Smashing Pumpkins

"And if there is a God, I know he likes to rock" - Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins

"Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins," was the chant that filled the smoke filled and body packed theatre. That transcendental mantra heralded the anticipation of the performance of one of the most innovative bands in music today. In an era of weekly changing, manufactured bubble pop music, few bands can run the full gamut of a highly enjoyable and outstandingly performed live show. The Smashing Pumpkins did exactly that as they took the stage at the American Theatre on Monday, April 10, and unleashed a full out rock and roll experience on the sold-out crowd.

With no opening act it was simply an evening with the Smashing Pumpkins. Two words came to mind while the Pumpkins were performing, sacred and profane. Not just because it's the name of the tour, as well as a track from their new album, but also because it's that quality of diametric opposites that is inherently addictive in the Smashing Pumpkins music. Reunited with original drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, along with new bassist Melissa Auf der Maur (formerly of Hole), each song was a musical journey that told the overall tale of a band finally comfortable with itself, it's music, and it's ever-evolving identity.

Each song took on a life of it's own. Changing effortlessly from catchy pop ballads into frenetically paced, seething rock songs was perfectly instinctive and natural for the band. Lead singer Billy Corgan belted out the first few songs, most from the Pumpkins' new album, "Machina: The Machines of God", with a ferocious intensity, then turned the microphone over to guitarist James Iha for the happily melancholy tune, "blue". Instantly the pulse, and pace, shifted again as the thundering bass and drum intro to "Everlasting Gaze" reverberated through the theatre. In the spirit of pure rock and roll, everyone was bouncing, swaying, dancing, or singing along to the array of Smashing Pumpkins songs that are often so catchy they stay in your head for hours and hours.

The Pumpkins took another twist when they went from intensely energetic anthems to a brief acoustic set for tracks like the hit single "Disarm". Adding a unique twist, Jimmy Chamberlin joined Corgan on an electronic drum set, along with Iha and Auf der Maur for an amazing version of "Adore". The juxtaposition of acoustic guitar and electronic drums served as a paradigm for the spectacle that is the Smashing Pumpkins live - where every song is similar to what you hear on the cd, yet creatively delivered to where it stands defiantly on its own as a separate entity. By far a highlight of the show was their rendition of the anthematic "Rock On", infusing their own style into it with such pauses that just when you thought the they had finished, when they had lured you into a false sense of security to where you felt it was okay to applaud again - the stage, the band, and the audience exploded back into it yet again.

Between Corgan's call for the audience to enjoy the moment of rock and roll and appreciate that very instant, the band stealthily launched into "Zero", sending a unison of choruses, cheers, metal signs (fist with index and pinky fingers extended), and body surfers through the air. Again, mellifluously easing from the transcendent "Tonight, Tonight" into the scorching performances of "Cherub Rock" and "Bullet with Butterfly Wings", the Pumpkins displayed amazing unity to operate as a well-oiled machina. Before closing with the ethereal "mayonnaise", Corgan reached into the audience to touch audience members hands which couldn't help but bring to mind a rock and roll Michelangelo. And with the delivery of that second encore, a wink from Billy Corgan, and the echoes of the chorus, "I just want to be....me" still ringing throughout the theatre, the four members of the Smashing Pumpkins took their leave.

The Smashing Pumpkins performed an absolutely amazing set. The human precision of riffs, hooks, bridges and choruses are perfectly married to the lyrically recurring ideas: love is good, drugs are bad, God is everywhere, and accolades and adulations to the audiences for listening. A perfect fusion of metal, alt-rock, psychedelia and dream pop, the Pumpkins are both existential poets and rock and roll salvation, with an everlasting gaze in the eyes of the limitless possibilities of the future.

- Jaysen Buterin