Subject: Detroit Show Review
From: kbdkbeav@aol.com (KBDKBeav)
Newsgroups: alt.music.smash-pumpkins

i just got back from the Detroit show and let me say that it is one of the best
night's i have ever had.

it started out kinda slow since most people stood outside until close to nine
o'clock.  this was not without it's highlights, however.  i was able to see one
homeless man urinate in a bush after dancing on a lawn.  then some guy at the
bar next to the hall came out of the backdoor and started playing guitar for
some reason.  this just seemed to aggravate many of the people in line.  then i
was offered a jacket from another homeless man for a great price of one dollar.

then i got inside after being patted down and such.  i was able to get a great
seat on this balcony type thing with my legs hanging over with a complete
un-obscured view of everything on stage.

so after queens of the stone age finished their set, the crew set up the
pumpkins stuff and the lights went down.  you could see D'arcy, Billy and James
pretty well even though it was sort of dark, but some shadowy figure sat down
at the drum kit.  when i saw him stretch his arms and noticed a black
sleeve-less shirt very strong looking arms.  i think you all know who it was.

then, surprisingly, a very familiar drum intro starts.  i couldn't believe it
but they were playing I Am One.  i felt like such a pansy because when the
lights came up and i saw the entire band down there together, i really felt
like crying in happiness.  i was completely numb throughout the song and stayed
that way for an extra fifteen minutes.

then almost immediately after, they started Zero.  Jimmy sounded great.  the
next song was Pug and it was also done wonderfully.  the next song caught me
completely off-guard as it was La Dolly Vita.  the crowd was going pretty
crazy.
In between ( i lost track of at which point) a chant of "Geek USA" began and
the group smiled at this and continued.  d'arcy was very cheerful and got on
the mic and talked about the purpose of the tour.  she said something along the
lines of "i know we don't have an album to go out and support.  so you're
probably wondering what the purpose of this tour is.  well, it's just to have
fun."  this got a really great response.

after these four, Billy anounced that they would now play songs from their
forth-coming album.  excuse me for not having many details as i was still
getting over what i had just heard.  all i can say is it fucking rocked.  the
lyrics were very hard to make out.  the only song i recognized out of that set
was C(r)ash Car Star and it was much better with Jimmy than the Halloween
version.

next came Ava Adore and they did an awesome version of it.  a lot heavier
guitar. and some extended solo-ing.

Billy then played a song that EVERYBODY knew.  It was Today.  similar to the
halloween version.  the crowd was very into it and was singing along.  they
then left the stage.

the band was in a VERY good mood.  Billy was smiling and chatting regularly
with the crowd and D'arcy mentioned that she was from Michigan, which got a
very positive response.  one thing i noticed the group doing was that "rock and
roll hand symbol" thing that i can't think of the name of.  Jimmy did it to
Billy at first and then they all got pretty happy with it which prompted the
audience to signal back.

back to the show, the crowd started chanting for more and that's exactly what
we got.  they headed back out and James took to the mic and said "here's
another older song" or something.  once get again it got a great response.  it
was the usual live version of muzzle and had everyone singing along.  then came
a serious case of a bad ass surprise.  it got real quiet and a clean guitar
intro was played and recognized very quickly.  it was Soma.  everyone went
crazy again which just seemed to put the band into an even better mood.  they
walked off-stage and were summoned again.

d'arcy got to her mic with jimmy standing close behind her and said "what are
you all screaming about?  oh i know, you're all screaming for Jimmy!"  this
probably got the biggest non-musical audience pop of the night.  She handed her
mic to Jimmy and he said "it's great to be back" and that was it.  point taken
by the crowd judging from the pop that followed that.  Billy said "tell them
about Africa, Jimmy."  Jimmy just smiled and this prompted James to say "in
jimmy's time off he has done a lot.  he was an explorer in egypt, a race-car
driver and a rough-neck on an oil-rig.  he became a real renaisance man.  jimmy
is only playing this one show with us.  he willing be returning to egypt to
explore the great pyramids."  it was a very comforting moment to see that all
the rumors of inner-tension about Jimmy's return probably were not true.

Billy went into a new song that was fairly soft.  it was hard for me to get
details because in my seated position against the rail, i was recieving many
knees to the back of the head and feet brushing against my bum which kept
prompting me to check my wallet as it felt like it was being removed.

the next song was a shorter version of the "if there is a god" song that Billy
played at the kroq show in december.  it was followed by a very
happiness-oriented new acoustic song.  it was very pretty.

then they left the stage one more time.  as expected, this caused more chants
for an encore.  after a few minutes, they returned to the stage.  d'arcy said
"we only know one more song."  and "this is the one song we could not play with
another drummer..."  i couldn't really make out what she said after that but it
was apparently a joke towards jimmy since it looked like she playfully threw
something in his direction.  the crowd had to have been mainly fans since they
knew exactly which song she was referring to(notice the request earlier in the
show).  it was Geek USA and it kicked ass.  it was the perfect finisher.

this show was by far the highlight of my decade.  possibly my life but i'm a
fairly shettlered young man so it's not like i have done much to compare it to.
 the only disappointing thing was the idiot crowd surfers.  there were signs
everywhere that said boldy "NO CROWD SURFING".  we were even given a lecture by
a security man that we would be removed if caught crowd surfing.  from where i
was sitting i could see exactly when someone popped up and i was happy that the
security was as quick as they were.  i'd say as many as seven idiots were
dragged out after jumping up and trying to crowd surf.  the security was really
quick with removing them.

well, there is my review.  please excuse any misquotes, spelling errors or
other mistakes.  they are not intentional or done maliciously.  i need to get
to bed now, i've been up since 3 pm friday afternoon.  the life of a teenage
slacker.