Many times here on HU, my co-bloggers have pointed out factual errors in negative press clippings about the Smashing Pumpkins and Billy Corgan.  Lest you think that journalists with an axe to grind are the only ones who exaggerate for effect when it comes to all things Pumpkin, smashingpumpkins.com alerts us to a short article appearing in Premier Guitar on the now-infamous Special Acoustic Performance in Columbus, OH.

Premier Guitar claims to be “considered to be the definitive gear-centric magazine written for serious, accomplished players by serious, accomplished players” despite reader testimonials such as “The reporting on upcoming shows is very poor”, “There are lots of ads”, and the timeless classic “Overall, it’s pretty good”.  In the January issue of Premier Guitar’s print magazine, a full page photo of Geisha-Billy is accompanied by the following blurb:

A costumed version of the Smashing Pumpkins opened for themselves during the first night of the band’s 20th Anniversary tour. After slugging through a rough set of covers on his 12-string Taylor 855, including “Monster Mash”, “Hang on Sloopy”, “Louie Louie”, “Wipeout” and even “The Gambler,” Corgan stormed off stage, leaving fans wondering if he had pulled an Axl. Though some people left, the band would return almost an hour later for what many have described as one of the best Pumpkins shows in years.

While they seem to have gotten the gear part right (Billy is holding a 12-string Taylor in the accompanying picture), they are a bit off on the rest.  A reference is made to Billy’s fake tantrum without pointing out that it, as well as the initial set of covers, was intended to be a joke.  They also exaggerate significantly on the length of time between sets, unless you consider the 15 minutes reported in our liveblog “almost an hour later”.

Finally there is the claim that “many” have described this as one of the best Pumpkins shows in years.  I will admit that my own negative take may not be representative of everyone in attendance, who exactly has made that statement?  ”One of the best Pumpkins shows in years” is taking it a little far, isn’t it?  Better than the residencies?  Better than the acoustic show in the German castle?  Better even than the other shows on the 20th anniversary tour?  It may not be accurate, but it brings us ever-so-slightly closer to a balance in critical hyperbole.

They’re giving away an iPod Nano preloaded with “the entire Smashing Pumpkins catalog”, and their first commenter is all over it, er, them:

Why is Stereogum advertising for a band that they’ve done nothing but shit all over (rightfully so, I might add)? This kind of undermines your credibility a little, doesn’t it, Scott?

I think the bigger question is: Will the winner skip only to his or her favorite tracks?!

SmashingPumpkins.com has now posted another of my photo essays - this time they’re from November 8th at the Borgata Event Center.  There are only a select few at SP.com; the rest are HU exclusives!

The full set of photographs is here on my Flickr.

After the jump, find a few of my favorite shots from the bunch!

(more…)

Poor setlist choices, awful-sounding music, and confounding sartorial decisions mixed with heavy doses of audience mockery: These are the reports we’ve been getting about the Smashing Pumpkins‘ “20th Anniversary Tour”, and guesses at Billy Corgan’s motivations can only confuse and infuriate.

That would be Pitchfork’s Dave Maher, hyperlinking his way into an hilariously intense fury at Billy Corgan instead of walking down the street to cover the Chicago Theatre shows. After (maybe) watching a YouTube clip and (probably) reading the Rolling Stone and Fluxblog concert reviews, Maher denounced the tour as a “shitshow” (what?), claimed that Corgan had “lashed out at his band’s fans” with an “outburst”, called Zeitgeist “mediocre”, said the band was “meandering into formless noise jams”, accused Corgan of “ruining people’s nostalgic fondness” for the Pumpkins, said Corgan was “cashing in”, and called Corgan “crazy”.

Can you explain this, Dave? Why all the anger?

Personally, I don’t buy that this intentional audience befuddling is some kind of pure pursuit of an artistic muse. It seems like the flailing around of an artist who has declined and is unwilling to face that truth even when his own fans proclaim it so by their reactions to his art.

You may be on to something there… (more…)

We’ve already begun to see some reviews of the show, from both inside and outside the Smashing Pumpkins camp.  Media militia writer Hack wrote a piece today about last night’s show, found here, and promises more tomorrow including the results of a backstage interview with Jimmy Chamberlin and Billy Corgan.  Certainly we can expect that review to be glowing.

