I got the chance to see the Smashing Pumpkins last night in a new light. Last year I saw them at The Metro for the Matt Leone benefit. I got the chance to meet the band (albeit briefly) and get up close and personal with them musically during the soundcheck:
At the time I got a good sense of where the band was musically with the older music but had no idea really as to what they were going through with all of the new music having been written since Billy resurrected the band back in 2007. I figured that it must be difficult to be considered "a band" when you have a rich musical legacy to compete against and be judged against at every single turn. A stronger person would just dismiss what everyone had to say and just live in the moment of what's going on in the band just to avoid the barbs of haters and critics. At the show this week I even ran in to younger fans on the street telling me they were here to see "Billy Corgan and his over-glorified cover band". I felt like being goaded into a discussion of new vs. old band members, but decided I would let the music do the talking as it really didn't matter what we thought - this is the Smashing Pumpkins now - take it or leave it. I think Billy summed up the attitude to take regarding the subject in the video below around the 8 minute mark:
The Smashing Pumpkins Record Club (#SPRC)
I got to the venue around 4:30 PM to line-up for the SPRC pre-show meetup. Legendary Pumpkin associate Kerry Brown, who has been involved with the Pumpkins since practically the beginning, was to lead the effort. I got to know some random folks standing in line and talked a bit of Pumpkins shop as well as get to know where they were from . They were from different places: Rockford, Kansas City, Winnipeg, Los Angeles, Chicago, Indianapolis. For many of them they had traveled to other shows on the tour and were following the band around the country. Wish I could do that (not really). The line was relatively small. There were maybe 100 people in line. There used to be people lining up the night before at venues so by the time you showed up, there would be 500 people ahead of you trying to secure their spot right up front. I'm older - been there, done that - got the t-shirt, poster, album, photo, and memories - no need for me to do that anymore. I've proven my loyalty for the last 17 years :) I got confirmation of entry for the SPRC via Facebook or Twitter (don't remember) basically telling me that if you RSVPed before a certain date, you were good to go for the day of. Apparently they were supposed to have sent an email with the confirmation as well. We got word of it and almost everybody immediately pulled out their smartphones to check their emails. A majority of us didn't get that email. Luckily, they had a list and we were all on it. I've been to enough of these meet & greets to know that someone almost always messes it up. I was prepared to be denied entry but luckily that wasn't the case this time. We got into the Riv and eventually gathered around the decrepit Riv box office just outside the first set of doors. Kerry came out and greeted us and here's effectively what he told us:
- The Pumpkins new record Oceania will be released November 29th in the US (which implies a different date for Europe and Asia-Pacific). It will be streamed before then then released physically at that point. There's been an indication that the record itself would actually be released formally for free as part of the Teargarden project after the commercial release which means we're looking at a 2012 release for the tracks.
- The Gish and Siamese Dream reissues are ready to go. Per Hipsters United, the Amazon listings for deluxe editions of Gish and Siamese Dream have been updated with additional information and photos. Both are listed at $28.99 and are due out on November 29. Both sets include two CDs (one containing the remastered album and the other bonus tracks) and a DVD. The DVDs are to contain complete videos of concerts at Metro in Chicago from 1990 (for Gish) and 1993 (for Siamese Dream). Both sets are also to include postcards; Gish‘s postcards feature six “never-before-seen” band photos, while Siamese Dream‘s feature the original 13 album collages. Finally, both sets feature “reimagined” cover artwork and a 24-page booklet with lyrics and commentary from Billy Corgan and music critic David Wild. Tentative tracklistings for the bonus CDs were given to fans attending a meetup in Los Angeles on October 5. The tracklistings shown to fans in LA reflected 18 tracks for both Gish and Siamese Dream, but according to Amazon, Gish is to have 15 bonus tracks and Siamese Dream 17.
- Work on remixing/remastering Pisces Iscariot has already begun. To the best of my memory, Kerry remixed Frail and Bedazzled, Obscured, Plume, Hello Kitty Kat, and La Dolly Vita. This is of special interest to me as probably my favorite song to listen to on PI is Hello Kitty Kat and the mix on that track is absolutely horrible. I am hoping that 21st century recording techniques can clean up and bring out hidden gems never heard previously.
- Kerry had someone bring out a boombox where they played us an alternate scratch take of Hello Kitty Kat with Billy soloing all over the track (no vocals) to figure out what he wanted on the final released version. He kept making jokes about how they are finding all kinds of things in the SP archives that they had no idea they had recorded. This track was one of them. Based on what I heard, I would've loved to have seen this track worked upon to finality as I liked a couple of differences for bridges in the song. Overall, it was pretty cool to hear it and everyone seemed to dig it.
- Kerry also asked us what kind of merchandise of past we wanted to be reissued. I mentioned it'd be a good idea to reissue the Gish subway posters. Other things of interest were old t-shirts and concert posters.
