Was the 20th Anniversary Tour the height of Billy's dickishness?

[BurtSampson]

I'd forgotten just how contentious these shows were but goddamn. The Halloween show was an intentional ripoff, and the whole rest of the tour reeked of a bait and switch when he played a bunch of random terrible jams and then said "IT'S NOT ABOUT LOOKING BACK 20 YEARS IT'S ABOUT LOOKING FORWARD 20 YEARS"

Well I saw one of those performances of Set the Controls and it felt like it lasted 20 years. Oh, and never mind the fact that he intentionally set out to berate the fans each night.

[Ram27]

Billy was always a dick

[BurtSampson]

Originally Posted by Ram27

Billy was always a dick

ugh god it still makes me cringe

[MyOneAndOnly]

Attitude was horrible. Music was ok.

[Elphenor]

It was by far the worst moment for The Pumpkins music and all imo

[Butt Pope]

Saw them in DC. 7 or 8 minutes into "set the controls" my friend and I looked at each other and realized we had no fucking clue what was happening.

[Araneae]

I'd say so, considering it made Jimmy want to quit.

[Order 66]

tour was definitely a "we're through the looking glass here, people" moment

[BurtSampson]

Originally Posted by scottytheoneand

Attitude was horrible. Music was ok.

Yeah, night 2 (White Cross night or whatever the fuck) had a pretty awesome set all things considered. I mean...MCIS, Bodies and Galapogos at the same show? awesome.

[ninsp]

Say what you want, but I believe it was the last time the Pumpkins were truly the old Smashing Pumpkins. I loved that tour. I'm the only person.

[werideatdusk]

i agree man.

i'm gonna really stick my foot in it and mention again how much i really dig the 20 minute set the controls cover. i still listen to it once in a while, not as much since i stopped smoking weed lol

[BurtSampson]

Originally Posted by ninsp

Say what you want, but I believe it was the last time the Pumpkins were truly the old Smashing Pumpkins. I loved that tour. I'm the only person.

explain how that was the last time considering they had 9 people on this tour.

[killtrocity]

Originally Posted by BurtSampson

I'd forgotten just how contentious these shows were but goddamn. The Halloween show was an intentional ripoff, and the whole rest of the tour reeked of a bait and switch when he played a bunch of random terrible jams and then said "IT'S NOT ABOUT LOOKING BACK 20 YEARS IT'S ABOUT LOOKING FORWARD 20 YEARS"

Well I saw one of those performances of Set the Controls and it felt like it lasted 20 years. Oh, and never mind the fact that he intentionally set out to berate the fans each night.

set the controls and the kazoo thing were the only dickish moves. They played tons of awesome back catalogue shit on that tour

[Ram27]

Originally Posted by ninsp

I believe it was the last time the Pumpkins were truly the old Smashing Pumpkins.

https://archive.org/details/tsp1999-04-24.csbmod

[BurtSampson]

Originally Posted by killtrocity

set the controls and the kazoo thing were the only dickish moves. They played tons of awesome back catalogue shit on that tour

and the Halloween show.

http://www.spfc.org/tours/date.html?tour_id=1360

[werideatdusk]

Originally Posted by BurtSampson

explain how that was the last time considering they had 9 people on this tour.

i wouldn't go so far as to say that the 08 lineup was "the real smashing pumpkins" but the direction of the band still felt progressive and edgy in a way that did the old band proud. 2010-2013 SP felt very tame and limp by comparison, though still had some merit. that said, I'm pretty excited about the new lineup and MTAE material and am optimistic about these shows coming up.

[Butt Pope]

Originally Posted by killtrocity

set the controls and the kazoo thing were the only dickish moves. They played tons of awesome back catalogue shit on that tour

Billy's shit talking to the crowd was very dickish, too.

[Shallowed]

Take your dick out of my ass and put it in my mouth

[Butt Pope]

Originally Posted by Shallowed

Take your dick out of my ass and put it in my mouth

This was the going to be the title of "TGBK: Volume IV" until he decided to go the EP route.

[BurtSampson]

Originally Posted by Shallowed

Take your dick out of my ass and put it in my mouth

That was awful. Was that guy a plant so Bill could do some heel wrestling promo? Or did he actually pull a random guy up there

[Elphenor]

[ninsp]

Originally Posted by BurtSampson

explain how that was the last time considering they had 9 people on this tour.

It was edgy, angry and overall didn't scream desperation. It was the Smashing Pumpkins being alienating live, like they have been ever since the MCIS tour. Now they're ball-less and catering to what the audience wants to hear. But there's no heavy grit or guts behind it anymore.

