billy corgan: the aftermath

i just submitted my review of the billy corgan show on tuesday night (it's now published here). i tried to mostly not talk about what happened after the show since it wasn't really relevant to the
performance (which was good enough to take me from being bored at first to having sore cheeks from smiling at the end), but the way he ended things kind of ruined it for everyone. and since a blog is for expressing opinions, that's what i'm going to do here.

for anyone who hasn't heard, at the end of the show billy came back out and had a talk to the crowd, which was really cool, but then he had to ruin it all by cracking it at the few stupid people who were heckling, throwing down the mic and walking off stage. it was by no means as bad as this article makes out, but it definitely left most of us with a sour taste.

i can see why the heckling would be annoying. but there's a few things about the way he handled it that bugged me. first, people yell out stupid things at every gig, so it's just something you need to expect and ignore really. as for people calling for pumpkins stuff, yeah most of us knew there
was no chance of them being played, but he's also gotta expect that in that if he'd never been in the pumpkins, none of us would have been there. and then when he came out at the end to tell us he wanted to tell us some things, someone yelled out "tell us about the pumpkins billy", to which he replied "can i just live my life for today?". but he was the one who took out a full page ad in the chicago newspaper on the day his album came out, and the day the tour started, to say he wanted to get the pumpkins back together. he brought this issue back into the spotlight, and was kind of vague about it, so why be surprised when people want to know more? but aside from all that, the thing that i really think he handled badly, was to get annoyed at the whole crowd just because of a few people. there were probably under 20 things (i think it would be closer to 10) yelled out that could be considered negative or about the pumpkins (and i recorded his speech if anyone wants to hear this), which means a maximum of 20 people yelled stuff. the palais holds how many people? i'm gonna guess (very conservatively) at least 1000. so out of that you've got 20 people being dickheads, and 980 who are really appreciative to be there and hanging off your every word, booing at people for saying stupid shit and telling them to shut
up. 20/1000 = 2% so why focus on 2% of fuckheads instead of just enjoying the fact that 98% are having an awesome time and pretty much worshipping you?

if you got 98% on a test, you'd be fucking psyched. you wouldn't consider you'd failed the subject.

Billy Corgan @ The Palais, 26/07/05

(Originally published on FasterLouder)

How the hell do you review a Billy Corgan show? The main vision behind all that was The Smashing Pumpkins, one of the most loved bands of the ‘90s, has returned after seven years, touring on the back of his first solo album, which has received mixed reactions. Expectations, fears and a touch of hysteria could all be said to be running high. Tears, joy, sorrow, passion… it was hard to tell which the night would end in.

Initially there seemed a very real danger that the night would be a disappointment. Visually the show was a feast. Front and centre was the man himself, Mr. Corgan, alone with a guitar and microphone, surrounded by a very futuristic landscape. A giant screen of tiled lights displayed moving patterns and images behind the band, which consisted of fellow Chicago folk Brian Liesegang (who has worked with Filter and Veruca Salt) on laptop and synthesisers, Matt Walker (who amongst other projects played with The Smashing Pumpkins during the recording of the Adore album) on electronic drums and the relatively unknown Linda Strawberry on synthesisers and backing vocals. Each band member had specially constructed stands for their instruments which seemed to contain them within circles of alien technology, with only Strawberry venturing outside of hers to sometimes sing closer to Billy. But the overwhelming feel was a little cold. With such a reliance on synthesised and digital instruments, the live recreations of songs ended up sounding exactly like the album versions. Although they did provide something far more interesting visually, the band could have been replaced with backing tapes, with no notable change to the sound (indeed, closing track Strayz was performed in just this manner).

Quarter way through the show, Corgan stopped to talk to the audience, “I don’t know what to say about all the sitting [and] non-rock stuff. It’s so anti-me I don’t know what to do”, but with the all the synths, there really wasn’t the sense of urgency or performance that make for a good rock show. The most exciting moments thus far had come at the end of songs where Corgan had walked around on stage to play guitar solos after the backing stopped. And with my favourite song from TheFutureEmbrace, Mina Loy (M.O.H.) already played; there didn’t seem much hope for change in the rest of the night. But fortunately there were a few tricks left in the bag. Many non-album tracks were played, including a cover of James Moore’s I’m A King Bee, into which he casually slipped the opening bar of Today in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it fashion, and another unknown track which fortunately featured a sample of a groovy and dirty bass line. By the time they pulled out AC/DC’s Long Way to The Top, the gig seemed like a complete turn around. Not a person was left in their seat and the show was genuinely pumping. It took a while, but Billy had clearly won over the audience.

Other standout tracks included The Camera Eye and the first song of the encore Walking Shade, which saw Billy return to the stage with an all-black Dimebag-style Washburn, ready to kick some ass. The closing song was the aforementioned Strayz, done in intimate mode, just Billy walking around the stage with a microphone accompanied by a keyboard backing as he reached into the crowd to shake hands. The hysteria and tears that had seemed a possibility all night seemed to come from many corners of the crowd.

And then it was over. But soon the man returned, not to play any more music, but to give a speech which is already on it’s way to becoming infamous. A few audience members couldn’t contain their excitement, and after the first girl rushed the stage to hug him, a small crowd of five or six surrounded him before security could stop them. After this died down, Billy spoke. He thanked us for hounding him over the last seven years, making sure that he was always going to come back to Australia, and for turning the gig from something which had felt like “Grandma’s funeral” into a rock show. He then gave us a “heads up” about the possibility of an acoustic gig in Sydney on their day off. Constant interruptions and calls for information about the possible Smashing Pumpkins reunion (which he must have expected since he announced this desire to the world through a full page newspaper advertisement on the day of his albums release) seemed to test his patience and he gave up, dropping the mic and walking off stage. While handled badly by both sides, it was unfortunate that this ending left everyone with a sour taste, especially after the earlier performance had managed to win over even the most fearful of old fans.