If they fell on night one, dusted themselves off for night two, and started running again on night three, the Smashing Pumpkins soared three weeks later on night four of what has become The Great Pumpkin Homecoming. Maybe it was the intimate backdrop of the Aragon Ballroom, but the Pumpkins certainly felt like the Pumpkins again. The packed though not sold out crowd flooded the floor and terraces, clapping and cheering endlessly for their hometown heroes throughout the two and a half hour set.

It all began with a tongue in cheek performance of Milwaukee’s own The Frogs. No one can attest to the cult following these three boys carry; however, their sound was lost on most of the crowd. With lead singer Jimmy Flemion looking more like Vulture out of the Spider-man comics and instrumentalist/percussionist Dennis Flemion going for an aging, lost Andy Warhol image, it was hard to take the band seriously, though why should anyone? When the band’s responsible for EPs such as Here Comes Santa’s Pussy and Now You Know You’re Black, should anyone really hold them accountable for anything? That was rhetorical, by the way. Still, despite some members of the crowd passing time by reading The Onion or declaring the Milwaukee duo, “The Led Zeppelin of stupid rock”, they still turned over an amicable set.

No time was wasted and within ten minutes Corgan and co. were on stage. The gloomy carnival music resonated in the dark ballroom, where there was little to be seen, save for the teasing jack o’ lantern on stage. Fans roared and stomped, ready for some Pumpkins action, and that’s exactly what happened seconds after when the band ripped right into Mellon Collie’s classic single, “Tonight, Tonight”. Immediately, any hardcore Pumpkins fan knew that something was different, considering the band hasn’t typically been opening with this tune. This assumption was confirmed when Corgan continued without a moment to reflect, diving head on into hit after hit: “Tarantula” into “Stand Inside Your Love” into “Mayonaise” and immediately into “Today”.

Fans were brilliantly confused. After having been forewarned by every media outlet that this was a band who forgot about their hits, who neglected their audience, and who did their own thing, hearing a greatest hits medley was like a surprising left hook punch. Throughout every song, even during last year’s “Tarantula”, the Chicago audience reached high for the ceiling’s painted night sky, singing word for word, to which Corgan gave appreciation for following “Today.” Then came what most might have been dreading and few were salivating for: “Gossamer.”

The sustained jam adventure, which at one time lasted nearly forty minutes, was pretty tight and short this time around. However, Corgan still remained jovial, visibly enjoying the many riff riots at the end as he laughed about with rhythm guitarist Jeff Schroeder. Before anyone knew it, the distortion crawled away and Corgan was behind the acoustic, where he churned up residency favorite “99 Floors” and up and coming “Owata”, both of which had the audience in a daze. That hardly lasted, however, as the striped frontman slung on the ol’ electric and slunk into a hair raising performance of “Soma”, which inevitably brought up a new string of hits: “Cherub Rock”, “Zero”, and “Bodies.”

Finally, after almost two hours, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin broke his shell and came to life. That’s not to say he wasn’t “on” beforehand, he most certainly was, he just felt more subdued, so to speak. “United States”, the only other cut off Zeitgeist for the night, brought him into the foreground, where he kicked up a storm. Then came some more acoustic additions: the new crowd favorite “A Song for a Son”, Mellon Collie b-side “Medellia of the Gray Skies” and the newly penned “Communion”. As if to please those “angry bearded bloggers” as he stated,  Corgan threw out an extra angsty rendition of “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”, basically a prologue for “Superchrist” and the spacey-still unnecessary cover of Pink Floyd’s “Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun.”

What was most endearing about the entire concert was the inclusion of Corgan’s half brother, Jesse Corgan. His half-brother, who has battled with mild cerebral palsy and Tourette’s syndrome, came on during “Set The Controls”, playing the tambourine and the tribal drums. It was a heart warming moment seeing the two Corgans having fun with the half a dozen instruments available to them, and this continued in what was quite possibly the best encore of the band’s recent career. A stormy “Ava Adore” subsided into a dead on cut of “1979″, all finishing with a tear jerking performance of “Disarm”, which Corgan played next to Jesse. When the band finished, everyone remained standing, applauding ’til their cold hands dried up and their coarse throats were itching for water. If anyone was still a “hater”, they might need to find a new band to admonish. The Pumpkins delivered ten fold and yet still remained true to their convictions… how quaint, huh?

Specials thanks to the Cara Patricia and  Pumpkins Media Militia for additional photo support.

Set List

Tonight, Tonight
Tarantula
Stand Inside Your Love
Mayonaise
Today
Gossamer
99 Floors
Owata
Soma
Cherub Rock
Zero
Bodies
United States
A Song for A Son
Medellia of the Gray Skies
Communion
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
Superchrist
Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun

Encore
Ava Adore
1979
Disarm

Categories: Concert Reviews, Features
Tags: The Smashing Pumpkins