THE MUSIC NATION
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CONCERT REVIEWS
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS ROCK AND ROLL ALL NIGHT
The Smashing Pumpkins reunited minus bassist D’arcy for the “Shiny and Oh So Bright Tour.” They brought the tour to the Amalie Arena in downtown Tampa in July. Canadian indie rockers Metric opened for The Pumpkins as Emily Haines breezed through some of the bands well-known indie hits like “Youth Without Youth,” “Breathing Underwater,” and “Gold, Guns, Girls.” The Pumpkins show lifted off on a quieter note with just Billy Corgan performing an acoustic “Disarm” with a backdrop of various photos of a young Billy. Over the course of the next three hours, The Pumpkins would plow through every almost every single from all of their albums plus some deeper cuts along the way.
While The Pumpkins sounded as mighty as ever and it was great to see James Iha back in the fold, the show was a bit disjointed at times. There were awkward pauses between songs and the flow of the set list felt a bit meandering so much by the time we were approaching the 3 hour mark, our group felt the show was dragging on. I am also a fan of artists saving at least one well-known song for the encore, however, The Pumpkins performed three lesser known songs for the encore. Highlights from the show were the blazing “The Everlasting Gaze,” Tonight, Tonight,” and “Mayonnaise.” It was also nice to hear “Today” since that song did not make the show the last time The Pumpkins played Tampa.
Even if this was not necessarily the best Smashing Pumpkins show, it did demonstrate that Billy Corgan is and always will be a musical genius. And that he has given us quite the serving of some of the best alternative rock songs (coupled with a range from acoustic to soul crunching metal) that have ever existed.
