Combined with performance clips, If All Goes Wrong is a very good look at an artist trying to forge a new path while trying to satisfy both himself and the audience. This could easily have been a fluff piece that just showed Corgan in a positive light, but he allowed for a complete picture to be shown. One day in a park, Corgan talks about wanting to move forward and not backward, but then that begs the question that was not asked but should have been, “why use the name Smashing Pumpkins?”
This disc contains two bonus features: “Voices Of The Ghost Children” is the “fan on the street” interviews, and there is more interview material with Pete Townshend.
Disc 2 presents about two hours of the Fillmore residency taken from different nights, including seven new songs, some of which are not available anywhere else. The set opens with Corgan alone with an acoustic guitar for “The Rose March.” For “Peace+Love” a harmonica and Harriton on keyboards is added to the arrangement. The rest of the band comes out for “99 Floors.” Corgan starts and then the rest of the band slowly makes their way into the song, laying a nice groove underneath him.
“Blues Skies Bring Tears” has more of the rock sound Pumpkins fans are familiar with. “Superchrist” is the band as a very powerful, driving force of rock. In the documentary Corgan talked about getting people to pay attention with this song, and it works. Their 30-minute epic “Gossamer” begins the encore, and while I can see how some might lose interest due to having short-attention spans, I found it to be an interesting and enjoyable piece. They have allegedly retired it from their sets.
None of the Pumpkins hits make the setlist, but those with a deeper knowledge of the band’s catalog may recognize “Starla” from the 1994 B-sides album Pisces Iscariot, “Untitled” from 2001’s greatest-hits compilation Rotten Apples, and “Winterlong” from 2001’s B-sides album Judas Ø. During “Heavy Metal Machine,” the band offers a nod to San Francisco’s past by playing part of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit.” This disc is a great way to see if you like the band’s current ensemble and direction without paying high concert prices and dealing with traffic.
The bonus feature is over 30 minutes of rehearsals from 7/27/07 with the band on the Fillmore floor facing each other in a circle. Two songs of the five, “Mama” and “Promise Me,” don’t appear in the Residency concert.
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