so....
Midway through the Smashing Pumpkins encore last night at Constitution Hall--in which they were all on stage--all ten pieces of the band--all playing KAZOOS to the tune of "we only come out at night" off of Mellon Collie--the show stopped.
billy, in the midst of a wicked KAZOO solo (yes--the greatest and most ironic trick ever pulled...the smashing pumpkins...playing kazoos...fucking brilliant!!!) noticed a young man that had been giving him the finger for the better half of the night and decided to address the issue. Billy stopped the song. the whole fucking SHOW STOPPED. the blinding white lights from the stage came on and people were forced to avert their eyes and look to the audience at the fool billy was pointing to. it was dead...fucking...silent.
Billy goes--"so what's this guys problem?" and our antagonist, whom we will call Calvin Blainey, screams out, "THIS SUCKS!!!!" Billy puts his KAZOO down and gives a curious look. Calvin repeats, "YOU SUCK!!!!!" and billy goes--"did Tucker Carlson just say i suck???" to which the entire crowd erupts in laughter. however, our hero was unfazed. there was a moment to be had. when the laughter died down, Billy mentioned something again to Calvin (about 15 rows off the stage) and Calvin--not laughing and without any spite or malice in his voice whatsoever--shouts, "this sucks!!!! you used to be my favorite band!!!! what happened!!!!" the entire audience was shocked. Calvin was dead serious. This was not a publicity stunt.
Billy turns away, looks at his band--holding their KAZOOS--and replies, "it's show business my friend, show business..."hoooooo...lllllllyyyyyyy....fuuuuuuuuuuu....cccccc....kkkkk.
Our hero replies--"WHAT????? WHERE THE HELL IS JAMES IHA!!!!???!!?" mind you--the lights are still on and there has been dead silence save a smattering of boos and cheers for over a minute. Billy then proceeds to look out into the audience and reply, "James Iha??? oh...i think I see James Iha...hey James Iha...come here!" and billy grabs some random girl out of the front row and brings her on stage and introduces her to the dwindling crowd as James Iha. then the show ends. The show fucking ENDS. Goodnight, we're the smashing fucking pumpkins. We are taking our KAZOOS and getting the hell out of here. sorry to disillusion you!
It was a fitting conclusion to the end of an era for many of the audience. The once mighty Smashing Pumpkins--the band that could burn a fucking hole in your head and leave you deaf for weeks and kick ass harder than any shitty popcorn flavor of the month band--were done. It was an appropriate end to their "20th anniversary show." Calvin voiced the infinite sadness for us all. The world is a vampire...IN MY FUCKING ASS.
it's show biz, peeps.
it...was...
AWESOME.
p.s. photos by Shervin Lainez from last time Billy was here
p.p.s. Cale has an unrelated Smashing Pumpkins/Kazoo story:
15 years ago I was on a road trip (for reasons unimportant to this story) with the world's number #1 kazoo manufacturer. He also happened to be the #2 buyer (of his own product) behind Disney, Inc. So there is a good chance the kazoos Smashing Pumpkins played came from him. Anyway, we were driving along and I was like "you gotta here this album Siamese Dream, it's amazing". I popped it in but he wasn't feeling it. He had pretty good taste in music too, but this just wasn't clicking. We passed by a used record store, "Ok, let me play you some real music". We got out an he purchased Dark Side of the Moon. "Only have this on vinyl, you've heard it right?" I had only heard The Wall before. "I think so". We listened to it straight through. "Ok, I still like Smashing Pumpkins, but yeah, that's a better album". Just wanted to share.
Previously in Live DC:
- 2/14: LiveDC: Die Antwoord @ 930 Club
- 2/13: LiveDC: George Clinton & The Parliament-Funkadelic @ 930 Club
- 2/13: LiveDC: Veronica Falls/ Brilliant Colors @ Black Cat
- 2/13: LIVE DC: Steve Aoki/ Datsik/ Alvin Risk @ Fillmore
- 2/13: LiveDC: The Darkness @ 930 Club
- 2/9: LiveDC: Theophilus London @ 930 Club
- 2/9: Best Weekend Bets
- 2/8: LiveDC: Kathleen Edwards @ 930 Club
- 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
- 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
God loves a cheerful giver.
fucking amazing
Epic. I would have killed to see this happen live!!!!
By the way - Billy is stealing (as usual) the kazoo idea from The Cure's Unplugged performance of The Walk. Certainly the finest moment of alternative rock/kazoo history.
This is indeed a true story:
"I thought the show was pretty meh. It was the exact same show I saw in Charlottesville this August, except in a shittier venue, and it cost twice as much. I was under the impression that we were getting some of the new songs this tour, but they didn't play any. Maybe tomorrow. They played Set the Controls again. It sucked again. At least I could sit down this time.
