Article and images by Geo Folkers When Billy Corgan announced a few weeks ago that no official celebration was planned for the 25th Anniversary of Smashing Pumpkins playing live gigs, there was one fan of the band called Matt Sams that felt like ‘this ain’t gonna happen!’. And when Saturday, October 5th, 2013, marked the spot as being the exact date 25 years after the Smashing Pumpkins took the stage as the first four-piece line up at the Metro, Chicago (IL) in 1988, a plan was born in Matt’s head. And when it all came together last weekend, Madame ZuZu’s […]
Article by Jeroen Bakker Pictures by Jeroen Savelkouls and Arthur van Pelt (Poster Tilburg 013) Date: July 26th, 2013 Venue: Paradiso Capacity: 1,200-1,500 (sold out) City & Country: Amsterdam, the Netherlands Tour: Shamrocks and Shenanigans 2013 Tour Personnel: Billy Corgan, Jeff Schroeder, Nicole Fiorentino and Mike Byrne Duration: 2h30m Date: July 27th, 2013 Venue: 013 Capacity: 2,000-2,200 (sold out) City & Country: Tilburg, the Netherlands Tour: Shamrocks and Shenanigans 2013 Tour Personnel: Billy Corgan, Jeff Schroeder, Nicole Fiorentino and Mike Byrne Duration: 2h15m ‘She likes surprises,’ Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell sings on their hit album Superunknown. Well, I do […]
Concert Review by Jeroen Savelkouls Date: June 20th, 2013 Venue: Live Music Hall Capacity: 1,200-1,800 City & Country: Cologne, Germany Tour: Shamrocks and Shenanigans 2013 Tour Personnel: Billy Corgan, Jeff Schroeder, Nicole Fiorentino and Mike Byrne Duration: ca. 2h15m No orb, no video projections, and limited lighting showed up for their first show of the European leg of the Shamrocks and Shenanigans tour. The Smashing Pumpkins largely ignored periphery visual distractions and focused on a tight gig and balanced set list; these ingredients were more than enough on Thursday evening to convince the crowd of approximately 2,000 in the extremely hot […]
Article by Corenski Nowlan The Smashing Pumpkins could be the poster child for dysfunctional bands. Their history is a tapestry of conflict and scandal. They have a fast-paced revolving door for musicians – especially bassists. There is an established pattern at play; depression, drugs, departures, and defaming. Someone ought to plot a roadmap for the benefit of all current and future members that explains how to pack it up and vamoose from Pumpkin-land, and what to expect after your emancipation. For example, how does one cope with the inevitable public deconstruction of character and the flaunting of flaws to any […]
Article written by Mike Nunn About one and a half years ago I got word that Smashing Pumpkins were going to be touring and playing a show in my hometown. A friend of mine seemed overjoyed at this news and was eager for us both to get tickets. The Pumpkins were a band I had heard of, but my knowledge of their music stretched no further than the two songs they had on the game Guitar Hero, that I loved. So as a lover of music and the live experience, I took it upon myself to get a ticket and […]
Article by Corenski Nowlan I used to think that James Iha was a girl. There. I said it. Not a particularly attractive female but none the less not packing man parts. I was twelve (the highly hormonal age) when the music video for “Today” was playing in high rotation. James Iha’s cross dressing raised recess debates among the kids in my sixth grade class who were cool enough to watch Much Music (or were allowed to by their parents). In my defense, I was a notch above my classmates on the gender identification scale, because I did point out […]
Article by Corenski Nowlan In my offline life, I have never known another person who is a truly hardcore Smashing Pumpkins fan. A few friends are casual listeners. One pal of mine has a vested interest, but is definitely a notch below the crazy-obsessive-pumpkinhead level. *ahem* It is an incredibly occasional occurrence for me to have an internet-unplugged-opportunity to engage in Pumpkin-centric discourse. So naturally if someone name-drops the great SP first, I’m ecstatic to indulge. Days before the release of Oceania, such luck on was my side. Or so I thought. The chat went down something like this (no […]
Article written by guest writer Michael Berrios In 2000, my older brother introduced me to the music videos for The Everlasting Gaze, 1979, and Zero. I was 6 years old at the time and found the Pumpkins’ music both captivating and, as per Billy’s intense monologues in The Everlasting Gaze and Zero, simply awesome. In this account, I plan on expressing many of the frustrations (and praises) of Smashing Pumpkins fans, along with what it means to be one today. As a super fan that collects all the rarities, looks for the best 90s bootlegs (including Zeitgest-era SP to present), and travels […]
Article by Daniella Koontz When I first found out that I won the SPfreaks competition I was completely shocked and elated. What an amazing feeling of accomplishment. The next step was to figure out which show I was going to attend. Since I live in the state of Florida, I’d have to fly. Several of the shows overlapped dates that I already had planned to be on vacation, so those were out. Several dates were already sold out, so those were obviously out, and several were too far away for my budget. On top of that I had to figure […]
If All Goes Wrong, a Smashing Pumpkins fan review Written by Arthur van Pelt So, here we were, with 4 SPfreakies in Gent, in a partly filled obscure little cinema inside the Vooruit Theatre, to see the world premiere of If All Goes Wrong, the latest documentary of the Smashing Pumpkins. Vooruit, by the way, is the same place where the Smashing Pumpkins played a gig on 1992/01/17 during their European leg of the 1992 Tour, so we already knew it would be a place with history. And yes, it is indeed. The building and everything inside it just […]
