"Corgan and company go heavy on the brooding"
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
(Thanks to Bennie Vincent Crowell for typing this out)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch – October 2, 1996
By Matt Fernandes
"My NAME is Kristi, I'm from St. Charles and I'm skipping class tomorrow!" blurted the young impassioned fan taunting her friends with raised fists.
Kristi from St. Charles was one of three chosen to join Billy Corgan and his chums on stage at the Smashing Pumpkins concert Wednesday night at Kiel Center.
The invitation was one of many warm and fuzzy moments, including a steady stream of compliments ("You are a nice, hospitable crowd") given by rhythm guitarist James Iha. It was undeniably a fan-friendly 2 ½ hour set.
Headlining the high-priced 1994 Lollapalooza tour, the Pumpkins rubbed many fans the wrong way by playing a listless set while letting everyone know they wished they didn't have to be there. Any hard feelings from Lollapaletdown were forgotten, though, as throngs of (mostly) young concert-goers stood poised to rock as the band walked on stage.
What they got was a performance heavy on the Pumpkins' trademark brooding, dream-like passages and light on the bold, ear-pleasing jams that endeared many after "Gish" the band's debut album, was released.
The absence of early material (one song from "Gish," three from "Siamese Dream") disappointed some but didn't faze the vast majority, who bawled the lyrics to many songs off the band's latest CD, "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness."
With varying degrees of success, Corgan attempted to relate his jungle of emotions and sea of troubles to the crowd. During "Muzzle," "We Only Come Out at Night" and "Silver," the crowd ate up Corgan's toned-down sincerity.
The crowd frequently did flawless imitations of Led Zeppelin fans' famed "Stairway Flicker" with their Bic lighters. During one encore, Corgan went on a poetry slam-style rant that was working until he made an inexplicable OJ. reference. This worked the previously enthralled crowd up like only OJ. Can.
On other songs, though, Corgan's diatribes had a lulling effect. On "x.y.u.," Corgan took a hiatus from this universe as he mused randomly "...I couldn't feel her, and it was just a game...I was lonely and she was crazy... rat-tat-tat, ka boom boom, now that, and just a bit of this..." The song's ending, a prolonged alteration of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" couldn't be called inspiring, but at least the familiar melody halted some yawns.
Drummer Matt Walker, who replaced the recently ousted Jimmy Chamberlin, showed great technical ability and impressive knowledge of the many quirky, multi-rhythm songs. He lacked Chamberlin's patience and timing on songs such as them without making the necessary dramatic pauses.
The keyboards of Dennis Flemion seemed nonexistent, for the most part. On "Disarm," the lack of keyboards left the song hollow.
The Pumpkins were at their best when they were hammering out their forceful, riff-laden tunes. The monster-hits "Cherub Rock," "Bullet With Butterfly Wings," and "Siva" were performed with gusto and appropriately worked the crowd into a frenzy.