Recap: Smashing Pumpkins' Spirit on Fire Tour Sunday, October 16 at TD Garden, featuring Jane's Addiction and Poppy.
BOSTON - Sunday night's The Spirits on Fire tour comes to the TD Garden of the Smashing Pumpkins and Jane's Addiction, two 1990s rock bands with interesting and even horrific histories. Both bands are post-punk but pre-grunge, although their music has undertones of both styles. Both are simple, with elements of hard rock and heavy metal, with the vibrancy and irreverence of punk rock, and a smooth transition to the pounding thunder that is the hallmark of grunge. And both have interesting frontmen, who have become indispensable in their respective bands.
A small Sunday night audience of about two-thirds of 14,000 were treated to over three hours of music performed by talented and focused experienced musicians. There are fiery, soaring rock 'n' roll moments, some subdued sections that emphasize the band's lyrical imagery (which often wears off over time), and some points where the sound breaks and bleeds. .
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The Smashing Pumpkins formed in Chicago in 1988 with singer/songwriter/guitarist Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin as core members. By the time the group's 28-track double album, Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, was a huge hit in 1995, the Pumpkins were on track to sell over 30 million albums along with several memorable singles. The Pumpkins disbanded in 2000, but Corgan and Chamberlin launched the short-lived but powerful Jaws in 2001. Since Corgan's poetic, nostalgic, and often melancholic lyrics have always been at the heart of his music, he has been involved in a variety of projects and perspectives. . The meeting was not far away.
Corgan and Chamberlin reunited in 2006 with guitarist Jeff Schroeder. Chamberlain left the company in 2009 but returned in 2018. Since then, the band has created new work and revived their pre-pandemic national profile with Shining and Oh So Bright (2018) and Sire (2020). Smashing Pumpkins are currently working on Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts, which will be released as a trio album. The problem with this tour, which runs from November 32 to November 19, is that the first chapter of the Atum trilogy is not released until November 15. But the tour set leans more towards pumpkins. His final set of 20 songs has included five performances of "Melon Collie" and only four of his upcoming works.
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Corgan, 55, and a touring band that included Schroeder and Iha on guitar, Chamberlin on drums, and touring musicians Jack Bates on bass and Kathy Cole on keyboards and backing vocals, opened with Corgan, the track "Empires" from the upcoming album. Difficult lyrics with guitar serenades. . The singer wore a black dress that covered her knees, making her look like an evil nun or perhaps a vampire spirit - an impression that was enhanced by black makeup under her eyes. The pounding of the drums marked the start of "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" and the audience's reaction to the Pumpkins' smash hit instantly became a catchy single.
Moments later "We Only Come Out at Night" sounds like a big Corgan song, full of longing and dread, slow chorus and catharsis. "Cyr," an excerpt from this 2020 album, introduces a new synth sound for added variety as Corgan takes the stage to add chorus after chorus. Covered by Talking Heads during their Once in a Lifetime tour, this tour features haunting bass and some of Schroeder's most moving guitar lines. But this gothic version of the old hit lacks the unusual rhythmic charm of the original and leaves audiences a bit confused.
The song "Eyes" is wrapped in riddles to steal phrases. Corgan sings the lyrics on the screen behind him, lines like "I'm reading, sorry," and then as the tempo ballad hits the guitar with a Middle Eastern note, he ends by simply saying, "Thanks, Boston." , From "Under the Heart." While everyone was brooding, the funky rock sound of "Ava Adore" got things back on track. But even so, the extremely excited trio was slowly brought backstage to perform for the rest of the concert. Show to ignore..
Noting the band's long history of playing in Boston, Corgan recalls a show at the long-defunct Cambridge TT The Bears where it was "137 degrees". He later joked when they first started dating, "The Cubs are no good and the Red Sox... but then Theo Epstein saved us both... but Theo is like me, he's always gone."
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The acoustic duet with Corgan on "Tonight, Tonight" is a beautifully arranged love song and a beautiful interlude where the lyrics really stand out. "Stand Inside Your Love" is the gurgling strains of thumping guitars and thumping drums. The "Me of Mourning" singer performed the song "Radio, radio, what do you want" in a shock bra. Full Bore "Cherub Rock" was another number that had the crowd singing wildly, and Corgan added his shrill guitar solo. The best single of the night is probably "1979", a mid-tempo song that is still as relevant today as it was when it was released 27 years ago.
The new song "Bigailed" rumbles with loud, repetitive, bubbling power chords, but doesn't stick to anything you hear. One of the most angry love-lost rock songs, "Silverf-XXX" begins as a guitar jam interspersed with Corgan's shrill vocals and instead is a furious jam. "Neophyte" has a simple keyboard/synth sound, but again this variation works well in Visceral March. 1993's "Disarm" was another opportunity for Pumpkins fans to sing popular classics, with the clear chorus of "The devil in me the devil in you..." starting the night at "Armageddon" with another thumping guitar finish. Even though the set had hits and misses, the Smashing Pumpkins still proved to be the most exciting band in America - sometimes confusing but never boring.
Jane's Addiction hails from Los Angeles and began in 1985 with the charisma of singer Perry Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro. In 1991 they played a farewell tour, but since then there have been many reunions and line-up changes. This year's tour was supposed to feature the original line-up, but Navarro was sidelined due to ongoing Covid, so the quartet recruited Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens of the Stone Age to play guitar. But with bassist Eric Avery, we can approach the original quartet for the first time in 12 years.
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Jane's Addiction added a few curveballs to her repertoire on this tour and welcomed several guests to her show in Boston. Their former nugget "Bitch" also joined the group - how should I put it? - Three bikini models perform simple gymnastics and somersaults on parallel bars and other frames at the side and backstage.
Jane's Addiction joins guitarist Josh Klinghoffer (who played with the Red Hot Chili Peppers from 2009-2019) in punk-metal Three Days. Moments later Daniel Ash was invited by the Bauhaus band to an acoustic guitar version of "Jane Says", which gave this sad portrait an added poignant tone. Ash remains close to joining the quartet in performing Bauhaus' song Slice of Life. The models are back in different bikinis to the astral guitar notes of “Ted, Just Admit It,” this time with a staff member. Ironically, "Stop!" There's no denying the power of the titular metallic charge, and Jane's addictive ending to the industrial metal bomb "Bean Cat Stealing" has fans clamoring for more, but they're in one. Los Angeles-based pop-metal singer Poppy started with a short set while we mostly rode the freeway.
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This article originally appeared in The Patriot Ledger: Review: Smashing Pumpkins meets TD Garden Boston
