"Pumpkins concert in Vancouver "
GM Place, Vancouver
Access magazine
"All the world loves a freak. But freaks come in two different flavours: There is th bland and contrived Alice Cooper-Marilyn Manson type, and then there's the interesting, truly tasty, unique freak that needs no costume or make-up to scare us - well, save for a "ZERO" sweatshirt and some silver pants.
Head pumpkin Billy Corgan is the classic beautiful freak, a "hopeful monster", who sent a near-packed GM Plave into countless frenzies by doing little more than being himself. Taking the stage for 2 1/2 hrs, Corgan and mates came off, to everyone's delight, as living the suburban loser's teenage dream, the one where everything you say and do triggers a spontaneous eruption of approval from thousands fo people, while only you know that you spent your teenage years watching Monty Python videos, skipping proms, and spending hours in the garage learning Van Halen licks and plotting the ultimate revenge - stardom. Billy Corgan is that geek, and once he had the stage, he wasn't going to give it up or share it with anyone. (This didn't seem to matter too much to the band's four remaining members, who would have been just as entertaining if they had played their instruments backstage; the girl beside me dubbed the band Billy and the Mannequins.)
As expected, they played all the singles, although a bit too up-tempo at times; if seemed like 'Bullet with Butterfly Wings' was done in about 90 seconds. No doubt the band ahd more fun indulging thenselves in their ultra-cool and endless encore jam than they did in 'taking care of the hits'. They visibly progressed from just-another-show-at-the-end-of-a-long-tour mode to actually enjoying their own noise, so that by the time the lights came up, Corgan was still onstage, waving to the screaming masses, perhaps marvelling that so many people lived outside of his garage. He left with one of his very infrequent spoken outbursts: "Thank you for taking a ride. We are now, always have been and always will be the Smashing Pumpkins." Good news as far as i'm concerned - the entertainment world sorely needs the beautiful freaks to remind us where we all came from and where we all can get to."