Twisted Xmas Aragon Ballroom show review

[srt4b]

I flew in to see this show.

I have seen SP probably around 40-50 times in total. The first time ever was at this same venue with Swervedriver and The Frogs opening in the early 90s.

I much prefer to see SP in a smaller venue and it's definitely worth it for me to fly in to see them than drive to a stadium. As far as Chicago is concerned I find it to be a depressing shit hole but that is irrelevant.

AWOLNATION was impressive. Great soundscape and all the songs were good. Perfect opener for SP.

I checked the last few shows setlist and was actually praying for more Agohri and screamed out a few times this sentiment during silent moments but no acknowledgment. From a setlist standpoint it was FINE. This version of the band has the rockers so dialed in it is very impressive. Everything rocks. It's a borderline metal show. Bills vocals were top notch. James kills all his parts, and his backup vocals are much better than the lady who usually stands behind him, she wasn't there. Bill and James were both genuinely rocking hard. It didn't seem for 1 second they were just going through the motions. Starting with tonight, wbftt, then today had everybody jumping and a few crowd surfers. Bates is easily the best bass player since Melissa. Him and Jimmy are locked in and his tone has much more attack than Bill would ever allow the last couple ladies. The Wong lady is also very impressive. During Sighomi her guitar broke and the tech brought her a new one and when she plugged it in and stated jamming it was instantly louder than Bills for the whole song. That particular song Bill barely even played guitar, She did all the rhythms and James the leads obviously. Her attire is somewhat jarring with Bill/Jack/James covered from mid neck to toe and her with the boobs on a shelf and laced up yoga pants. I like it but it's like going to a meeting and everybody is in suits and 1 person has a tank top and shorts. Anyway....

1979 They started the backing track early and Bill looked like he was going to FUCKING MURDER. He even started playing his part right when they cut it off and you could see them scrambling to sync up the backing track. a few times over the next couple minutes the backing track would go up and down in volume. They should 100% cut that song from the lineup or just play an entirely new arrangement. It's easily the worst song of the set.

Jellybelly We all know this song is top tier SP. They are currently playing the best version since 94, and it's not even close.

Perfect was tuned down and a slightly different arrangement. Was fine, whatever.

BWBW, fine,

Sigomii I mentioned above.

Landslide - Chef's kiss. Will take this 100/100 over Disarm.

Mayonaise. This song for me has never been anywhere close to any of the 90s versions the last 15 years but they absolutely killed it. They went all-out, were really playing the hell out of their guitars and it showed. Perfect 3 guitar WALL OF SOUND Sp.

Everlasting Gaze - Great, we all know it and love it, kills live. Top level Bill dance and body moves.

Doomsday clock, replace this with Tarantula or a new song war dreams or something. It rocks but seems stale to me.

Zoo Station - this was a fucking jam wow. the bass and drum tones and levels were KILLER. It's funny U2 been opening with this song recently and it sounds like a shitty cover of this SP version. With that said they could def lop off 60-90 seconds of it.

Ava Adore - I prefer the metal version but this one was fun. Bill 100% loves this song. KiKi/James dual leads need about 33% more volume.

Ziggy. - This was a total highlight for me. James vocals were SUPURB. They always under level James compared to Bill, I think because his voice has less power than Bill's cutting tone but this was loud and he sand very well and in tune and with nice emotion. This is the PERFECT song for SP to cover.

CR/Zero last 2 songs were honestly meh. It really felt like there were 4-5-6 more songs coming. Maybe 2 more and encore with 2 then 1 final encore. but no, they just ended on Zero and the lights came on. I understand this just is what it is now but man with no Gossamer there is so much room for 2-3 new songs, and 2-3 more Gish/Picies.

Overall am happy I went. Nothing beats the wall of sound SP live show in a small auditorium. Biggest disappointment was no Who Goes There. New single, I was 90% they would play that and was 50% in my mind they would play Edin.