DAR was weird. I was in the upper tiers or whatever, and pretty much everyone sat the entire show. I stood up for most of it, I just felt too weird sitting. It was the first time I'd seen the Pumpkins in a non-GA setting, and I didn't really like it.
Sound was okay. Band sounded good/played well.
Billy had a little breakdown at the end of the show that was really awkward. Some guy in the audience was giving him the finger and shouting shit during the kazoo spiel, and Billy called him out on it. He told everyone to be quiet so he could hear what the guy had to say, which turned out to be things like "You suck! You used to rock! Where's Iha? This is corny!" Billy kept calling him Tucker Carlson I guess because he looked like the guy from CNN. He and Jimmy tried to make fun of the guy or whatever but the whole thing just ended up seeming really awkward.
Eventually when the guy yelled "Where's Iha?" Billy pointed to some random girl in the audience and said, "There he is! There he is! Why don't we bring James up here right now?" and brings the girl up onto stage, where he asks her what she had been doing the past eight years. She didn't know what to say and ended up responding "Making jewelry." Billy was like, "Oh so now we all know why James didn't come back into the band, he was making jewelry" or something, said some more stuff in regards to the heckler, and finally left.
It was weird."
Check out The Toy Dolls' version of Europe's "The Final Countdown"
Yes, it is done with the kazoo. Or lots of them, rather.
he saves lives at bethany beach and saves souls at the DAR. HERO.
I hear there's a DC Pumpkins cover band that's rowdier than the actual band.
Keep your ear to the ground.
My favorite quote from Calvin was "You used to rock!" I don't know about the rest of the crowd, but Calvin certainly spoke for my section (K). I've never seen so many people look disallusioned and pissed at a concert before. It was a state of shock -- is. this. really. happening? Are the pumpkins really doing this crappy of a show? Several people walked out earlier in the show when Billy went on what seemed like an endless guitar-feedback/giant drum solo to end the set. The only part of the concert I liked was the section in the middle when Billy busted out the acoustic guitar. Everything else was lackluster.
Great Story! Are you going back to the show tonight?
I saw this *ag "Calvin" at another show once. I think it is a shame that the only way this *ucknut can express his admiration for the artist is through insults. Bands already skip over DC most of the time on tours because the fans are pretty dull, but now they have another reason. The one fan that probably loved them the most *hit on them. This will probably be spread around the industry related to Billy Corgan and will not shed good light on DC. Way to go *ucko. You did my city wrong. Keep that *hit in Chevy Chase, or in Bowie *sshole.
this was one of the worst live shows I've ever seen. the lame-ass giant drum thing at the end, the kazoos, the clothes, the constant replacement of bassist with hot, female bassist (reeks of gimmickiness), telling everyone god-bless you, it sucked from beginning to end. except for jimmy chamberlin's (sp?) drumming. billy corgan needs to get over himself. and the place was only like 3/4 full. sad.
the last show i saw at DAR was when Dave Grohl tore the place down with Frank Black. And that was a fucking acoustic set. i was praying to god that GWAR would bust in at the end and tear those kazoo-playing assholes to little pieces and then toss the body parts into the crowd. would have been a more fitting encore. maybe GWAR could play the second show tonight!
FAIL
I saw Leo outside eating ice cream, spewing curse words with astericks in front of them. He is totally rad.
*Leo - the artists perfrom for us. Sure, they can do it all for themselves, but then they end up setting up a 4-track in their bathroom and rocking out with crazy accousticals from the shower. When you are paying good money, they are playing for you. When you pay good money and get a bad show - why wouldn't you complain? Surely you don't pay for a meal and when you get served substandard fare chalk it up to the "chefs creative outlet" If the food sucks, tell him. Same with music. They were good, now they suck, go ahead and let them know. It will save endless board meetings trying to detemine the downturn in recent sales trends.
*tonysmallframe.
If you're gonna do a big 20th anniversary show, make it something worthwhile. Calvin took a very bold stance saying what he said. I've had the pleasure of seeing a few reunions/anniversary shows and the two best were My Bloody Valentine and Gang of Four. Gang of Four because they were so wild and energetic that they instantly reminded us why so many bands (like their opener, Radio 4) ripped them off.
My Bloody Valentine, blew my mind because they actually put the time and money into making their live show sound larger than life.
SP? Who cares? This band hasn't been relevant in years. Billy Corgan needs to stick to guitar playing and stop whining so much.
