Music Review Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight

Carnival Pumpkin at Ancol Edge

On that glorious day, October 08, 2010, I went to the JRL venue in Pantai Karnaval Ancol Jakarta with a friend who came directly from Malang. He's a proud maniac with the 'Corgan' clan for his nickname and email address. He used to play the band and cover the songs of The Smashing Pumpkins. With such a track record, it is clear I will not doubt his fanaticism against Billy Corgan et al.

Arriving at the venue, the sky was dark and dark began to hang. Cloudy quite intense. Worrying. I hung out in front of the entrance while waiting for my other friends. The audience has started to arrive with a variety of rock & roll makeup. Around five o'clock people began to panic because the rain was falling with the swift. Fortunately not too long, and there are still some spots to take shelter in the venue area.

the Fad I watched the various types of shirts The Smashing Pumpkins are milling about at the venue. Quite complete, from the old design to the latest. But as I predicted earlier, black shirts with stars with zero writing seem to dominate. Yes, it does include the classic shirt that Billy Corgan used to wear during a gig. Cheap versions of pirated also widely scattered in various malls and the center of the capital crowd.

I noticed, there are also some figures 'Billy Corgan wanna-be' who came in that day. Complete with elegant special makeup, as well as a plontos head. Inside the venue, there is a special booth pictorial Billy Corgan normal size prepared for a photo session. This booth looks crowded visited by the fans. They are willing to queue and take photos together with the idol as the memento.

Indeed, the enthusiasm of the audience against headliner on that day is very big. There was one band name that was most often talked that night. Many times I overheard the conversation between them, "Smashing what time? On which stage? Can you start there ?! "

Behavior of the audience

Thousands of crowds greeted with enthusiasm. The Stagediving action took place several times in the front row. Gokilnya, there is a group of gang girls who lift a handmade poster that reads' Billy, I'm pregnant. Please marry me! 'There is even a woman who desperately took off her shirt and just wearing a bra while dancing and screaming for Billy Corgan's name. Edan! ...

But there is also a bit annoying. Like a young man behind me just kept screaming at every pause, "D'arcy! D'arcy! D'arcy! ... ". That sentence he addressed to the sweet woman who dressed in elegance and black leggings that seemed more sexier when playing bass on stage there. Longer, the youth's cries grew louder, "D'arcy! D'arcy! D'arcy! ... "

O youth who are very nineties, okay you are old-school. But sorry, the woman is not D'arcy. He is Nicole Fiorentino, former bassist of Veruca Salt who has joined The Smashing Pumpkins since 2010. The name you screamed from the beginning of the show has long since withdrawn from your favorite band. Huh!

Well, Nicole Fiorentino is beautiful - even the most beautiful bassist the Smashing Pumpkins ever owned, I think. His skill also looks pretty and has a technique. Onstage he was calmer and washed away. Glance looks more 'female' than D'arcy Wretzky or Melissa Auf der Maur, two bassists of The Smashing Pumpkins before.

Back on stage, there is a 'political' atmosphere when the United States song will be played. Preceded by the solo action of Billy Corgan who quoted the US anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banners". Then juxtaposed long rock songs taken from Zeitgeist's album. Noisy and distortive. Even harder when the loud chorus was called, "Revolution! Revolution! Revolution! "

In the middle of this song, there is a section where Billy Corgan and Jeff Schroeder compete with guitar riffs and experiment with their sounds. Somewhat wandering and torturing. Affected by a lot of feedback and distortion is quite thick. Slightly reminiscent of Pink Floyd's concert habits, especially in the Syd Barret era.

After that, the three personnel returned to the backstage and only left Mike Byrne alone behind his drum kit. Apparently, there is a simple drum solo session but able to make the audience to raise a hand and compact clap in the air. Not too special, but I was curious about the figure of young drummer who was only 20 years old.

It is said that Billy Corgan found Mike Byrne through an official audition in mid-2009. Mike Byrne was an employee at McDonalds's who was in college at Berklee College of Music. When he auditioned, he managed to set aside thousands of applicants and eventually elected to be part of The Smashing Pumpkins until now.

Billy, Jeff and Nicole came back on stage to accompany Mike. The three immediately grabbed their instruments and were ready for action again. The crowd's passion exploded again when it came to "Tonight, Tonight" which became the next dish. The song is very well executed and responded warmly by the audience who continued to sing since the early stanza ...

"Time is never time at all,

you can never ever leave,

without leaving a pice of youth ... "

Jointly later with "Stand Inside Your Love", a song written by Billy Corgan about his former lover who is also a photographer, Yelena Yemchuk. The concert tension grew and recuperated when The Smashing Pumpkins presented a "Tarantula", a singles loud enough, stomping and noisy.

After that, without speaking anything, Billy Corgan et al retreated to leave the stage. Me and thousands of other audiences certainly believe this is just a mere trick. It is time for an encore. With no one in command, the crowd started shouting, "We want more! We want more! We want more! "

The lights are off and the stage is dark again. The crowd still waited and kept shouting for Billy Corgan's name. A number of crew climbed up equipment and cables on stage. The audience is also still waiting and continue waiting for additional songs. Well not good, it's been too long to wait for an encore session, I thought. Some of the audience began to fret. Starting to give up and walk away from the arena. I was immediately limp and resigned when I saw the crew began to switch to unpack the drumset. There is no hope. Well, The Smashing Pumpkins concert that night ended without saying goodbye, let alone the encore! ...