[BurtSampson]

Originally Posted by ninsp

It was edgy, angry and overall didn't scream desperation. It was the Smashing Pumpkins being alienating live, like they have been ever since the MCIS tour. Now they're ball-less and catering to what the audience wants to hear. But there's no heavy grit or guts behind it anymore.

Well to be fair there is one heavy gut behind it.

[themadcaplaughs]

Originally Posted by BurtSampson

That was awful. Was that guy a plant so Bill could do some heel wrestling promo? Or did he actually pull a random guy up there

Way back when you could post comments on the Smashing Pumpkins sites, some people who got the VIP tickets said they saw the dude hanging out backstage, so I would not put it past Billy to purposefully set up the whole moment.

Honestly, while those shows were far from perfect, they really were very close in spirit to what the band represented. If it had not been for Billy's horrible attitude (and Jimmy leaving, which I consider to be a result of that) I think the band was certainly heading in a great direction.

-The core band on that tour (Billy, Ginger, Jeff, Jimmy, and Lisa) sounded great. They had time to play together and were really gelling. Jimmy and Ginger were an admirable rhythm section, Lisa opened and was contributing great parts to the songs (she was hands down my favorite keyboard player the band has had), and Jeff was in a nice spot where he was not just playing James' parts every night, but had not devolved into the noodling that has been a part of all his parts since 2010. While I was afraid of how the additional members were going to be integrated, they really sat well with the songs. The version of "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" they played was definitely a highlight.

-I actually really dug the stage set up and the clothes the band was wearing. It was a fun little continuation of what was going on during the Machina tour. Billy's sneakers and dress were pretty slick.

-I know the jams are pretty dividing among people. I love jams, and even if I didn't, Smashing Pumpkins have been playing meandering jams since the 1990s. I never saw how the "Set Control for the Heart of the Sun" jam was any different than 30+ minute Silvefuck jams from 1996/1997 or "Transmission" during 1998.

-Those set lists...."Suffer," "Soma," "Mayoniase," "Eye," "As Rome Burns," "Galapagos," "Bodies?" Great stuff from pretty much every era.

The 20th Anniversary Tour pretty much sums it up. Solid band, beautiful music, and Billy standing on stage talking about masturbating to Sara Palin and sodomy.

[DaveKShape]

Overall, the vibe of these shows were just not very good. I was at both DC shows, and the first night, some dude was throwing up middle fingers and yelling at the band during "Everything is Beautiful" (common theme, obviously), to which Billy stopped the song and went into one of his too cool for school rants. He even brought some girl up on the stage while calling her "James Iha" and made her answer a bunch of questions as James. The situation was just not very clever or funny and came off as really bitter.

All in all, I really think this was when Billy was starting to realize that since the "reformation" or whatever, he hadn't made the Pumpkins the biggest band in the world again and he was never going to be able to. A really ugly time.

[sneakyflutes]

I loved this tour. I was genuinely excited the direction the band was going in. 99 Floors, As Rome Burns, Song For a Son, March Hare, and Gossamer if recorded with the 2008 arrangements/line up would have been a huge improvement over Zeitgeist or TGIK/Oceania. Can't speak for the first set list as I have not listened to many recordings of this set, but I listened to the soundboard recording Of the 2nd Chicago show a ton back then.

[BurtSampson]

just caught part of the IAGW doc again for the first time in forever.

The part where he's backstage at the fillmore and he just goes "fuck it they don't like it, call the show" is so

[andrewface]

Take a look at the setlists for these shows. They were amazing. Everything you could want to hear from old to new pumpkins. They got a bad wrap because he closed with 20 min pink floyd and or some crazy I am one but not I am one versions. Had he closed with silverfuck for these shows they would have went down as some of the best setlists ever post reunion.

[The exploding boy]

Originally Posted by DaveKShape

Overall, the vibe of these shows were just not very good. I was at both DC shows, and the first night, some dude was throwing up middle fingers and yelling at the band during "Everything is Beautiful" (common theme, obviously), to which Billy stopped the song and went into one of his too cool for school rants. He even brought some girl up on the stage while calling her "James Iha" and made her answer a bunch of questions as James. The situation was just not very clever or funny and came off as really bitter.

All in all, I really think this was when Billy was starting to realize that since the "reformation" or whatever, he hadn't made the Pumpkins the biggest band in the world again and he was never going to be able to. A really ugly time.

Wow. that heckler needed to die though. In the end you know, bolly doesnt owe anyone anything. Well i mean he owes a good show to those who paid for one and probably not responding to hecklers, but he certainly doesn't owe anyone good songs. Or be forced to just play old songs. You don't like the new stuff? you didn't have to go. I think The cure is shit since 1996 but when i went to see them in 2004, you know what i did during the new shitty songs? Shut up that's what i did. And waited for the songs i like.

[T&T]

was anyone actually offended? pshaw, grow a spine.