Smashing Pumpkins
Date: June 20th, 1998, Adore Tour
Venue: Rod Laver Arena
Supported by: Jebediah
Cost: $53.90 AUD
Setlist:
1. To Sheila
2. Behold! The Night Mare
3. Ava Adore
4. Pug
5. Crestfallen
6. Tear
7. Thru the Eyes of Ruby
8. Perfect
9. Tonight, Tonight
10. Bullet With Butterfly Wings
11. Daphne Descends
12. Shame
13. For Martha
14. Encore:
15. 1979
16. Transmission (Joy Division cover)
17. Zero
In early June, 1998, Smashing Pumpkins released Adore, the follow up to their ground breaking album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Prior to Adore’s release, the Pumpkins were at their peak in popularity and the follow up to Mellon Collie was highly anticipated. Things had changed in the Pumpkins camp, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin exited the group and was replaced for the most part by drum programming for the album. In the live arena, a new drummer filled in, who was backed by two additional percussionists. There was also no trace of the grunge rock featured on albums before, the style was now a mellow and sometimes acoustic arrangement.
Australian fans had little over 2 weeks to get used to these changes after the album was released when the Smashing Pumpkins arrived on our doorstep.
The day before the Melbourne show, the Pumpkins played a ‘secret’ gig at Circular Key in Sydney that was broadcast by Triple J live around the country, and Australia got to hear the new Smashing Pumpkins set. The set consisted mostly of new material and a few re-workings of older tracks, but was missing many of the hits that SP became famous for.
When the Smashing Pumpkins played in Melbourne, the set was a little longer but followed the same tune. To their credit, the songs from Adore were improved with the live arrangements, featuring live drumming as opposed to programmed drums which brought a new life to these tracks. Daphne Descends rocked a little faster than on the CD, and the single, Ava Adore, featured a distorted electric guitar riff that brought back a bit of their grunge flavour to the mix.
Tear was also another stand out track, once again, faster and heavier than on the album.
The new songs were not the only ones to differ in musical arrangement to their original recordings. An acoustic based rendition of Tonight, Tonight pleased the crowd, as did a re-worked version of Bullet With Butterfly Wings, which featured a drum intro and followed a different format and feel to what fans were used to. Another song that received a different treatment was 1979, which dumped its usual clean guitar and mellow feel for a distorted electric versions.
While these 3 of their major hits were played, the crowd was becoming restless and mid set a chant for Zero began, with Billy Corgan dismissing the crowd saying ‘I don’t wear that shirt anymore’. When the band returned for their encore, it became apparent that the show was drawing to a close and there would be no more hits played, the chant for ‘Zero’ grew in intensity.
Corgan could only give in and give the audience what they wanted. Despite the fact that James Iha had already left the stage, SP started playing Zero, and it was a obvious that it was unrehearsed. Corgan forgot the lyrics, and even stopped playing guitar through parts, leaving Darcy and the drummer to carry the song. That was the end to an interesting evening, and a memorable concert for many different reasons.
The Pumpkins did not put on a bad show. The Adore songs were the highlight of the set and the live show gave a different perspective to that offered on the album. There was great musician ship and the additional percussionists and piano added to the shows mood. The crowd however did grow restless with the abundance of new material, and when the few hits were played they were not familiar versions, which didn't help with their mood. Perhaps if the album had been out longer, the fans may have been more ready for a show like this and more accepting of the performance, and you cant always please everyone anyway!
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