Anyone who's been to a real SP show (1988-2000), please describe your experience

[Ram27]

i would like to live vicariously

[T&T]

It was great. I cried, I sang along, I thought about billy corgan dying. They rocked and billy spat a lot.

[brothahi4L]

Yes. Nothing in comparison to the new shows. It was all about the music. Billy was motivated and sang with emotions.
This reunion tour is a joke

[soniclovenoize]

9/22/96 - Target Center, Mpls

Hard to remember specifics, because i was only 16 at the time. I remember being really excited to see my (at the time) favorite band live. I was disappointed Jimmy wasn't playing with them, and hoped Matt Walker would be good enough. I think that's my biggest memory, being critical of Matt Walker, and thinking "Huh, he's pretty good, wish it was Jimmy though..." Conversely, I was excited that Dennis Frog was playing keys, and I tried hard to pick out what he was adding to the songs (but I couldn't hear shit, lol).

They opened with "Where Boys Fear To Tread" which was great. They went through all the hits and the MCIS concert staples I was already familiar with through bootlegs. Then we fucking got "Siva". Tore it up, it was great, and I knew that was a rarity for this tour. Set-closer was a great, feedbacky "Porcelina" that which had "Beautiful" somewhere in the middle eight, and then ended with the 'new' "Rocket", which was what I really wanted to hear. Encore #1 was a pretty good "XYU"; encore #2 was "1979" and, as with the rest of the tour, Jimmy Frog came out to play guitar in full costume. Everyone cheered for someone whom I assume they had no idea who he even was. And then there was "Muzzle", which was a personal favorite that I wasn't sure would even be played. That was it for me, great ending. How the fuck can they even top that? Well, encore #3 was fucking "Bodies", and then the infamous 'new' "Silverfuck".

I will say, the stories are absolutely true about this. I knew it was gonna happen from bootlegs, and was excited to hear it, to witness it. But in all honesty, it wasn't as magical as I thought it'd be. It sort of dragged on and on and on, and the new arrangement just simply wasn't as great as I thought it was (unlike the new "Rocket" which I thought breathed new life into the song). A few minutes into "Silverfuck", I noticed the audience getting smaller and smaller... Why are you guys leaving?? Didn't we all pay $40 for this ticket?? (in 1996 teenager money, that was a lot!) Then it became really obvious this was a thing, and the band was literally challenging the casuals to stay! Once you dropped the facade that this was somehow real/great music/art and accepted they were just fucking with everyone, it was pretty hilarious. Since I deemed myself a "true fan" at the time so I obviously stayed for the whole thing (as well as I wanted my full money's worth), but in hindsight, it was kinda ridiculous; a band who worked their asses off to get where they were, and then intentionally alienate the people they tried to spend their career winning over? Is this a fucking joke? But at the time it was very much an Us (tr00 fan) vs Them (casuals) and Corgan was instigating it all. The fuck was the point?

This "Silverfuck" I witnessed seemed to be 33 minutes long, according to circulating boots. When it was over, Corgan thanked us all who remained and praised us as the real fans. There was only 1/3 of this nearly-sold out auditorium left when the lights went on. My only really criticism was we didn't get "The Aeroplane Flies High", which was then a brand new song they were playing around this leg of the tour, that hadn't even been released yet, rumored to be loud, long and awesome... and we didn't get it.

[BurtSampson]

6/27/07 - Orange Peel show, one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, and the setlist was seemingly endless and we got TAFH, Fuck You, Rotten Apples, and a really blistering Silverfuck

Zeitgeist tour fall of 07 - band going through the motions, really boring show

Pre-20th anniversary tour - In the Summertime with toy birds in the encore, 25 minute Set the Controls jam, really embarrassing shit

[thomas_bland]

Cyber metal Machina era meganess in Manchester. Wonderful stuff. Sadly not the original 4 but got dress up from the band and the set was excellent.

[Ramdust]

4/29/00 - Paul Tsongas Arena, Lowell, Mass.

I was a student at Penn State at the time. Didn't get a chance to see them in the 90s, though I was a fan since SD. 3 close friends of mine and I had a mutual 5th friend at MIT, which wasn't too far from Lowell. We all drove up to make a weekend of it and visit around Boston.

