Much More Positive, Just as Inaccurate
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
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.
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, 
When the re-formed band agreed to the concept in october of 1998 as a way to bring the band to a close, everyone agreed to “play their part’ all the way down the line. I never envisioned that D’arcy would leave in April of ‘99, and that subsequently the 3 of us would try to finish. This put a stress obviously on the full integrity of the project. Because it was connected to the band not only bringing the music to fruition fully, but also the public component of being in character. I ended up in a broken band with a half-ass enthusiasm towards finishing a project already started…
We had quite a few audio problems with this week’s podcast, notably Jill’s Skype connection had extremely poor quality. I tried to edit out as much of the noise as I could, but I wanted to make sure that I left it alone where I thought you could make out what she was saying. As a result, she sometimes sounds slightly digital, but I think you can get the gist of the points that she tries to make.
