It is a shame Smashing Pumpkins weren’t more upfront in advance that their current Australian tour would be a showcase for their new album ‘Oceania’ from start to finish. What made the show special also made it a disappointment.
Billy Corgan, The Smashing Pumpkins, Photo Ros O'Gorman
Having the opportunity to see Smashing Pumpkins showcase Oceania from start to finish was indeed a rare occurrence. So why didn’t Billy Corgan tell fans in advance that this was what he was going to do?
The pity is ‘Oceania’ is a very good album but dropping it on an unsuspecting crowd sent shockwaves through the audience when about six songs in the applause dried up between songs.
This could have been a unique experience for fans had they known what they were in for. Instead, we had a brilliant band playing one hour and 15 minutes of self-indulgence before finally giving the fans what they came for.
The ‘Oceania’ set finished with a cover of David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’. Now that was cool. The audience awoke and the excitement could finally be felt in the crowd.
The next half hour was what the crowd wanted to hear. From the first notes of Disarm’, as soon as Billy Corgan sang “the world is a vampire”, and the performance of the ‘Zero’, the benchmark Smashing Pumpkins song, the audience were all forgiving.
The Smashing Pumpkins will finish this leg of their tour in Auckland, New Zealand tonight (August 4).
The Smashing Pumpkins Melbourne setlist was:
Oceania album:
Quasar
Panopticon
The Celestials
Violet Rays
My Love Is Winter
One Diamond, One Heart
Pinwheels
Oceania
Pale Horse
The Chimera
Glissandra
Inkless
Wildflower
Space Oddity
XYU
Disarm
Tonight Reprise
Tonight, Tonight
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
Soot and Stars
Luna
Today
Zero
Ava Adore
Cherub Rock