I go to decent amount of concerts; I've been to 200 or so, probably. During the first two songs, Heavy Metal Machine into The Everlasting Gaze, the pushing/moshing was worse than any show I've been to. Billy commented on it and said people were getting crushed. After that, it got a little better.

Machina isn't really my favorite, but it was a decent show. BWBW > Once in a Lifetime was a highlight and Drown to close was amazing. My Blue Heaven played as the crowd dispersed.

I waited around at least an hour behind a fence by the busses. Finally Melissa and James came out to say hi but Billy and Jimmy never showed.

All in all it was a decent show but I still preferred the Asheville Shows and Pittsburg "In Plainsong".

[soniclovenoize]

7/17/98 - Hennepin Ave Free Show

A lot had changed since the last time I saw them. I think I just graduated from high school like two weeks earlier. This was right when Adore came out, my "tr00 fan"-ness had only increased, and I was actually fairly excited for these shows, based on the bootlegs. I liked Adore, yet to love it, but it was slowly growing on me. Would a live version of Adore be more "classic Pumpkins"? In fact it would, and way more...

Some of you might have read the stories of this show. It was all fucking true. It was a free show in the center of Downtown Minneapolis, in an area that simply wasn't that big or meant to have that big of a show. An area that was renovated and doesn't exist anymore. More and more people crowded in to see what was the biggest rock band of the time spilling out into the streets. 100,000 people stuffed into essentially a parking lot. People were hanging out of buildings and skyscraper windows to see/hear. Others were climbing 25-feet high streetlights to perch at the top and watch the show, much to Corgan's actual, legitimate concern for their safety. And yes, a convicted teenage murderer escaped from our (apparently unsecured) women's prison to go see the show (she was apprehended afterwards).

So anyways, we knew to get there early, it was going to be packed. There was a special VIP area that we couldn't get into, for radio winners and the like. The story goes, that my accomplice and former-Netpho mod Mason somehow found one of the crew members who built the stage, and had a Crew Pass. We went and bought two of them from him, probably $50 a pop. Just as the Pumpkins were taking the stage, we put on our passes and started hurrying through the guarded gates of the VIP section, the idea that we were not giving them enough time to stop and actually check the passes. At first they stopped us, but at the last second, they let us through! It worked! I quickly made it to the front-center of the VIP section... I think I was about 6 to 8 feet from Billy Corgan himself. I was so close, I could see D'Arcy's nips.

They show itself, imo, one of the best I've seen, certainly of the three times I've seen SP. The band was tight, Kenny was a fucking fantastic and energetic drummer and personality, and the dual percussionists of Dan Morris and Stephan Hodges created an organic version of the samples and loops you'd hear on Adore (I later quipped that it took three drummers to recreate Jimmy Chamberlin, which wasn't wrong). Mike Garson's keys were higher in the mix and more distinct than Dennis Frog's at the previous show, and fit the music better; although, I remember hating (and still do) his "Tear" and "Ava Adore" piano solos, and unfortunately that shit continued to escalate in years to come. This whole sound of everything, the big band, was really much like the E Street Band or Dylan's late 70s/early 80s huge band sound. It was really impressive, the spectacle of everything, and added some sort of organic-ness to the cold and soulless Adore. Likewise, while the general public reaction was lukeworm and confused to the Adore album itself, the crowd at this show ate it up and loved every second of it. They didn't even seem to care it was all mostly new songs they were unfamiliar with. They loved it. Maybe it was because of the event itself, a free show with 100,000 people in a parking lot in between skyscrapers?

The set itself was pretty solid... Most all of Adore, the electric 'big band' versions. Personal highlights were the chimey/spacey "To Sheila" as the opener, the driving "Behold The Nightmare" (which I remember wishing the album version had sounded like that), and a really rocking "Pug" which made me go back and fall in love with the song. The big band "Tear" was fucking great; fuck the haters. D'arcy played that tasty bassline perfectly, which surprised me because I always figured Corgan had played it on the record. I also expected new arrangements of older songs, which of course we got-- the 'new' Floydian "Thru They Eyes of Ruby" was a slow build but was great (although the audience was a bit confused at what was actually going on) and a newer, uptempo "1979" that seemed to have the main riff reversed (which was super awkward but no one seemed to care--except me). But then of course, the 'new' arrangement of "Bullet". Not a fan. And of course, that shit would just get worse the following tours. Set closers were "Shame" (at this point the audience was starting to get impatient, but it was one of my favorite Adore tracks, and again, the big band version really showed you that this 'deep-LP track' could have been an epic, had Corgan chose to do so) and of course the expected "For Martha" that exploded into a huge Corgan guitar solo. How could it not?

