“We’re a difficult band to love but we’re worth it.”

Those were the words Billy Corgan left us with as the original line-up of the Smashing Pumpkins prepared to fire up their guitars for the final song of their final show in 2000. Over a decade later those words are still being proved true.

The 2011 Beyond the Kaleidyscope tour felt like a celebration of the band’s work since they made their start with Gish. And when I say celebration I mean of their albums, not their well known singles. Anyone who went armed only with a copy of Greatest Hits would have been left confused until the encore. In fact the first two songs they played were from their as-of-yet unreleased album Oceania, and even though the songs were unknown to us the classic Pumpkin sound was there, with Corgan’s guitar drenched in distortion and Mike Byrne’s tom drums beating down like rain.the words Billy Corgan left us with as the original line-up of the Smashing Pumpkins prepared to fire up their guitars for the final song of their final show in 2000. Over a decade later those words are still being proved true.

The first song we had a chance of knowing was the epic gradual crescendo that is Starla, a track from the mid-nineties compilation Pisces Iscariot. This was followed by Geek USA, an energetic mid album track from Siamese Dream that not only showcases the technical skills of the entire band but rocks sufficiently bring the roof down. In fact they seemed to get so into it that even the more “mellow” parts of the song were absolutely deafening.

This seemed to set the theme for the rest of the concert. It was a mixture of new songs and classic album tracks. It’s a wonderful surprise when you realise the band appreciate their own songs as much as you do. I never imagined I would be hearing such songs as Muzzle or Thru The Eyes Of Ruby, but when I did it made the concert for me. It seems that, as prolific a songwriter as Billy Corgan is, no song is ever forgotten.

Even though I consider myself a long time fan of the band, I haven’t been there right from the beginning. I was only introduced to them during the Machina phase by the genius tracks This Time and Wound gleaming in the middle of a compilation. At that point the band had already split up so I never even considered I’d get the chance to see my new favourite band live. But I had an entire back catalogue to enjoy and I set about trying to understand a band that didn’t seem to fit into any category. One minute they seem to be gothic rock, then metal, then psychedelic and then none of the above. I’ve come to realise that it was that indefinable quality, as well as Corgan’s poetic writing style, that kept my interest so consistently over the years.

The reason I mention this is to highlight the fact that I didn’t have the opportunity to see the band as they first broke through into the mainstream with their definitive album Siamese Dream, one which they recorded under immense pressure and expectation and yet still managed to make into something unique and brilliant. In a way I never realised just what I’d missed until I heard them play some of these songs live on this tour. It seems like the band has come full circle and is once again full of that same energy they had in 1993. Songs from that era just feel right for today‘s Pumpkins. Today is the greatest day.
The band is once again moving into new territory. The fact that there are mostly new members gives the feel of a new band just starting out, yet they’ve come together in such a way that it at the same time feels like the same band we’ve always known. And in a way they are just starting out. For all the respect they show their previous albums on this tour, it is all very much about Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, the classic songs apparently being chosen to compliment it. This ambitious project is a 44 song concept album being released gradually for free online. As I say, completely new territory, not nostalgia.

The new songs from Oceania, the next section of Teargarden, to be released as a more conventional album, did stand out as different. They had a very deep and soulful feel, the title track being around eleven minutes long and featuring everything from organ sounds to twin lead. The fact that this was a warm up tour only builds anticipation for the concerts in 2012, when the album is released.

As a fan of the band I felt it was the perfect show for me. It made a nod to the past yet looked to the future. If I have one regret its that the particular night I saw them the concert had to be cut short because of another event scheduled in the town. This meant the encore had to be kept to two songs, albeit very crowd pleasing ones (Zero and Bullet With Butterfly Wings) that let many in the audience enjoy a last mosh and shout and gave others one last opportunity to get thrown out for crowd surfing. I’m told that other venues had a few extra songs but at this particular venue it just wasn’t possible.

Billy Corgan didn’t say a word to the crowd throughout the entire evening. As strange as that may seem, I didn’t actually notice that fact until afterwards. Its as if he didn’t have to speak; he sang, his guitar sang, we sang. And afterwards we knew that even though the actual members may have changed since the beginning, that night we had seen and heard Smashing Pumpkins in their purest form, and there was is much more still to come.

Review and Photo by Casshern