The Smashing Pumpkins are one of my favorite bands. I bought a Fender Blender fuzz pedal and an Electro Harmonix Micro Synthesizer in search of the "Pumpkins" sound. As much as I would like to have the same pumpkins from 1994 up on stage, I realize its 2007 and things are different. I am just happy to see Billy Corgan(Vocals/Guitars) and Jimmy Chamberlin(Drums) back on the stage.
Idiot Pilot opened on this particular night. I thought screamo was dead. I was wrong. The security guard said it was the worst opening band he has seen in a long time. Ouch. They did have a nice Apple laptop though.
Zeitgeist takes a few listens to get the point. It is an overly bombastic, and over the top loud rock album. These songs need to be heard in a live setting because they were exponentially sharper live. Billy was channeling his inner Tony Iommi with his Tony Iommi Gibson SG Signature guitar pummeling the audience with a Drop D tuned supercharged new song "Superchrist". Jeff Schroeder (Guitars) was a capable and fleet fingered replacement for James Iha switching between a Gibson Les Paul, Fender Jazzmaster and Gibson SG. Ginger Reyes (Bass) had some excellent bass skills while Jimmy Chamberlin (Drums) is simply inhuman on the drums. "Doomsday Clock" was next and crushes live. "Stand Inside Your Love" was magnificent with Jeff using his Ebow. They pulled out the droney "The Areoplane Flies High" that I haven't heard since they played at the Cow Palace back in the day. "Drown" was one of the 5 songs I really wanted to hear and is one of my favorite pumpkins songs ever. "United States" was stunning and more ferocious live in all its feedback glory that had Billy bled into the Star Spangled Banner. "Daydream" dropped my jaw to the floor as this is a song that D'Arcy sang on Gish but Billy with an acoustic guitar had the Fillmore in a dead silence. "Rocket" acoustic sounded great proving that you don't necessarily need to hide behind distortion all the time. "Heavy Metal Machine" was still heavy as ever and took on a different form live. "Gossamer" was a 25 minute instrumental excursion into jam land. "Today" capped the night and like the lyrics suggest, "Today is the greatest day I ever known".
Smashing Pumpkins setlist for the Fillmore(7/24/07)
"Superchrist"
"Doomsday Clock"
"Orchid"
"Glass and The Ghost"
"Stand Inside Your Love"
"The Aeroplane Flies High"
"Drown"
"Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
"United States"
"Peace+Love+"
"Daydream"
"Rocket"
"Crying Tree"
"To Shelia"
"Tonight,Tonight"
"Tarantula"
"That's The Way"
"Heavy Metal Machine"
"Disarm"
"Untitled"
"Gossamer"
"Today"
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