On the first night of their two-night stand in Los Angeles, dubbed “Black Sunshine,” the show began with Jimmy Chamberlain taking to his drums and offering up a powerful solo turn known as “Roctopus.” My seat was in the section behind the pit and as I stood I could feel the sonic waves from his bass drums crashing into me.
The rest of the band came out; the touring band from If All Goes Wrong (guitarist Jeff Schroeder, bassist Ginger Reyes-Pooley, and keyboardist Lisa Harriton) has increased to include two horn players (trumpeter Stephen Bradley and trombonist Gabrial McNair), a violinist (Gingger Shankar), and a multi-instrument (Kris Pooley). Billy Corgan appeared in a white dress and sun-shaped headdress, looking a bit like Perry Farrell and singing The Searchers’ “Everybody Clap Your Hands,” a peppy and upbeat number. For a moment, the proceedings created an aura of a Las Vegas show, but that dissipated quickly as the band got serious about rocking the house. The pummeling force of Chamberlain’s drums anchored “Tarantula.” “G.L.O.W.” was a bass-heavy number. The first big reaction from the fans of the old stuff came when the band went back into the catalog for “Siva.” “Eye” from The Lost Highway lost its electronic sound and was given the guitar-rock treatment.
“Tonight, Tonight” showed off the entire band’s talents as they created a perfect rendition of this majestic orchestral number. Things finally slowed down on “Speed Kills,” showing a softer side, but not for long as they erupted into the powerful combo of “Superchrist”/“United States.” The bass and drum started off as a killer twosome before the entire band joined in. The light show matched the intensity of the music, almost creating too much stimulation, causing the need at moments to look away and squint. Members of the band trickled off, until it was just Chamberlain and Corgan dueling, like they have for 20 years, with them finishing off the song by revealing their inner Hendrix with a rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
As the band returned, they gathered close together in a small circle. Before getting going, Corgan started to talk about his knowledge of the local freeways, giving the audience a kick. He segued into joking around about Sammy Hagar. Schroeder intended to play under his conversation, but Corgan quickly called him out for playing Roth-era Van Halen. Audience members understanding an acoustic portion was coming began to sit down, causing Corgan to playfully chastise them about it because they were so old. He understood it wasn’t the ‘90s anymore. Just give up, he tells everyone. It’s so easy to do. He announced they were going to play something off Adore, and points out that this was when the fans gave up on them, giving Chamberlain a laugh and drawing a couple of hisses from the crowd. He then pointed out that the band gave up on the fans in 2000. Harriton’s keyboards took the lead on “Once Upon a Time.”
Article comments
1 - Jordan Richardson
Great review. Sounds like you had a helluva time!
2 - El Bicho
Thanks, Jordan.