I also expected some sort of 'tr00 fan challenge', much like the last tour's "Silverfuck". I was not let down, as we got the Joy Division cover of "Transmission" (which drifted into David Bowie's "Let's Dance") that spanned about 23 minutes, according to bootlegs recordings of the show. I enjoyed this way more than the "Silverfuck", this somehow being deemed more 'musical' to these ears while still retaining it's weight and length. The groove was also better, and the layers of musicians contributing to the madness made a pretty cool soundscape. iirc, I'd say half of the audience was gone by the time it was over. I remember drifting around downtown afterwards, wondering where Mason was... and also my car... and noticing that there was trash everywhere. Very weird... after that long jam, drifting around a darkened urban wasteland of litter, the remnants of the audience stunned at what they'd seen or just simply stumbling around drunk. Corgan had created a zombie apocalypse.

[soniclovenoize]

4/12/00 - Northrop Auditorium, Mpls

For me, this was the beginning of the end. I was excited to know that Jimmy was back--it'd be the first time I'd ever seen him with The Pumpkins-- and was fairly optimistic about Melissa. But I didn't love Machina. I liked it. Some songs I loved, some I hated. Something was definitely 'off' about it, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. The energy from the Arising bootlegs I had was gone, even though the songwriting was a bit better; where was the happy medium between the two? And I wasn't really blown away by the bootlegs of the Sacred & Profane tour I'd heard so far. Let's say I was hoping that the band would blow me away, prove the Machina material and win me back. They didn't.

They opened with the drop-C tunes--"Everlasting Gaze" and "Heavy Metal Machine"-- and what struck me immediately was how bad everything sounded. Billy & James' guitars sounded like mush, and Melissa's bass sounded toney and indistinct. It was just mud surrounding pulsating drums. This should not have been the case, as the Northrop was a pretty good sounding theater. I don't know what was up, only that it was not gelling somehow, it was not sounding good. James looked ambivalent (but to be fair, he always looked that way); Melissa looked badass but sounded like a water faucet water dripping; Corgan looked like some shitty Pinhead cosplay jackass and was the most vocally pitchy I'd ever seen him be. What I remember of Jimmy though, was just a mass of drums and two huge ass fucking arms, bashing them. It was almost surreal, as if his head, body and arms were all disproportionate to each other, surrounded by this Neil Pert-like enclosure of drums. He was just two big ass fucking arms, trying to break free of a cage of percussion instruments.

Not all was a let down. "Glass + The Ghost Children" was always my favorite from the album, and they played a great version of it. I especially remember being so enveloped by the band coming back in after the breakdown, as she counted the spiders, leading up to an unexpected dynamic shift back down for James' overly-flanged lead guitar part. Fucking perfect. "Age Of Innocence" was also not bad. And then "Blew Away". You'd think this was a treat, but I couldn't actually fucking hear James sing. When his vocal mic went up, we all discovered why he never really sang in Smashing Pumpkins. Holy fuck does he sound bad. Wow.

Some of the 'new' arrangements of older songs irked me as well. The acoustic 'folky' "To Sheila" was kind of a let down after the previous tour's bombastic full band psyche-fest. An "Ava Adore" that was just Corgan on acoustic and Jimmy on electric drum pad? WTF This was literally the opposite of what I want. Give me the classic SP sound doing that song you fucking beach ball. And then do not get me started on the cringe-before-cringe-was-a-thing karaoke version of "Blank Page". The fuck? The C-tuned "Zero" also sounded like a really long fart. I also remember being really let down at "Blue Skies Bring Tears", as they were doing the Machina arrangement rather than the Arising arrangement, which I had fallen in love with back in 1999. Oh well.

