Adore

Yes... I saw The Smashing Pumpkins on Saturday night!!

I have to say, they are very good live.. although it does seem strange to see angst-ridden Billy Corgan smiling and smirking with the other band members. Infact... I could just sit and watch that man for hours out of pure interest! He is a strange one.. not attractive in a Jared Leto kind of way AT ALL... but kind of alluring. Like you want to know what else there is to him! He is tall, gangly and awkward looking.... yes, interesting and not to mention extremely talented!



^ YouTube clip of 1979 with a bit of sodding Girls Aloud thrown in for bad measure =(

Now for the review...

The O2 isnt my favorite venue I have to say. I am trying to figure out if I like it at all or whether I would go to another gig there! It's big in capacity... not as big as I had thought but still dwarfs Brixton Academy for example. It is glitzy, shiny and new... and something about the place seems wrong! I like and am used to seeing gigs in places where my feet stick to the floor and that are falling apart! And that kind of gives the place character. The O2 seemed soulless in a way. Like an empty vessel. It may just be because it is a new venue... but it all just stunk of nanny-state bollocks with its rules & regs, stupid amount of security personnel and hassle! The stage was dire to be honest! Tiny in comparison to the venue and God help the people who paid to still in the back seats! There were no screens or anything so I doubt the view would have been great! Lucky for us, we were near the front and saw as much as we could when the over powering glare of the O2 lights wasn't blinding us! No.. I didnt think much to the stage set up and it had nothing special.. not even a Smashing Pumpkins flag, to mark the presence of one of the undoubtably best rock acts of the 1990s!

The band were great! I have to admit in thinking that the set list was slightly strange! They opened with Porcelina... which it seemed hardly anyone knew! It took a few songs in and 'Tonight, Tonight' to get the crowd really going... and then it did kick off and the atmosphere really started to create itself! There were a few strange choices in material... Today, Bullet with Butterfly Wings (Born out of the riff for 'Stars'), 1979, The Everlasting Gaze, Ava Adore, Stand Inside Your Love, Perfect..... the set list on a whole was good! Just slightly disappointed that they didnt play 'Disarm', 'Cherub Rock' or 'Zero'... but we cant have it all I guess :) Billy Corgan was unusually chatty with the crowd which always makes a gig feel more intimate.

The entire set list was as follows:

Porcelina
Nightmare
Bring The Light
Tonight, Tonight
Mayonaise
Try, Try, Try
Superchrist
C'mon Lets Go
Stellar
Perfect
Lily
The Rose March
Today
Tarantula
Stand Inside Your Love
Ava Adore
Drown
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
1979
That's The Way (Our Love Is)
My Blue Heaven (< LOVED THAT!!)
Everlasting Gaze (My favorite SP song)
Cash Car Star
Daydream
Wound
United States
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Lips of Sugar (Echo and the Bunny men cover)
(Cherub Rock is listed on their set list on their site but they sure as hell didnt play it!! Booo!!!)

The setlist was good. Maybe could have been a bit better. And United States was drawn out guitar wank! But thats the Pumpkins for you... I remember about a 45 minute "jam" at Novarock too.

The crowd were OK. Couldnt believe that people near me (near the front!) stood still for 'Everlasting Gaze'.... we moved! When it got going.. It REALLY got going. But often it was a little still for my liking.

So all in all... Great performers, Good setlist, OK crowd, shit venue...... I just wish I was lucky enough to see them play venues like Brixton Academy and The Astoria back in the early 90s. Oh... and Ginger (The bassist) got engaged that day too! Billy Corgan then went on a fairly amusing rant about how he is *the* perfect boyfriend - "caring, sensitive, thoughtful, great gift giver, great in the sack.... " type and he was wondering why he only attracts thoughtless bitches who break his heart! My advice: Quit hanging out of Courtney Love then ;)

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So the gig was only a small part of the weekend!

I saw Siobhan on Friday and stayed over at her place enjoying a curry and Siobhans 'Apple Pie' alcoholic concoction. Basically you mix some vodka and apple juice together and pour that in someones mouth, followed by whipped cream, followed by a sprinkling of cinnamon. I didnt actually get to the cinnamon bit being the lightweight that I am and the fact that the vodka was trickling down my throat!! Got to try that again though ;)

Met with Steve (gig buddy) on the Saturday after a disastrous morning trying to get around using rail replacement bus services! Went to Nandos for lunch which is always good. Spent 2 days being annoying and then got back to my mums =D

Good times...