Bill did tease Drown and Siva near the end and people went WILD. Sive for me is a top 5 SP song so that was just RUDE haha.

Anyway that is about it. Easily the best lineup of the band since Machina. Great overall vibes, Bill seems to be down in weight also which is great. James an Jimmy also looking very well. I am happy for them overall.

Upon proofreading I realized I missed Beguiled. That did rock, people were singing along. I prefer it over Solara which I had to look up which one it was during the show.

Farewell and Goodnight.

[srt4b]

[Big Truck05]

Thanks for the review. Sound like it was a great time overall.

[Ram27]

Originally Posted by srt4b

Bill did tease Drown and Siva near the end and people went WILD. Sive for me is a top 5 SP song so that was just RUDE haha.

I really wish they'd just add songs impromptu more often. Do a Taylor Swift surprise song segment even. That's what fans love, when their date feels special. Even if the band fucks it up, it's still way more fun to hear than computer drum singles

[Spaldz]

Thanks for the detailed review. Would've loved to be at this show. WBFTT and Jellybelly. Lovely stuff

[Ram27]

Originally Posted by srt4b

It's a borderline metal show

This is a great point and really distills my distaste for modern SP very tidily. AMM is a smashing pumpkins album with metal textures. If it had shoegaze textures, it would be their best since MCIS easy. But ever since ZG they're stuck on this awful chugga metal tone.

The problem isn't really - and arguably hasn't ever been - the songwriting. They're almost always proved pretty good SONGS with time, but the production doesn't do it any favors; the dry guitar and corgan's dry vocals are SUCH a barrier for a new listener to get through.

[redbreegull]

Hmmm I think Bill has had much better luck with the metal songs in post-2000 SP music. Oceania was a shoegazey album and it left me feeling like bleh they didn't do anything new with that sound, everything was "there" for SD2 but the drums and lyrics were just a bit worse than the old days and it feels like a retread.

Aghori has some moments where the heavy guitar parts actually surprised me, with the unusual scales and shit. But I also like the metal guitar tone. The production is not the best, but I have no issues with the tone. Perhaps it's an old bias, but the guitar tones on AMM still sound better to me than what 95% of guitar players are doing

[redbreegull]

Originally Posted by Ram27

the dry guitar and corgan's dry vocals are SUCH a barrier for a new listener to get through.

just a hunch, but I would think it would actually be much easier for a new listener to be impressed by a song like Pentagrams because they wouldn't have the context for how much richer his voice used to be and how much better the production was in the 90s

In general I think we are probably harder on the new music than an average rock fan would be coming to the SP table for the first time. I mean in fairness I have played shit like Owata for people who have been like WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS, but I also recall playing Oceania for friends around its release, and no one who was not already a big fan could even tell the difference from the old music. Actually, a lady I was dating had another guitar boyfriend at the time and I asked him what he thought of the Oceania sound, and his biggest takeaway was that the guitars sounded airier than in the old music. It wasn't even the drums or vocals that hit him first

[Disco King]

It's like how a die-hard Star Wars fan will tell you all the reasons some new film totally shat on the franchise's legacy and is the worst abomination since Mengele's experiments, meanwhile the rest of us are either like "that was fun" or "eh, didn't really do it for me," and then we forget about it the next day.

[Disco King]

People IRL don't care enough about this band to go "WHAT HAS BECOME OF MY DEAR BILLY CORGAN? THE WEST HAS FALLEN. BILLIONS MUST BURN THE LIES OFF THEIR SOULS."

[redbreegull]

yeah like to Joe Alternative or Fred Rock'n'Roll, this is a classic band with a bunch of heavy hitters in the 90s that may or may not still be around, we're not really even sure until we google

the narrative of the tragic downfall of SP is about as interesting or unique to most people as if I were trying to explain to you Robert Plant in the 80s

[T&T]

what happened to plant in the 80's?

did he also date a lady that had another guitar boyfriend??