And then came "Bullet". Oooohhhhhh shit. While I had some distaste for the previous live Adore version, I was somehow able to tolerate it. In contrast this one made me want to vomit, but i was unable to because my body was simply too bored to initiate a gag reflex. I looked around to see if it was just me, but I could see other heads bopping along, some smiles and others trying (and failing, since the band was so disjointed and inaudible) to sing along. The fuck? It was just straight up garbage and I seemed to be one of the few who cared. Guitars tuned to C so the riff was indiscernible, especially with the shitty sounding guitar-bass mix, with the only redeeming factor as Jimmy's tribal drums, which was better used in a million other Smashing Pumpkins songs anyways. Unlike other tours, there was no ending epic to challenge fans (something I would have welcomed at this point). Just "Fuck You" (yeah fuck you too Billy) and "Mayonnaise" ("Oh wow! They played Mayoniase!" said fucking everyone one except me), which were fine, but certainly an anticlimax as compared to the last two shows. I was honestly not surprised when 5 months later, the end was announced. Their energy had run dry and they simply sounded bad. Sorry folks. I know people want idolize this era of the band, but it's only because "Wow! Jimmy is back" and "I <3 Melissa! XD", not because of any real musical reason. I am not the only one who thinks this. This tour was bad.

[BurtSampson]

Yeah with the exception of a few shows the Machina tour was balls

[paranoid]

Originally Posted by Ramdust

4/29/00 - Paul Tsongas Arena, Lowell, Mass.

I was a student at Penn State at the time. Didn't get a chance to see them in the 90s, though I was a fan since SD. 3 close friends of mine and I had a mutual 5th friend at MIT, which wasn't too far from Lowell. We all drove up to make a weekend of it and visit around Boston.

I go to decent amount of concerts; I've been to 200 or so, probably. During the first two songs, Heavy Metal Machine into The Everlasting Gaze, the pushing/moshing was worse than any show I've been to. Billy commented on it and said people were getting crushed. After that, it got a little better.

Machina isn't really my favorite, but it was a decent show. BWBW > Once in a Lifetime was a highlight and Drown to close was amazing. My Blue Heaven played as the crowd dispersed.

I waited around at least an hour behind a fence by the busses. Finally Melissa and James came out to say hi but Billy and Jimmy never showed.

All in all it was a decent show but I still preferred the Asheville Shows and Pittsburg "In Plainsong".

I was at this show!! I was stuck in that mosh pit, which was terrifying. Got out of it fast.

I also believe this is the last show the original lineup, minus darcy, played tear.

[cjs42079]

7/9/96 Landover, MD
Philly & NY Adore shows in 98
4/14/99 Arising show Tramps, NY
5/1/00 Electric Factory, Philly
8/24/00 VH1 Storytellers in NY

All of them great, for sure better than anything 2007-2015. Tramps 99 being the highlight. I thought they sounded awesome on the Manson tour in summer 2016. First time it reminded me of old school Pumpkins.

[reprise85]

nov 17, 1996. miami arena. which they are playing at this tour, except it's now called american airlines arena

i was 11 years old. i had MCIS and SD but had not really absorbed all of the songs, especially deep MCIS tracks like porcelina and a lot of the stuff on disc 2. i went with my dad and my sister. we had pretty good seats, left side of the stage about 8 rows up in the stands. definitely didn't have to watch on the monitors or anything, they were right there.

somewhere during porcelina that kind of rippling water thing they showed on the monitors kinda spellbound me and i had some sort of peak experience. i knew SP would be my favorite band, that I had to know all the material, that I had to learn to play guitar myself.

i guess since i didn't know about 1/2 the songs and because of my age i don't remember much else. but my mind was blown.

i saw them in 1998 in sunrise. it was good but i also wasn't in love with adore at the time and the only songs i remember them playing besides adore tunes was ruby, bwbw, 1979, and tonight. it definitely seemed more "professional" than the MCIS tour. but even my 13 year old ass knew the whole key to the city/smashing pumpkins day thing was lame as fuck

[ava transformer]

