Smashing Pumpkins concert, November 18, 2007, Dallas

At Nokia Theater in Grand Prairie. $53.50.

In their first Dallas show in a decade, the Smashing Pumpkins (well, at least 2 of them) reminded the crowd why they are one of the best and most influential bands of the past 15 years. The show was originally scheduled for Saturday, November 3rd, but had to be postponed because of drummer Jimmy Chamberlain's heart problems. As a result, this was the last show on the group's North American tour. At 9:15 Billy Corgan and Co. (not including D'arcy or James Iha) strode onto the angular industrial lightshow stage and started into "United States" as Billy strode around the stage basking in the rapturous applause. Click the link below for the rest of the review.
Billy decided to go with his Pippy Longstocking meets Marquis De Sade look, with tight striped sleeves and leggings with a light blue silky outfit that looked like a cast off from a 'gay martians' Saturday Night Live skit. The female bass player, Ginger Reyes, looked like a bizarre combination of Helena Bonham Carter and Jessica Simpson. The next song was a somewhat jazzy rendition of "Bullet with Butterfly Wings", which retained its power, if not its urgency. Then "Tonight, Tonight", and "Drown," followed by "Tarantula", which Billy actually looks like with his gangly frame and extremely long arms. This video has a lot of good snippets from the show.

Billy's between song banter proved him to be witty, smart and into sports. In his first, he asked how each section was enjoying the show, following that with a smarmy 'I care about your experience....well, I pretend to care about your experience.' He then thanked Texas for all the support, noting that Texans knew how to rock on every level and followed that with a shout out to how well the Cowboys are doing and a rip of the Rangers, saying that everything was downhill after A-Rod left. His last bit was to talk about their new album, and then he said "We know you're not going to buy albums anymore, we get that. We just want you to listen to it." The band played "Disarm," "Perfect," "Today," "Cherub Rock," and a cover of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man." There were several of the new songs sprinkled in, mostly very good, vintage SP.

Overall, the concert was very good. Corgan's voice is still distinct and strong, and his musical ability among the best of his generation. Billy seemed tense about the song selection, wanting to play the new music but knowing that most people were there for 'the old stuff.' I had terrible, terrible seats for this concert, the worst since I got a job and was able to pay for good seats, so I probably would have enjoyed it more from a regular seat. In general, I love seeing shows at Nokia, but the parking was terrible this time. We showed up around 9:00, and had to park in a field for $15 and walk through a drainage ditch.