Smashing Pumpkins at the Pearl Theatre

After catching the Smashing Pumpkins in San Francisco, I cleared my schedule when I saw they were playing the Pearl Theatre at the Palms. I feel like a Pearl Theatre veteran having caught Tool, Deftones, Bloc Party, and Morrissey in the last six months.



The 88 opened up the show to my surprise. Based in Orange County, I found it ironic that the first time I would see The 88 would be in Las Vegas. I had a concert schedule conflict the last time they played the Detroit Bar with Satisfaction. The 88 play a more caffeinated style of power pop rock in lines of Ben Folds and share a kindred spirit with Satisfaction. The 88 gave a solid performance and won over a number of Pumpkins fans in the process. I will have to check them out when they play their own show.







An old time marching tune came blaring over the speaker system that soon gave way to the tribal drumming of Jimmy Chamberlin (Drums) and the dual feedback from Billy Corgan (Vocals/Guitars) and Jeff Schroeder (Guitars) as they melted the air with "United States". "United States" sounds huge live and lets the audience know that they will be rocked all night. I especially enjoyed Billy's feedback solo that fades into the Star Spangled Banner as he salutes the crowd."Bullet With Butterfly Wings" starts off with a prolonged intro bass line aptly played by Ginger Reyes (Bass) who does a fine job. Lisa Harriton (Keyboards) stepped out from the keyboards to add some keytar to "That's The Way". "Neverlost" was prefaced by Billy saying it was the first time they had played the song live but I couldn't tell because it sounded flawless. By the time they finished playing "Hummer", "Drown", and "Stand Inside Your Love" I felt justified for flying out to Las Vegas just to catch a show. When I heard "1979" acoustic I was blown away because I had missed it at the Fillmore shows. "Perfect" acoustic was phenomenal and completely unexpected. The Pumpkins closed the show with a triple barrel shotgun blast of "Superchrist", "Doomsday Clock" and "Heavy Metal Machine". For the encore I was hoping for "Muzzle" but was still pleased to hear "Cherub Rock". After a two hour set, I still wanted that extra half hour but still was glad I have a few more Pumpkins shows on the docket.

Smashing Pumpkins Setlist for Las Vegas at the Pearl Theatre (9/13/07)
"United States"
"Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
"That's the Way (My Love Is)"
"Neverlost"
"Hummer"
"Drown"
"Bring The Light"
"Stand Inside Your Love"
"Tonight,Tonight"
"Tarantula"
"Glass and The Ghost Children"
"1979(Acoustic)"
"The Crying Tree Of Mercury(Acoustic)"
"Zeitgeist(Acoustic)
"Perfect(Acoustic)"
"With Every Light(Acoustic)"
"Superchrist"
"Doomsday Clock"
"Heavy Metal Machine"
"Cherub Rock"