Thanks to a tip from HU reader Rahab, we found this review from Canadian entertainment site CANOE.CA, which was also published in the Toronto Sun.  Reviewer Jason MacNeil seemed to enjoy the show, but fell on the “WTF” side of the HOTS debate.  Coming in at three-and-a-half stars, the show review is certainly to be expected, but his florid remarks are awfully complimentary:

Although rarely saying anything early on, Corgan, wearing a white sweater with “Zero” in black lettering, then showed the latest little nugget in their catalogue in G.L.O.W., a rather metal-tainted affair that complemented the balls-out rocker Siva quite nicely.

After thanking the crowd briefly, most of whom seemed eager to hear old favourites and rarities from albums such as Siamese Dream and Gish, the band went into the slower Eye that came off decently but was anything but jaw-dropping.

Nonetheless, the first real highlight came during Tonight, Tonight, a rather orchestral affair that builds into a galloping crescendo thanks to Chamberlin’s frantic work, with guitarist Jeff Schroeder holding his own as well.

Check out the “orchestral affair” below, straight off the YouTube presses from user “studiesruinedmylife“:

No UPDATED: Possible HU liveblog from Ontario courtesy HU reader 34, but even if not, Hack of the “Smashing Pumpkins Media Militia” will be live-photo-documenting the shows tonight and tomorrow and writing up a report for SmashingPumpkins.com. His photos should be appearing on the band’s official Flickr page as the evening progresses.

Our congratulations to Paul and everyone who helped him! The site looks great!

LiveJournalist pollytrance reports from Oakland:

YOU SEE I TOLD YOU.

Yes, I know the quality sucks, but truth be told, I am happy I got it at all. Some stoner buttmunches stole my seat at half-time and right when the little preview thing that I knew I wanted to record came on, their morals got the better of them and they walked right in front of me to return to their shitty seats. I should have been a bitch and made them wait, but I was too excited.

Anyway– YES. SONG FROM 1998 BY THE SMASHING PUMPKINS! USED IN THE PREVIEW MONTAGE FOR OPENING NIGHT BY THE WARRIORS.

This week we had a special guest join us on the podcast. Paul, the webmaster of SmashingPumpkins.com, came on the show to talk about some upcoming changes to the official website (as shown above!) and offer his tour predictions.

Listen to the whole show (1:16:27)

(download)(iTunes)

This week’s topics:

Panelists
-Chris, Jason, and Jill

Special Guest
-Paul

News
-Pumpkins to perform at the Spike Scream Awards. Is this a good move for the band as artists? What’s the most kickass beverage to slam? Plus, a contentious debate on the new shirt: White Spyder or Tarantula? (11:47)

-If All Goes Wrong is coming to a theater near you. Our guest does some name dropping and gives us a scoop straight from the source. (8:15)

-The band is coming to my hometown. It’s not news, but I treat it as such. (2:26)

Interview:
-Paul tells us what’s coming to smashingpumpkins.com, why they’re bringing back the o-board, and what the band’s involvement is in their web presence. However, he gives us no juicy gossip. (34:44)

Tour Predictions:
-Once again we all place our bets on what song that hasn’t been played by the reformed Pumpkins will get debuted over the next few weeks. Will Jason strike it rich again, or will he wager it all on Mastery + Conjecture? Note: At the time this was recorded, Billy had not yet mentioned Sunkissed as a spoiler. (9:01)

This Week in Pumpkins History
-Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is released, and the band plays the infamous Riviera Theater power outage concert. (2:42)

Song of the Week
-Geek U.S.A., October 23rd, 1995

If you have a suggestion for a future guest interview, leave it in the comments.

Talking to Press Association Ltd. at the Spike awards, Billy Corgan reflected on a time when all went wrong:

It was interesting in a sense that we got a lot of things put on us that we didn’t ask for.

Like we never said reunion, we just said we’re gonna put the band back together and see who wants to do it.

Then it became ‘oh, these aren’t the original members’. Well, we never said it was going to be the original members.

