"Band Plays under its own Power after Outage"
Rock Music Review--Chicago Sun-Times 10-24-95
By Jae-Ha Kim
(Thanks to BCorgan4SP@aol.com for typing this out for us)
Overcoming power failure and a few sour notes, hometown heroes the Smashing Pumpkins put on a powerful show Monday night at the Riviera Theatre.
The show came on the eve of the release of the Pumpkins' "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" album and was one of the few chances to see the band perform until it begins major touring next year. The Pumpkins reportedly will play a couple of college dates in the next few weeks.
But shortly after kicking off the show with a blistering rendition of "Tonight, Tonight", from the new record, the band was literally left in the dark. Literally. A power failure shut off all the stage lights, amps and mikes for about 15 minutes. That failure could have ended the show fror many bands.
But 6-foot-4 front man Billy Corgan, with a newly-shaved head--asked the packed-in fans to be patient, and they were. In return, they were treated to an 90-minute set, and the band members Corgan, gutarist James Iha, bassist D'Arcy, and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin seemed unfazed by the loss of a planned high-tech light show or the break in momentum.
The bombastic tracks on the new album went over well, particularly the first single, "Bullet with Butterfly wings." Starting with one of the best linse in rock n' roll ("The world is avampire"), Corgan quickly had the fans singing along with the bleak, but catchy "Despite all my rage/I am still just a rat in a cage."
If the band has a weakness in concert, it's Corgan's inability to maintain the same vocal control he has perfected on the record. This was clear when opening act Cheap Trick joined the Pumpkins on stage for an encore. One of rock's most distinctive voices, Robin Zander made at least some of the fans forget about the Pumpkins when he took over lead vocals on such trick classics as "Baby loves to rock" and "If you want my love."
Fans who saw or heard the Pumpkins' show didn't witness the band's best effort by far. What they did see and hear was a piece of musical history. Eye candy is nice if you can get it. But a truly great band can overcome any stage problems with its music.