Concert Review: Smashing Pumpkins at Nokia Theater

by Laura Seewoester

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Whether they were playing an old favorite that everyone knew the words to or a newbie, they played their asses off and the crowd fed off of their energy.

The Smashing Pumpkins played their last show of the 2007 tour Sunday at Nokia Theater after a rescheduling from Nov. 2. A popular question amongst concert goers and the like was "What will be the age group of attendees?" My guestimate is the audience was an average of about 28, although there were a few youngens there. (Young fan #1: "Is someone smoking? I smell smoke." Young fan #2: "Yes, that's weed.") They also thought "Adore" was the Pumpkins best album. 'Nuff said there, however they were just excited to be there and as enthusiastic as the rest of us old folks. So the answer to that question we've all been asking is: Yes, The Smashing Pumpkins have managed to pick up (a few) fans from today's youth.

Austin band What Made Milwaukee Famous opened the show and they actually managed keep the attention spans a surprising number of Pumpkinheads with their pseudo grungie tunes. They sounded a lot less "pop-ie" live as opposed to the music posted on their myspace page, which was a pleasant surprise.

Finally, after a sixteen-day postponing of the show and much anticipation, the Smashing Pumpkins came out to a screaming crowd. The set list consisted of a mix of old goodies (Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Disarm, Tonight Tonight, Perfect and Today to name a few) and new hits (hey, this ain't a reunion tour). Whether they were playing an old favorite that everyone knew the words to or a newbie, they played their asses off and the crowd fed off of their energy. Towards the end of their main set, they broke into a random Black Sabbath tribute playing "Iron Man," and then went into "I Love Rock 'n Roll" which had the crowd going nuts. They came out for one encore, after which Billy Corgan came out, shook a few hands and very graciously thanked the audience for coming out. Here's to you, Billy, for sticking with it and rocking the hell out of fans old new.