I have been to 44 SP shows including United Center,the Final Metro show, all of the San Francisco Fillmore residency +Santa Cruz=13 shows in 2 1/2 weeks & the 2nd night in L.A. when James made an appearance.
The February 6, 2000 Resume the Pose in Palo Alto stands out as the best.I had previously waited 27 hours outside Dimple Records in Sacramento to meet them. I only had 1 sp tattoo at the time..I was so excited I told Billy about my cats Rocket & Zero & how much I loved the band..back then he would let you rub his head..it was as soft as a baby's bottom & he said "Girl you Rock"..James made a comment about laser removal for my tattoo..which in hindsight was a foreboding of these 37 sp tattoos I have now.
A girl I met in line BC put her on the guestlist for the show cuz she had never seen them
She took me & 2 other fans.. We get there she can only get in 1 other person..so Dave was with her..Chris & I weren't. Chris was like hell no we must get in..Meanwhile unbeknownst to us she was causing a ruckus inside about us being outside..A radio station person heard her & handed her tickets. Chris had us walk the line & refused to take defeat.. He starts walking towards the door & we literally bump into Vera who got the tickets & we go in.
The Edge is super tiny..like not even a 1000 capacity..May be half that. They open with Pale Scales into TEG.. it was magical & electric. Since Machina wasn't released yet & I wasn't at "leak" level yet.. The songs were new & mysterious. GATGC I remember being intrigued. The Talking Heads. mash up..join together.. Aww and the little red riding hood story. Seeing Billy crouch down & speak in that silly voice was such a change from the MCIS-Jimmy &Adore tour show. Melissa was kist starting out..JC was back..James still had his dry wit. It was a different time. I still listen to that boot..if you haven't you should. That show was lightening in a bottle..the footage from Glendale frightens & saddens me. I'm not the fan I was after BC opened his mouth on Alex Jones..
But man 2000 I think was the best year to be a fan..at least for me..the signings...meeting fans I'm still friends with today. My Life was forever changed by SP & the fandom that year.

[stripes]

Can you edit that last one again? Reason: punctuation and spacing

[smashingjj]

Saw them on the machina tour in Ahoy, Rotterdam, some time in 2000. It was memorable in that it was the only time i used a cheque, to buy that fugly machina tour shirt

[Gooch]

Ive seen them so many times, but i think a great moment was at 2000 hammerstein nyc show when they opened with pale scales, and billy came out and had this cool rock and roll swagger about him. I was like 4th row back standing room /ga.
He played each note and stared at the crowd and as the song came to an end he was smirking with a half smile, and then TEG kicked in. And the crowd surged forward violently and everyone started jumping and swaying to the music and you literally couldnt move because the crowd was soooo tight that the movement of the crowd picked you up and moved you, almost like a rip current, you had no control at all. The energy was amazing and people started moshing in the middle, and the collective movement of the crowd seperated my girlfriend and I and we were pulled apart. I never experienced anything like that before or since. You had no control over your body like a rip current wave is the best way i could describe it. And then directly into HMM. Nonstop energy.

Another great moment was at the MTV TRL taping. We just stood around and talked, they became human. Dave Grohl hung out with us too. But you could appreciate them as regular people, with hopes and dreams and trying to be successful like as if it were you or I.

[Gooch]

And then the last show when it was over, and people left and you walked outside and people were walking around like stoned zombies, dogs in the rain, some crying, because it was over. An eerie silence was in the air mixed with excitement at what we just saw but the sobering reality that it might actually be over, dead forever. Which in many ways, it was.

[KissesandNoise]

Lolla '94. I missed a chance to see them play a small club in Orlando in 92. This kid I know won tickets and wanted me to go, but I thought he was annoying so I didn't. Bad move. After falling in love with SD and playing it non-stop for a year or more they were coming to Central FL. At 2am we over heard the Beastie Boys tour manager in the hotel elevator. The show was off. The stage sank after the rains. Fucking Florida! The next stop was New Orleans. I begged my mom and she rented us a car. We drove to New Orleans the next day. We hit Bourbon Street. We started pounding drinks. We thought it was cool they didn't card. Realized later the drinking age was 18 at the time. At some point after a million bars and several strip clubs, we spent the last of our money buying coke from a homeless person. Pretty sure it was Cascade dishwashing soap. Hit the show with no money - maybe $10 between us. We had already thrown our dirty bong down the hall of the hotel and sat through Nick Cave, ATCQ, The Breeders, Beasties with no bud, no beer - just loved every second. Pushed to the front for SP. Our minds were blown. We hung way after because by then I knew they were capable of jams and weird encores. They came out and teased about 3 classic rock songs then left.