- Somebody asked a question regarding releasing material via a phone app that would allow paid subscribers access to the archives. Kerry mentioned that they have someone working on an app for them but didn't go into any real detail as to what it will provide. He jokingly lamented that they're spending a lot of time restoring the fidelity of the records just to have it played back at lower fidelity through a monophonic speaker. That prompted me to ask if they would be releasing material in higher definition quality. Kerry adamantly nodded and said they plan on releasing a ton of material in 96Khz/24-bit quality (for those of you who aren't audiophiles, this means that these formats would be playable on your computer, PS3, and Blu-Ray systems that will read high definition audio formats. However, to truly enjoy them at their optimal quality, you may have to dump some money into equipment to truly replicate what it is that you're supposed to be hearing :) ). He said that they hope to release material that is already bootlegged and freely available in higher quality formats in order to get people to hear them the way their supposed to be heard. A good example is the SPRC release of the alternate take of Rhinoceros featuring a great organ solo. I had heard this before via a crappy digital transfer of a demo tape the Pumpkins would use to book gigs. It was nice to hear the song in 320 Kbps MP3 (granted I still loose some sound quality as it's a 16-bit recording...oh well) and have been able to hear nuances in that recording that I was unable to in the other.
As a side note, I have an anecdote about discovering the demo. Back in 1996 when the Pumpkins were on RockLine to promote the release of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, I had planned the entire day to get ready to get on the phone and actually speak to my idol Billy Corgan. I brought out a piece of paper and planned to write in the nicest hand-writing possible the questions that only a REAL fan would ask. I spent about an hour brainstorming and wrote only one question down:
Will the songs on your 1989 demo ever be released in their entirety with good sound quality?
I never got a chance to ask Billy the question as the phone lines were busy the entire time and I just gave up half-way through their interview. Here we are 15 years later and now I have the answer to my question ;-)
I got Kerry to autograph my copy of PI and then subsequently got back in line. Roughly 15 minutes later, the doors were opened up and we shuffled our way in.
Opening Acts - Light FM & Fancy Space People
While I was waiting in line, people were asking me about the opening acts and what I have heard. I responded by telling them that I was a bad fan in that I hadn't really been keeping up with the other shows to get a clue as to what I would be listening to (again - been there, done that). I figure I would judge the music based on what I had heard that evening. Other people however chimed in and gave their thoughts on the opening bands. I heard nothing but bad things about them. I've been going to shows since '96 and quite frankly cannot name you any of the openers except one - Garbage - and that's only because Butch Vig was in the band so I remembered that.
It's gotta be daunting to be opening for such a big band because practically no one is there for you. You're the filler until the "real" band comes on stage. So you have to come out strong as hell with your music and material and hope you get fans on your side. I've experienced this personally many times and it's no joke even on a local level let alone a world touring act like the Pumpkins.
Light FM took stage. I would describe them as a synthy pop-based band out of LA. Their lead singer had a very delicate quality about him both on and off stage. He seemed to be incredibly nice - almost too nice to be in a rock n' roll band. He mentioned a few times who they were "Hi, we're Light FM" and gave a couple of sentences to relate to the crowd ("We're from LA but originally form here - Chicago." and "I used to work at the Whole Foods in Ravenswood"). They took the approach of letting the music speak for itself and not get in the way. The crowd seemed rather receptive to it.They mentioned from the stage they'd be at the merch booth after their set to meet and greet with the fans. 35-40 minutes later, I headed over there while Fancy Space People set up.
The Smashing Pumpkins
I met up with the Wifey for this show by the merch booth. After buying a few discs from Light FM (thanks ladies! *winky wink*), we proceeded to mosey around the venue looking for an ideal spot to see the show; there wasn't one - it was jam packed!
I forgot just how small the Riv is compared to the Aragon Ballroom. At the Aragon, there really isn't a bad seat in the house, but it also can probably hold 4 times as many people as the Riv. We ended up along one of the sides of the venue where we got a good view of the band:
About half way through the set, security personnel were moving people out of the wings of the venue into the main area as people were blocking exits and passage ways. I had a feeling they oversold the venue as I've been to a number of shows at the Riv and never felt so much humanity nearby. We got to stand stage center and watched more magic unfurl:
Here's the setlist that was played along with my thoughts as the night wore on:
- Quasar
- Panopticon
- Starla
- Geek U.S.A.
- Muzzle
- Window Paine
- Lightning Strikes
- Soma
- Siva
- Oceania
- Frail and Bedazzled
- Silverfuck
- Obscured
- Pale Horse
- Thru the Eyes of Ruby
- Cherub Rock
- Owata
- My Love Is Winter
- For Martha
Encore:
- Idiot [Catherine] BC with Catherine
- Broken Bunny Bird [Catherine] BC with Catherine
- Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Listen to it yourself from the fan's perspective. If you'd like a soundboard recording, you may purchase one directly from the Pumpkins.
Overall, it was a really good show. I satisfied my live Pumpkins itch for now and am looking for the formal release of Oceania.
No comments:
Post a Comment