Smashing Pumpkins

We went to see the Smashing Pumpkins at the Chicago Theatre. We had a quick dinner right across the street at PotBellys. Our seats were in the upper balcony off to the right of the stage. We purchased them the minute they went on sale. We tried for the weekend shows and they were already sold out. It was a pretty mellow show and they played for about three hours. The boys each got a souvenir tee-shirt. My oldest son is a big fan.


Review from the Daily Herald:

"Oh, what a beautiful night," Billy Corgan sang in "Owata," one of several new songs that surfaced during Smashing Pumpkins' Wednesday, Nov. 19, concert. Beauty seemed to be the theme of the evening, dubbed "White Crosses" by Glendale Heights-bred alternative rock titan Corgan. The second of two consecutive sold-out shows at the Chicago Theatre, it focused on the sweeter, softer side of the band's repertoire. Compared with Tuesday's heavier, more experimental "Black Sunshine" set, which frequently devolved into a tuneless racket, "Crosses" was much more gratifying for its melodious heart. Many of the golden-age hits missing from Tuesday's show finally appeared. The celebratory sarcasm of "Cherub Rock" and the snarling goth metal swing of "Zero" both seemed rushed, as the Pumpkins' most popular songs tended to during these shows. Yet the potentially overblown "Disarm" was shockingly subdued (Corgan confessed to a cold before singing it) and the gently bouncing "1979" nestled in nostalgic melody like it was a warm, fuzzy pillow. Speaking of warm fuzzies, the vibrant "Cupid de Locke" introduced the five additional musicians touring with the quartet, augmenting its innocent fairyland twinkle while guitarist Jeff Schroeder provided slight friction to push it forward. Drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, the only remaining original member other than Corgan, pummeled dependably throughout an energized "Bodies," and was the best facet of "As Rome Burns," a clattering, confrontational, calamitous new track. Yes, Wednesday contained the first Chicago performance of six not-yet-unrecorded tunes, most of which drew mature radiance from vintage rock sounds. Corgan's wistful acoustic/harmonica intro on "99 Floors" expanded into a rootsy ballad once the band kicked in. The aforementioned "Owata" was pure dream pop, enlivened by Corgan and Jeff Schroeder's chiming, overlapping guitars. "A Song for a Son" started on a "Stairway to Heaven" track before swelling upon to a well-developed crescendo - a signature Pumpkins move also displayed Wednesday during "Soma" and "I of the Mourning." "The March Hare" offered an odd, low-key funk groove led by Chamberlin's tribal percussion and a top-hatted, hopping Corgan, morphing into oldie "Suffer" for a bit.Ginger Reyes' bass throb and Lisa Harriton's ominous organ ruled the epic "Gossamer," which incorporated shoegaze grace, metal precision and psychedelic noodling into the group's most ambitious recent tune. Yet, as pleasant as the "Crosses" set could be, even with the occasional energetic injection, something was missing, and it's the same thing that was missing from Tuesday's show. Fans love Smashing Pumpkins because Corgan and crew can be soft and loud, slow and fast, bewitching and annoying. By consciously splitting those personalities, they could only tell half of their story each night. For a Technicolor band, these were monochrome shows