Between Mystery and Controversy

"Edan, Billy Corgan even felt no need to say 'Welcome' or 'Thank You' to the audience. Well, anyways for what ?! "said a friend with a wet shirt and body full of sweat while shaking his head. Either wonder, shock or awe. Indeed as I recall, Billy Corgan just once said 'Thank You' at the pause between the songs during the show. It was also slow and barely audible to the ears of all the audience.

I also can not believe it. It's a strange concert. Without preamble, non-communication, not even an encore. This is obviously unusual. Some people say this is an anti-climax concert! ...

But, is not every concert of The Smashing Pumpkins often ending weird and weird? There seems to be a 'love and hate relationship' condition between Corgan and its concert audience. For example, as I once read in an article in Rolling Stone magazine, "... Fans began to ask the same thing when Chamberlin and Corgan made their 20th anniversary tour at the end of 2008. By wearing long and shiny robes, at each Corgan concert and comrade -friends played for nearly four hours, and performed Pink Floyd's "Set the Controls for the Sun" which was extended to 25 minutes, complete with electronic bird sounds. The audience left the room while Corgan cursed them from the stage. "It was like cutting off relationships, and I was very good at breaking relationships," Corgan said with a smile. "That's crazy - I have not seen such violence before. Dialogue with fans is critical. "

Appeared coolly, almost without communication and no incontesture made some of the Smashing Pumpkins fans in this country disappointed, even wrathful. It is clear from their barrage of comments on social networking sites. Somebody grunted, some cursed Billy Corgan, even if there was a dare to burn all of his record collection of The Smashing Pumpkins.

Especially when they know that the set of The Smashing Pumpkins has actually prepared two more songs, "Cherub Rock" and "Zero". Two old hits that are certainly eagerly awaited his fans, especially by those who are willing to congregate wearing black shirts with star logo.

If for me, the setlist that was played that night was still pretty fair anyway. It already summarizes some hits from old albums to the latest - though not all can be played because it is limited to the duration of the concert. Naturally, because a two-hour concert is not necessarily enough to load all the hits The Smashing Pumpkins that the audience wants.

Previously I was worried if Billy Corgan dkk reckless play their unpopular and non-hits foreign songs. In the last few concert sets, they often do things like that. But in fact not, they still spoil the audience with a number of hits in his first concert in Indonesia.

If there is a bit of disappointment the audience on the setlist can also be understood. After the concert, I noticed people starting to mention the titles of their favorite songs that are not in the setlist. No this, no it. Well, that's normal. Who does not want to dance along the song "Perfect", singing merrily in 1979, remembering childhood when "Disarm", or acting recklessly in "Zero" and "Cherub Rock"?!

Concert problem without encore? Well, I think we should get used to it, too. Maybe Billy Corgan is not one of those who likes to pretend, or wish, or likes to be seduced to return to the stage. The figure of an uncommunicant frontman? It may not be the nature of dialogue, or bragging in front of an audience. Is not he a strange musician and personality ?!

I do not know this has anything to do or not, but it's also interesting to look after Billy Corgan's own look at his controversial concert that night. Mental health specialist, novelist and member of the House of Representatives who is also a big fan of The Smashing Pumpkins, Nova Riyanti Yusuf, once wrote an article about mental problems Billy Corgan on Jakartabeat.net site, "... If you observe a short biography and news about Corgan , it seems that he does have a 'minoris locus' or some kind of condition in which his soul is easily attenuated in the face of a dilemma. "

Such a hypothesis also reminds me of an article in American Rolling Stone magazine that says Billy Corgan is not kidding when writing the lyrics of 'God is empty just like me.'

Whereas beyond the sometimes unstable personality of Billy Corgan, he has begun to touch his new spiritual side with a concept that integrates three things; mind, body, and soul. Instead he co-founded a kind of ministry site called Everything From Here To There - which is considered a new age version of Christianity and more personal.

Back to the concert, The Smashing Pumpkins that night must have been playing according to the allocation provided by the organizers. I heard, it also could be a reason Nicole Fiorentino via Twitter about why they play without encore, "We were allotted 1 hour for our set."

Since the beginning of the show, The Smashing Pumpkins has performed quite intensely, pol and also the maximum. Total is almost an hour and quite effective, without wasting any time. Although for that they seem to play cold like a post-metal band - without a welcome greeting, thank you, or just ask what song the audience wants. Mysterious. So, that's The Smashing Pumpkins, just take it or leave it! ...

If not satisfied, let's hope there are still concert promoters who intend to bring The Smashing Pumpkins back to Indonesia to pay off 'debts' Billy Corgan to us. If that happens, me and the guys who grumble that night will certainly come to see what else surprise in their second concert. But if that is not possible, it seems we need to accept that the concert Billy Corgan et al that night is the best, and remains the greatest day of all the fans of The Smashing Pumpkins in this country.