News 000223-1

I wrote this review as an article in my college paper. A Smashing Free Concert with the Pumpkins By Christina Jerome

I was never really a very big fan of the Smashing Pumpkins until I started dating someone who was. So when my fiancé (Tom) asked me if I'd like him to pick me up to go to their free concert on Feb. 23, who was I to say no? Promoting the release of their new album, Machina: The Machines of God, on Leap Day (Feb. 29), the Smashing Pumpkins went on tour across the country with a number of low-profile concerts in unlikely places. The concert I went to took place in front of For Your Entertainment in Colonie Center Mall up where I live in Albany, New York. It was announced only a week before the concert date, and promoted only on one local radio station - the Edge. So I rearranged my schedule for the week to make myself available to go to this concert. We camped out at the mall at 11:00 a.m. to earn our place in line. Some people had been there for a lot longer. FYE was giving out promo CDs and posters to anyone who pre-ordered Machina. Many people had someone hold their places in line so they could run in and get this. A lot of people also had posters from some of the earlier albums like Siamese Dream and Gish, because the Pumpkins were also doing a signing after the show. When they started handing out wristbands, though, we found out the whole story. Different colored wristbands were used to distinguish where you were in line to discourage line-jumping by people whose friends were "holding their spots" until mid-afternoon. But if you had a wristband to let you into the concert area, you weren't going to be able to get autographs. (It was ironic that the wristbands were from Virgin, the record company with whom the Pumpkins broke their ties with on Feb. 21, just two days before the show.) We didn't camp out all day to stand at the other end of the mall and not see the concert - so we decided we'd survive without autographs. Around 5:30 p.m., they finally corralled us into the velvet-roped concert seating area, where we were promptly told to sit down and wait. Time passed, and the crowd was getting restless. The concert was supposed to begin at 6:00 p.m., but they didn't go on stage until almost 7:00 p.m. Tom and I got into a screaming match with a girl nearby who insisted on standing up. We told her they wouldn't play until everyone was sitting down. She asked how many concerts we'd been to where we had to sit on the floor. Tom asked her how many concerts she'd been to in a mall. We smiled with smug satisfaction when the Pumpkins lead singer Billy Corgan came out on stage and asked everyone to sit down so that everyone could see. Corgan was decked out in a long black leather dress, and he pulled off the look rather well. Looking quite "smashing" themselves were James Iha on guitar and, returning to the band, drummer Jimmy Chamberlain. Replacing D'Arcy Wretzky on bass guitar was Melissa Auf Der Maur, who gave the men in the audience something to stare at. When the band began to play, the entire crowd screamed. I'd never heard them play live before, and it was incredible. They began the set with "Glass and the Ghost Children," from Machina. Sounding incredibly metallic, the song was a little spooky. It sounded like two different songs, with a pause in the middle and a completely different sound to the second part. Corgan's lyrical obsession with spiders, though, somewhat disturbed me. It had a great sound, though. The second song of their set was "Today." Even I knew all the words to this one, and most of the crowd was singing along with the band. This song was great fun. The third song they played was another one from their new album, this one called "Blue Skies Bring Tears." I loved this song. It used some of that wonderful guitar noise that Iha does so well. This one is definitely one of my favorites on the album. "I of the Mourning" was next in the set, and I wasn't too impressed with it. To me, it sounded like Corgan was repeating the word "radio" all too many times; but the rest of the fans - Tom included - seemed to like it. Next came the song "Bullet with Butterfly Wings." Most people would recognize it more by the lyrics than the title. "Despite all my rage / I am still just a rat in a cage." The Pumpkins kept speeding up faster and faster at the end, up until the point where everyone dropped out but Corgan. Bassist Auf Der Maur, with a fabulous gold bass, amused fans by panting from exhaustion. "Heavy Metal Machine" was another one of their new songs. Feeding off the title of their album, this song sounded very mechanical. Auf Der Maur had an amazing silver glitter bass. At the middle of the song, Corgan wasn't playing anymore, but had his arms outstretched over his head and repeating the words "Heavy metal / heavy metal machine" over and over again in an also robotic voice. It was almost spooky. Corgan took this point in the show to introduce himself and the band members. He and Iha, as well as drummer Chamberlain, all donned acoustic guitars as the foursome rounded out the show with an oldie-but-goodie, "1979." I have to say that this was my favorite song of the evening. The energy and the spirits were so high - it was just an incredible thing. The crowd gave them a standing ovation as the Pumpkins left the stage. As people began to crowd forward, they came back out for an encore. They played a cover of "Rock On" by Essex and ended the concert (for good this time) with another song from Machina, "The Everlasting Gaze." I can't really comment on these songs too much, because everyone was screaming and cheering, and I was trying not to get pushed over by the 14-year-olds behind me who thought they'd be able to get closer to the stage. We weren't lucky enough to get any of the guitar picks that Corgan tossed into the audience. (Some people practically smothered each other fighting for them.) Tom tried to get one of Chamberlain's drumsticks that was still on the stage as we walked by, but the crew wouldn't give it to him. The energy of this concert was so high - there was just an aura of greatness. Tom said it's the best concert he's ever seen them give. I was impressed at how great they were for performing in a mall. If the tour didn't end on March 7, I would recommend all Pumpkins fans to seek out the next concert venue and go. But since that time has passed, the best I can do is say to go get Machina and listen for yourself.

reviewer: Christina Jerome