97 MCIS in Tampa and possibly Lakeland. My dad had died in 95. MCIS was a companion. After so much weirdness in my life then SP losing Jimmy I didn't think I would see this band again. When the lights went out and the opening chords of MCIS began I almost started crying. I could see Billy come out then crouch real low and sort of sway back and forth like he was ready to pounce. The second MCIS ended. He leapt onto the monitor and started the riff to WBFTT.

98, Hotlanta. Adore came out and most of my SP friends tuned out. I just went through a dreadful breakup with a first love. Every word and every note of that album resonated deeply with me. We got back together in time for me to bring her to Atalanta for the Adore tour. I really didn't know what to expect because of the album and no Jimmy again. We rolled balls and I had my ears pinned back because they turned that gentle goth opera into a searing rock show. I really felt Billy step up - like he shouldered the whole thing - and really bring it because he felt he had to.

Clearwater, Orlando, ATL, 2000 - Machina. These shows were ferocious. There were moments where Billy baited the crowd but also oddly endearing moments. In Orlando he went off on a tangent and said, "I don't really know how to bring this back. In Alabama everyone just shouted 'what the fuck is going on?!!" So he lead the audience in a chant of "what the fuck is going on?! What the fuck is going on?!" and broke into a banshee howl to bring the "Once in a Lifetime" jam back. At the end of the Orlando show fans through CDs, books, letters, flowers on the stage. Billy hung out and picked everything up, read some girls poetry to the crowd, then pretended to read a poem about how bad he sucks. Atlanta mixed the setlist up and started with "Pale Scales" and "EG." That show was a motherfucker. Also rolled balls for this one. I think everyone did because at one point James said, "is everybody ok? I see a lot of people with their eyes closed."

2007, Asheville - 3 shows. The most unique concert experience I ever had. The band was really tight, but also wildly experimental. Those were crushing, bruising shows for hardcore fans.

Fall 2007 (I think) - Atlanta - Jimmy had a heart scare and the shows were cancelled. Saw the New Pornographers at Variety Playhouse instead. Not really a worthy substitute. Flew back for the make-up dates.

2008 - pre 20th anniversary. I know "Set the Controls" wasn't a favorite and neither was the closing kazoo fest, but I've seen them so much that I didn't mind them doing whatever the fuck they wanted. People gave them shit in this era and I thought the band was peaking. They were playing solid setlists and between 07 and 08 they were really embracing the jam, which drew a lot of ire from people that don't know what the fuck they're talking about

[eviltimeban]

Dublin, SFX, August 1995. Pre-MCIS release but they played a whole load of tracks (it seemed) from the new album, which no one knew. I think it was the first time they played a substantial amount of songs from the album. Was very loud and hard to make out a lot of the melodies and lyrics. Billy still had hair.

I do remember at the end Billy saying they were playing the same venue again the following night and would play "the exact same songs in the exact same order". The second gig is the one on the archive site.

https://scontent.fdub5-1.fna.fbcdn.n...2c&oe=5BE5C52F

[smashedguava]

I've been to around 30 shows total with most of them coming during Machina and 2007+ eras...That said, these three will always stick with me.

1997-01-22 Toledo, OH
First SP experience and what a dandy. MCIS-era Silverfuck, Aeroplane Flies High as the opener and Here Is No Why I remember being highlights. Great energy and I was a giddy as schoolboy at that time regarding the band. Quite magical.

1999-04-10 Detroit, MI
What can I say...I was lucky enough to finally see the original four and at their first show back together. They were absolutely on fire and the crowd was ridiculously intense. I Am One, La Dolly Vita, Soma, Geek and of course the great Arising era machina renditions. Easily the best concert experience I've ever had.

Sidenote: I lined up with a couple friends like 5 - 6 hours before the show and I remember a girl going up and down the line offering BJs for a ticket.

2007-06-23 Asheville, NC
SP2.0s first show in the US was quite spectacular. Great energy, enthusiastic crowd and solid song selection. It was great that they were back and you could feel the excitement in the city of Asheville in general for the residency. Gossamer and Starla were otherworldly. Prior to the show we could here them soundchecking Starla outside the venue and I literally was losing my shit. They were definitely exciting times.

