The cool festival air of the evening had become a godsend after a day of 35°C heat. However although the sun may have set, the crowd gathered at the main stage were in no position to stop and cool down. Everyone was packing in tighter than London folk on their weekday tube journey to witness one of the most monumental grunge bands of Chicago’s history, The Smashing Pumpkins.
Formed in 1988 The Smashing Pumpkins began simply with just Billy Corgan and James Iha (and a drum machine). Several months later and D’Arcy Wretzky and Jimmy Chamberlin completed the band. At this point in October 1988 the original line up was born and so was The Smashing Pumpkins. Since then they amassed 5 albums, before Iha, D’Arcy and Jimmy left Billy alone with nothing but the band’s name and his own vision to eventually strive onwards with. Since 2005 The Smashing Pumpkins has again been in full flight…
Yet this is not The Smashing Pumpkins. This is Billy Corgan + guests. Now honestly their set at OFF was really impressive, imaginative and bold, showcasing the new band member’s abilities to channel Billy’s old and new material. While stood in the swaying frenzy of fans you could see their technical ability flow freely. However what you couldn’t see flow freely was their control, which Billy Corgan generally has with ease. Both Jeff Schroeder and Nicole Fiorentino had clear moments that illustrated why they deserved to be on stage (Nicole’s bass on Ava Adore a highlight) but there still seems to be the issue that Billy’s band members are reined in by him. The one member who does seem capable of speaking his mind via his playing however is baby faced Mike Byrne, who at 23, has an overwhelming energy behind the drums.
The set list for the night was slow to reach the boil as they started off with two new songs (Quasar and Panopticon), the crowd’s awkward feedback being an interesting indication of how they felt towards this new material. Nevertheless they did burst in to X.Y.U. to a rapturous applause and Tonight, Tonight caused an understandably enormous reaction within the crowd. Billy Corgan also serenaded the crowd with a cover of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, which was received with nothing but love. Considering this the issue for the band was not how they approached the set list, songs or playing of them but instead Billy’s inflated ego and unnecessarily tight control of the group dynamic. Perhaps if Billy can find a way to channel their new music in a different manner they’ll be able to take it further, as from witnessing their show at OFF they seem to be held back by old demons.
The Smashing Pumpkins are a band with an unmistakably iconic line up in Corgan, Iha, Chamberlin and D’Arcy however this has not been the case for many years. The band claim to be Pumpkins but at this point it’s just a name; it’s not the band. For some bands linger too long and outstay their welcome, like a drunk guest slowly getting sloppier with their conversation, but I think The Smashing Pumpkins is testament that perhaps it is not about ending the journey but instead ditching your rusty vehicle and taking up a new route with a fresh tank of petrol at hand. Billy Corgan needs to ditch the band name and kick start their journey otherwise their new material will always have a huge pumpkin shaped chip on it’s shoulder.
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