[Ram27]

Cool story from the LMA reviews

I was there. First year in college. Here's what i remember about this show.

I worked crew via being friends with some ppl at the Student Union Board. I was a huge pumpkins fan, so I begged to work the show.

Staging was a nightmare. Couldn't fly anything. We had to stand on top of wobbly road cases with casters placed at the end of the stage and 10 crew members holding them in place to put up the P.A. stacks. Nervewracking.

I made friends with Billy's tech, and was able to hold the ruby/star strat while he did a quick paint job. I still have the set of Ernie Ball strings he took off of it.

Billy did a 1 hour soundcheck by himself, then a half hour just him and Jimmy, and then another half hour with the whole band, where they went through Hello Kitty Kat a couple times. I figured I'd hear some of Billy's arpeggiated improv from soundcheck on the Mellon Collie album when it came out, but no, i never heard it again. But it was definitely not just jamming, he was working something out.

Billy and Jimmy kept blasting the Batman movie soundtrack through the P.A. and playing conductor when the symphony came on.

Darcy was bitchy, only contact i had with her was when she was looking for a bathroom.

James was cool.

After the show i mentioned to the crew "Do they play this many encores every night?" and the guy was like "No, this was definitely not a normal night for them. They were having a lot of fun playing tonight."

A week or two before the show, the student union board recieved numerous bomb and death threats from angry students who were unhappy they put their money into a "white" band, and not a more culturally significant act. Make of that what you will. Billy made reference to this incident during the show, to the cheers of the audience.

A Chicago band "Red Red Meat" opened the show.