[Andy /]

Originally Posted by soniclovenoize

7/17/98 - Hennepin Ave Free Show

this was my first show. we couldn't even get in the main 'venue' enclosure, and watched from the hennepin avenue curbside where it was still shoulder-to-shoulder. i was glad i was tall.

i also went to the northrop show. g+tgc was a highlight for me, too. and tear. i'll never understand why bands want to cover rock on. fuck that song. i did the winnipeg summersault show that summer (got a smile and nod from melissa ), then drove through hours of shitass weather to get to (and also from) chicago for the united center show.

i saw a few 07 shows (st. paul, the philly run) and i thought that band was pretty good, but obviously the new stuff just couldn't hold up well. all i wanted to hear was gossamer and that didn't happen (it was written on the st. paul setlist even); instead i got five heavy metal machine wankfests as punishment.

and then the minneapolis plainsong show, which was the most i've enjoyed anything smashing pumpkins since 2000.

never saw the original four as one. that probably would have been the driving motivation to see this years tour. OHWELL.

[SlingeroGuitaro]

11/30/96- Austin, Tx

Show was originally supposed to be in July, but...yeah. I only have a few memories.
1) billy looked puffy. he was also not impressed by the crowd.
2) it was so incredibly loud and the bass was so incredibly heavy it felt like i was being hit with a baseball bat for the duration of the show.
3) shirley manson had green underwear on
4) matt walker was serviceable but jimmy had always been my favorite member musically. was very disappointed.

I have the Austin American Statesman concert review still at my parent's house. I'll take a picture of it and post.


I've seen them countless other times ranging from opening for the rolling stones through manson tours. The one thing that as been a constant- tour is slightly more passive than the last.

[enthusaroo]

I saw Billy and James making out in the corridor at a show in '98

[RAWK]

Billy had hair and he rocked.

[mpp]

they used to fucking murder it -- cincy in Jan. 97 really stands out (even w/o jimmy); obviously, the final show 12/2/2000 was great; but the most fun i had may have been 12/21/99 at the metro:

http://www.spfc.org/tours/date.html?tour_id=710

obviously, since jimmy/darcy left, it's been hit or miss

think i've seen them 16/17 times, something like that

[KissesandNoise]

Originally Posted by smashingjj

Saw them on the machina tour in Ahoy, Rotterdam, some time in 2000. It was memorable in that it was the only time i used a cheque, to buy that fugly machina tour shirt

I never really liked SP merch and the Machina stuff might have been the worst. It's better since. I scoffed at the shirts inside. On the way out they were selling bootleg shirts for $10. They actually looked better. I bought one and it was about 3 or 4 years before I realized "Sacred and Profane Tour" was spelled "Scared and Profane." Ya get what you pay for!

[apathy]

Aug. 20, 94 Dallas TX, Lollapalooza, Second Stage
My first time seeing them. There’s a bit of footage on the Pisces Iscariot box set DVD. At the time all I had was Siamese Dream so unfortunately I didn’t recognize most of the songs, which were b-sides. I was right in front of D’arcy and she was pretty expressionless through the whole set. It was my first realization that Smashing Pumpkins isn’t what you would call a happy band.

Aug. 20, 94 Dallas TX, Lollapalooza, Starplex Ampitheatre
I love the Lollapallooza era. Billy screaming his head off, the curly hair, the psychedelic visuals. They had a video screen during the show and little audio samples in between songs that added a lot the experience. I wasn’t able to find a tape of this show until years later and it was like Christmas morning when I did. Lollapalooza and the Roxy show in ’99 are my favorite shows.

Dec. 1, 96 Dallas TX, Reunion Arena
After standing in line for hours I got screwed on good seats due to spots in the line going to lottery and Celine Dion tickets going on sale at the same time. I ended upgrading to the 9th row center through a scalping agency. It was a pretty good show but it was post Jimmy firing so that was a let down, plus there were a lot more soccer moms there than any rock show I had been to previously.

Nov. 1, 97 Ft. Worth TX Motor Speedway
Seats were absolutely horrible since it was a Rolling Stones show. I wasn’t expecting much, but it ended up being pretty awesome since several songs from their set ended up being Adore Demos.

