Positive (!) Norwegian Concert Review

[CrestfallenTear]

http://www.musikknyheter.no/concert/8944
translated with google translate and fixed the worst translations


Rock-solid spectrum-marathon from energetic reincarnation of the 90th century band.

For a cynic, it's easy to dismiss a Smashing Pumpkins tour announced 2011 as a Pumpkins cover band that has been with Billy Corgan on guitar and vocals, or as a solo tour with Corgan and three young musicians at their youngest is half his age. When the four members of one of the nineties most important band in 2000 announced that they put up, there were few who had hoped that they would find back together. And when the original members Corgan and Chamberlain alone aroused the band back to life with dissappointing results in 2006, and Chamberlain jumped off again just three years later, so it really look like it was over for good. But rather than pursuing a solo career, Corgan continues to record new songs under the Smashing Pumpkins name and drop them on the Internet one by one, and yesterday he and his new band members truly ahead of spectrum too - and felt like Smashing Pumpkins , against all odds.

If you look away from the lighter bizarre detail that the original guitarist James Iha has been replaced with a new half-American half-East Asian guitarist, and that D'Arcy Wretzky has been replaced with yet another new female bassist, the new Corgan band first and foremost just a bunch of extremely talented and hard-rocking musicians. Convincing performances of old hits from the first three albums Gish, Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was recorded with a punch and an energy level taken straight back from the early nineties.


Although fans were spoiled with lots of material from these first three albums, it was far from a typical crowd-friendly setlist Corgan dished up by this evening. Over half of the 21 songs long two-hour marathon concert consisted of little-known B-sides and completely new and unreleased material. For many audience members were patience put to the test when after every beloved Pumpkins song basically had to wait ten minutes for the next while the band played a total unknown material from the upcoming ninth studio album Oceania. Eventually, it was not getting an audience that in the confusion and desperation broke out 'Nineteen Seventy-Nine! " between songs.

Playing for over two hours without stopping is something very few bands can get away with unless they have a really big and sturdy catalogue to pick from. This is undoubtedly something Smashing Pumpkins has, but it was not the reason they played so long: It was rather due to Corgan usual megalomania. To perform as much from an unreleased album was an unusual move, but he took it all in Port thanks to the remarkable high quality of the new material. Rumors of the Oceania stylistic return to the Gish and Siamese Dream seems to be true, and so pass this material very well in between the classics from these two albums. The undersigned did not convince the 2006s uneven comeback album Zeitgeist, but Oceania material sounds so much like it might be able to reverse the meaning of even the biggest skeptics of today's Smashing Pumpkins. It was hard, raw and energetic, and a return to the first two albums' style without any negative whiff of nostalgia-steeped 90-tallspastisje or tiresome "find-back-to-roots" desperation.

Corgan appeared with tough accountability throughout the concert, and said not a word to his Oslo audience before the whole two hours into the concert - and when to say goodbye and share the happy news that Oceania is pre-recorded and ready to be released. But it was obvious that he had fun: he smiled and laughed with his band, and seemed to enjoy themselves right in the moment that the little "bang-bang you're dead"-bridge in Silver Fuck, where he went on a smile and joked around. And that he was pleased with the concert despite the relatively lackluster turnout in the spectrum also seemed clear. And why should not he be? With the obligatory track Cherub Rock and Bullet With Butterfly Wings, he met all the "casual" Smashing Pumpkins fans of classic B-side tracks and surprises like piano ballad For Martha from the above set fourth album, Adore, he met the hardest core of Norwegian fans, and with the eight new songs, which he was clearly proud of, was the eccentric and ambitious musician also evolved sufficiently artistic. A very solid evening from a man who has begun to make many good decisions again and seems to be in its best period of time.

8/10

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Lovely to see a review I can mostly agree with
The crowd seemed to like what was played, a noticable improvement from 08.
Here is an unconfirmed setlist based from my memory

Quasar
Panopticon
Starla
Geek U.S.A.
Muzzle
Window Paine
Lightning Strikes
Soma
Siva
Oceania
Frail and Bedazzled
Silverfuck
Pale Horse
Pinwheels
Ruby
I am One (tease)
Cherub Rock
Owata
My Love is Winter
For Martha
(encore)
Pissant
BWBW

Billy said thank you and promised to be back next year
Thanks for the experience, Pumpkins

[CrestfallenTear]

One the norwegian page is a link to 14 concert pics.
Enjoy

[Reyngel]

90th Century band?

Are the Pumpkins from the distant future?

[CrestfallenTear]

Originally Posted by Reyngel

90th Century band?

Are the Pumpkins from the distant future?

Lol my mistake. I just hurried through the worst translations, I hope you all get the basic message. If not, I'll gladly translate the source better

[RenewRevive]

Originally Posted by CrestfallenTear

and with the eight new songs

not a bad review, thanks for the translation.

the writer includes Owata and Lightning Strikes as new songs, so probably hasn't heard them before and reckons they're from Oceania.

like i've said before, it's how the songs are treated on the new album which will determine its success. at this point a commercial hit is beyond Billy, so the best he can hope for is critical aclaim, modest sales and hitting the spot with the old fans. from what we've heard of Oceania the live songs seem strong enough, he just has to reverse recent trends and do a good job in the studio.

[CrestfallenTear]

Originally Posted by RenewRevive

not a bad review, thanks for the translation.

the writer includes Owata and Lightning Strikes as new songs, so probably hasn't heard them before and reckons they're from Oceania.

like i've said before, it's how the songs are treated on the new album which will determine its success. at this point a commercial hit is beyond Billy, so the best he can hope for is critical aclaim, modest sales and hitting the spot with the old fans. from what we've heard of Oceania the live songs seem strong enough, he just has to reverse recent trends and do a good job in the studio.

Exactly!
Let's hope the rereleases can contribute to some success as well