Despite my efforts to avoid the word reunion, it has cropped up on HU from time to time. I think it is an inappropriate term not only because Corgan never used the word but primarily because no one reunited…Corgan and Chamberlin were never apart. Obviously, though, the press has used the word liberally — and even the band’s Wikipedia entry claims that “In April 2006, the band officially announced that it was reuniting”, the seeming inaccuracy of that statement and an effort to correct it not withstanding the one-man wikiocracy of user WesleyDodds:

Yes, it’s still a reunion, even if Corgan didn’t use the word

This article from Tiny Mix Tapes made to do a double-take at my desk this morning.  Author “Kenny Bloggins” hits us hard with his hook right off the bat:  Okay, I got a joke. What does Billy Corgan and Charlie from Flowers for Algernon have in common? They both went from brilliant to phenomenally stupid in a short period of time.

Oh, Kenny. You’re so witty! The article fawns on for two uncompromisingly long paragraphs to berate the Smashing Pumpkins — including the following line which made me nearly spit out my coffee: Someone should seriously shoot a documentary about Corgan and title it “Lolocaust.”

Okay, so we get it.  You don’t like the Pumpkins, Kenny.  And you’re pretty much telling your entire audience they’re laughable morons if they do.  So why finish up the article with full coverage of the DVD, its screening news, and the entire upcoming tour schedule?  Referral revenue?

I got one for you too: What do you call a blog that thinks they’re explosively hilarious? T-M-T, Dynomite.

Within a three-hour span this afternoon, music-news websites Stereogum, Idolator, and Pitchfork all posted the same recording of “G.L.O.W.” sourced from the song’s radio debut on Chicago’s Q101. “NEW SMASHING PUMPKINS” blared a Stereogum headline, with the accompanying article stating that “it finally hit the airwaves”. Shortly thereafter, Idolator promoted the recording as “Leak Of The Day”, declaring that today marks the song’s “WEB DEBUT”. Pitchfork followed, saying “Chicago’s Q-101 played it, someone upped a rip to YouTube, and now you can listen to it in rather abysmal sound quality.”

The YouTube clip of “G.L.O.W.” embedded and hailed as newsworthy by all three sites? It’s been on YouTube for a week. The Q101 debut featured in the clip? That happened two weeks ago. And the song has been in the top 40 at alternative radio for eight days now. Links to various recordings of the song (even to perfect-quality versions) have been appearing in comments on HU posts over that entire span, and of course similar links are all over Pumpkins messageboards.

It’s one thing for these sites not to cover the Smashing Pumpkins well and therefore not to have the story on day one; really, that’s fine and no one should much care. But for them to claim that they are right on it, to act as though the music world has shrunk to the size of a three-site circle jerk, is in every sense of the word…wait for it… pretentious.

A newly launched website for the new Smashing Pumpkins movie (can I call it that?) lists exactly 43 U.S. locations (hmm…) at which “If All Goes Wrong” can be seen on November 6. Australian and British showings are on tap for Nov. 7 and Nov. 25, respectively.

The website also contains a proper trailer, a set of 22 stills from the film, as well as a message board that is sure to be the source of many wise sayings and good tidings.

SmashingPumpkins.com has posted the video.

Multiple sources tell HU that the owner of “the largest Smashing Pumpkins community forums that Billy Corgan loves to hate” recently offered to sell those forums…to Billy Corgan. More than one overture has been made to the band by Netphoria.org principals within the last two months, but fear not — Corgan turned them down flat. Maybe he just loves to hate the site too much.

With all the news spilling out from the Smashing Pumpkins camp over the last couple of weeks, there’s no doubt that the fan community has a lot of questions.

In the last couple of weeks, we’ve discovered:

• There’s a big 20th anniversary tour coming up — and it has a theme.
• The band will play the well-known Bridge School Benefit for the third time.
• The band plans to record their live shows and make them available to download for a fee; implications for the LMA are yet unknown.
• The new Guitar Hero will feature a playable Billy Corgan character and new music from the band.
• Total Nonstop Action wrestling has used the Smashing Pumpkins’ music as part of their promotions and their live pay-per-view events.
• Billy Corgan spoke with EQ Magazine and revealed ongoing plans for the Gish box set and potentially other album-oriented projects in the future.
• Oh yeah, and there’s a DVD coming out.  And a corresponding film festival debut.  And a Jimmy Kimmel performance.  And a meet-and-greet VIP ticket package.

SmashingPumpkins.com has asked us to reach out to HU readers to find out what pressing questions are on your mind.  The band wants to do another Q&A and wants your input.

Submit your questions via our comments section!