July 10, 98 Ft. Worth TX, Will Rodgers Auditorium
Show was alright. I didn’t have the best seats and although the charity aspect was nice, I remember a lot of time being taken up with them presenting the check or showcasing the charity when I would have preferred more music.

July 12, 98 Houston TX, Aerial Theater
This show had a general admission floor so it was my favorite from the Adore tour. As well, a pre-FM recording came out shortly after, which was awesome to have. Writing this makes me remember being irate at some screaming girl next to me (I was taping the show). Actually, remembering that reminds me of all the screaming girls infatuated with Billy that I hated at every show.

July 14, 98 Bonner Springs KS, Sandstone Ampitheater, H.O.R.D.E. Fest.
Show was alright. Something about seeing Blues Traveler right before SP takes away from the experience, besides the fact that half the crowd were bros that had had their popped collared polos on a half hour before. I think by this time Billy was less angst driven and more ego driven, or maybe it was just them playing to a crowd that they knew weren’t all SP fans, but the show didn’t have much passion.

July 15, 98 Oklahoma City OK, All Sports Stadium, H.O.R.D.E. Fest.
My memory of this show isn’t differentiated from the HORDE show the day before.

July 19, 98 Toronto CAN, Much Music Studio Parking Lot, Intimate & Interactive
I actually don’t remember much of this. I guess the band the was in the studio for the interview and then came out and played a short set. I could be making that up. Met pmack and he was really nice, which I guess I was a little surprised with, since we had recently got in some hissy fit debate not too far back on the amsp board.

July 20, 98 Toronto CAN, Massey Hall
I had a balcony seat for the show and it was pretty cool to see the band from that angle for the first time. The band (Billy at least) seems to love Toronto and they spoke about that.

July 21, 98 Cuyahoga Falls OH, Blossom Music Theater, H.O.R.D.E. Fest.
All HORDE shows were pretty much the same of seeing SP is cool, but HORDE is not so cool.

Dec. 12, 98 LA CA, Shrine Auditorium, KROQ Almost Acoustic Xmas
I don’t remember the actual show. I had gone a road trip from Phoenix to Seattle with an amsp friend with the hope that SP would play a surprise set at the radio show there. They didn’t, and we met up with some amsp friends before this show. Afterward we met Jimmy. He was nice, if not mildly intoxicated. I remember thinking he was a bit short. I myself, am not a tall person.

April 21, 99 Phoenix AZ, Celebrity Theatre
Arising show, which was awesome. Lots of Machina demos. I don’t remember this show being anywhere near as impactful as the Roxy show though.

April 23, 99 San Diego, Spreckels Theater
A lot larger venue than the other two Arising shows I went to. Don’t remember much.

April 25, 99 Los Angeles, The Roxy
I was going to be leaving the country at the end of the summer so I thought this was an awesome show to end my SP career with so to speak. It’s a ~200 person venue so I was over the moon to get a ticket and did some crazy semi-pornographic moves to sneak my DAT recorder in. I seem to recall Billy saying something about industry people talking in the back of the room and being bugged by that. I’ve recently read people say that D’arcy looked high or whacked out or whatever during this tour and that seems made up to me. I don’t remember her really saying anything in any of the shows I was at and this one wasn’t an exception. All seemed normal to me, and I would have never assumed the band would be breaking up shortly thereafter. I remember hearing the Machina songs and even though I hadn’t heard them before it felt like I had just because they flowed like great quintessential SP songs.

I was out of the country during the Machina tour. My brother and a friend took Light Into Dark and an I Am One 7” to the record store signing for me in my absence and they told me when they walked up, Billy and James said “Daaaammmnnn, we haven’t seen these in a while.” For not being able to be there, hearing that story was second best.

I ended up seeing Zwan once, which was alright and a couple new pumpkins shows which seemed like a cheap imitations of the original band. I was excited and yelling for Jimmy at the Zeitgeist show and one of the fan girls of Billy got annoyed with me. Maybe she was taping the show.

[StillBecomingApart]

Originally Posted by soniclovenoize

I was so close, I could see D'Arcy's nips.

Noice

[FoolofaTook]

stillbecomingafart