I saw the Cure at Patriot Center during the summer and I thought it was going to be of the same suck-ass vein. It was probably the best live show I've ever seen. 3 1/2 hours of ROCK. Not showBUSINESS as Billy kept saying. They killed it. Smashing Pumpkins just sucked. Hands down. It's a shame, but true. And there merch was the worst merch I've ever seen. All shitty coffee mugs and tall skull caps via Anthrax Attack of the Killer Bees...
Again, FAIL
*their merch
not there merch
that Smashing Pumpkins was ever your favorite band seems like the problem to me...not that they suck now. Everybody knows they suck now. I knew they sucked in 10th grade.
It may come as a shock to others but to feel sad about a rock band such as this?.. This is really. Indeed why should you be dejected? Objectively, SP began to suck as early as 1992; got only worse as years went by. He evidence too overwhelming. I thought them quite without talent altogether.
Last Night: the end of Smashing Pumpkins? Has Billy sucked his last at last? Did things come to a logical conclusion? This poster sure hopes so.
internet stardom is imminent for young calvin:
http://hipstersunited.com/blog/archives/2008/11/set-the-controls-for-fan-band-drama.html
I feel like Billy Corgan will always have insecurity issues and can't take it if someone doesn't like him. He still is pissed about Gish being released the same time as Nevermind and no one caring (I still think Gish is their best album).
Was there an opening band or did it start at 8 on the dot with SP? sadly i have to go (long story) but would prefer to limit the amount of time i have to spend there.
Just to clarify, Cale and I were on a road trip because we needed to pick up a shipment from the manufacturer in Mexico and deliver it to Frank Zappa's recording studio in Venice Beach. It was in the long hot summer of 1982, and times were different then--Reagan was president, pot was legal, and nobody even noticed if you went on a 12 minute kazoo solo onstage--in fact it was required by law in some counties!
Things have changed for America, and the Kazoo industry, but Cale and I will always have those heady years and that long sweet drive down Route 66 etched forever in our hearts. And the matching tats, of a wailing kazoo, pouring its soul out on the dusty highway of life.
What? Smashing Pumpkins? Oh, they suck. Sorry I forgot what we were talking about.
I don't know what you people were listening to... but both shows rocked way harder than anything I ever saw from the Live Pumpkins shows in the past. WAY HARDER. I was blown the **ck away by these shows. And I've been a fan for years and years. The DC shows were the best yet. You guys who didn't like it are criminally insane, apathetic, and lacking in truth.
Billy's take on Set the Controls is GENIUS. I didn't get it when I saw it in Charlottesville, but in DC I loved it. I had to find out what it was and the history of it (Pink Floyd cover, idiots) to appreciate what he was doing... and then I totally did. So why don't you learn about the Pumpkins before you come to my shows and write such blasphemous, untrue dribble about it afterwards. You are just drumming up uncalled for negativity towards the band. You're shortsighted.
BLASHPHEMER!!!!!!!!!!!
i dug the wednesday show quite a bit. some of it worked, some of it did not. but they took lots of chances and played some music unlike anything in their already extensive collection. let's give the band (billy) credit for taking chances and trying new things. that's art. when they tore through the 'hits' (e.g., zero, 1979, soma, etc) the place went nuts. they could recreate 1994 and there'd be less bitching in byt comments, but i think we can give him some credit for making art for art's sake.
heckler unveiled
i think billy corgan sucks and he annoyed me to no end when he was headlining a show that i saw. when all of these other (pretty good) bands had gone on before him, he came on the stage and said "thanks for sticking around for the real rock show!" what a douche. i swore i would never go see them again (and they weren't even very good after his proclamation).
however....
whether you liked it or hated it, you're still a jackass for acting like that when someone else just *may* have been enjoying their night. didn't like the kazoos or anything else? then just stfu and leave if you were disappointed. you weren't the only fucking person who bought a ticket, you inconsiderate, attention starved dumbass, kevin.
Balderdash.
The fellow in the audience had the full moral right to speak his mind. Corgan is a complete bullshiteer and ought to be opposed. He’s probably laughing his ass off at the poor schmucks who still pay to see his shows right now.
gish was actually released several months before nevermind... and there is no way it could have sold as well since it was originally released on an indie label, caroline.
from Wiki-
"Both the U.S. and U.K. branches of Caroline Records are subsidiaries of Caroline Music, which includes Caroline Distribution and is in turn owned by EMI. Caroline has a number of subsidiary labels including Astralwerks, Gyroscope, Caroline Blue Plate, Rocks the World, and Scamp."
Caroline=not really an indie
That whole thing sounds epic. Can't wait to see how the LA shows are.
Do you know the guy's name is Calvin, or did you make it up? I can't tell.