragon aragon aragon!

more later. :D

i wasn't there, but i listened to some recordings, and i found the second part of black sunshine really boring. after superchrist it just doesn't seem to do it anymore. not sure why. apparently a big part of the crowd felt the same way.

worst thing: the whole "hits/old songs" drama, billy bitching about people wanting to hear certain songs, while they were probably just not reacting the way he expected because they were bored off their asses. (and not necessarily bitching about not hearing certain songs.)

Seriously now, my favorite moment of the tour was the very end. I liked how much credit he gave Ginger and Jeff and thanked them a lot. It was nice seeing Billy sincere and acknowledging Ginger and Jeff as not just "hired guns". Maybe that's all they are, but they are part of the SP family now and they got their recognition.

the last 30-40 minutes on black sunshine and white crosses tended to leave a bad taste in some people's mouths
it is responsible for at least 90% of the bad press this tour

Speaking of bad press, some of the bad reviews for this tour were completely over-the-top bad. I mean, how many times have we read some "journalist" complain that the Pumpkins weren't playing any hits this tour? I can't believe how downhill professional concert reviews have become. You could tell from reading some of these reviews that the author obviously hadn't even attended whatever show he/she was reviewing. Total bullshit.

And re: the Everything is Beautiful rants during the first half of the tour: I thought they were hillarious and just part of the spectacle that is a Smashing Pumpkins show. It gave everyone something to talk about after the fact, for better or worse. It's like he was playing into his whole "arrogant, ego-maniacal asshole" persona. And if his thinking was "any press is good press", he certainly succeeded. This has been the most talked about SP tour I can remember.

Also, now that the tour is over, can we finally get some kind of consensus going on the best shows of the tour? And please, don't give special attention to shows that you attended. I mostly want to hear from those who have took the time to listen to all or most of the recordings for this tour. I'd like to see your ideas of best WC show, best BS show, best SS show and setlist etc. And like I mentioned before, the SS shows will probably be the most debatable as they were the only shows with unique sets. It will probably be worth it to download or buy (whatever floats your boat) all or most of the SS shows.

Maybe someone out there wants to take the time and put together a nice soundboard compilation, like the one that was released for the FEOMM triple-tree. If anyone does this, make sure to ******* a copy of every song played on this tour, including Nowhere Man, SIYL, Medallia, and Communion. If no one gets around to doing this, I may sit down one day and do it myself. Or maybe we can make this a group effort and get everyone's opinion on the best version of each song played this tour. Considering all but 1 show for this tour has a soundboard copy released or soon-to-be-released, we have a real wealth of source material to work with here. Oh and while I'm thinking about it, I guess we should ******* the special Halloween show and all the covers from the first half right? Let me know what you all think.

Also, now that the tour is over, can we finally get some kind of consensus going on the best shows of the tour? And please, don't give special attention to shows that you attended. I mostly want to hear from those who have took the time to listen to all or most of the recordings for this tour. I'd like to see your ideas of best WC show, best BS show, best SS show and setlist etc. And like I mentioned before, the SS shows will probably be the most debatable as they were the only shows with unique sets. It will probably be worth it to download or buy (whatever floats your boat) all or most of the SS shows.

Maybe someone out there wants to take the time and put together a nice soundboard compilation, like the one that was released for the FEOMM triple-tree. If anyone does this, make sure to ******* a copy of every song played on this tour, including Nowhere Man, SIYL, Medallia, and Communion. If no one gets around to doing this, I may sit down one day and do it myself. Or maybe we can make this a group effort and get everyone's opinion on the best version of each song played this tour. Considering all but 1 show for this tour has a soundboard copy released or soon-to-be-released, we have a real wealth of source material to work with here. Oh and while I'm thinking about it, I guess we should ******* the special Halloween show and all the covers from the first half right? Let me know what you all think.

I nominate Seign :)


In all seriousness, it is a great idea. At minimum, I agree that i would like to know which BS/WC shows were good.

Happy 20th anniversary everyone!

I am going to buy:
LA1 BS
Chicago 5 WC
Aragon

And probably:
San Diego

Those seem to be the best shows of the tour. They got better as the tour progressed.

They played almost every single plus Mayonaise and Soma so I'd say those are good hits.

Of the last 3 Chicago shows that I was at I would say the highlight for me was Soma ---> Cherub Rock ---> Zero ---> Bodies. I much enjoyed Eye as well. 99 Floors has been stuck in my head since the last show...

Set the Controls is boring, but the drums at least made it better than Iowa, but still lame (was it really necessary at the Aragon??). Gossamer is just plain better.

I agree with what smashing0 said that the last 30-40 minutes were underwhelming at the shows which shouldn't be the way to end. Pop Muzzle or something in at the end of an encore and everyone leaves happy.

I loved the random surprises thrown in though. Though I would have loved to see Muzzle or Ruby or Porcelina or Geek (I can go on), I really appreciate what we DID get to see. They have like 300+ songs, they can't play them all.

Oh and Superchrist rules!!

Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival Message Board - View Single Post - Note for people going to the Cure @ the Troubadour show (http://www.coachella.com/forum/showpost.php?p=865748&postcount=53)

I don't really know The Cure, but this was a hell of a show and will definitely inspire me to listen to more of their music. As I said earlier, Robert Smith was so happy to be there, which was infectious. The fact that his voice sounds that good after all these years frankly astounds me. This show was basically the opposite of the Smashing Pumpkins show I saw a few weeks ago, which was a tuneless, bloated tribute to Billy Corgan's massive ego. Tonight's performance was one of those shows that reminded me of what I love about seeing live music; to get such an experience from such a massively famous, storied band was even more impressive.

Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival Message Board - View Single Post - Note for people going to the Cure @ the Troubadour show (http://www.coachella.com/forum/showpost.php?p=865748&postcount=53)

lol

his handle is neutral milk hotel

lol

his handle is neutral milk hotel

Neutral Milk Hotel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral_Milk_Hotel)

Neutral Milk Hotel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral_Milk_Hotel)

...

yes, i am familiar with neutral milk hotel, i just thought it was hilarious that he chose that as his handle