A last-minute call-up saw your reviewer dashing to Eatons Hill Hotel Saturday night, hustling to catch The Smashing Pumpkins headlining 'The World Is A Vampire' tour.
Arriving fresh to a mini festival which had already heard the likes of of punks Amyl And The Sniffers, RedHook and Battlesnake, we weren't quite sure what to expect.After battling it out with nightmare parking, we took a brisk walk to the outdoor venue as Jane's Addiction buzzed in the air, part-way through the evening's penultimate set (15 April).
Live exotic dancers and anecdotes about injecting curry powder were not on our bingo card for the evening. But that's what we got with Jane's Addiction and 64-year-old vocalist Perry Farrell, who regaled the audience with chillingly depraved tales between such late '80s riff rocking tunes as 'Mountain Song'.
While the sight of a dozen 16-year-old girls leaving as Farrell carolled to a choreographed burlesque show was deeply amusing, one had to admire Jane's Addiction's commitment to the bit.
They certainly weren't lying about the 'Addiction', and despite the absence of notoriously moustached guitarist Dave Navarro, the band provided a pungently garish show.
Jane's Addiction - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Following a brief recess, the bald prince of sorrow Billy Corgan seized the stage in his trademark Dracula cloak and face paint. The Smashing Pumpkins cast a thrilling shadow, mystically looming as cheers pierced the night sky.
Slacker anthem 'Bullet With Butterfly Wings' lowered the lights with gripping intensity, a brooding whip crack of belligerent sass. This 1995 hit from classic album 'Melancholy And The Infinite Sadness' set a bold scene for the evening to come, one filled with timeless riffs and Corgan's infectiously sneering vocals.
The throwbacks continued with 1993's 'Today', one of three tracks performed from the album that prompted a generation to buy Big Muff fuzz pedals, 'Siamese Dream'.
An industrial rendition of the Talking Heads classic 'Once In A Lifetime' showcased the heft of the light show, thunderous sub-bass pulsing in tandem with ripples of bloodshot red.
The Smashing Pumpkins - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Definitive '90s alternative drummer Jimmy Chamberlin took the track to the next level, sending it into a relentlessly demanding solo. This became the transition into 1998's 'Ava Adore', the band's progressive synthesis of industrial electro-pop and hard rock.
At 58 years old, Chamberlin sliced through the intricate grooves like butter. He then provided yet another incredible solo – this time at breakneck drum n bass tempo, accompanied by electronic loops fit for the rave cave in 'The Matrix: Reloaded'.
"In you, I feel so dirty. In you, I crash cars. In you, I feel so pretty. In you, I taste God – we must never be apart."
The iconic James Iha's guitar mastery was on exceptional form during 'Ava Adore''s solo, an octave-laden journey climaxing with the use of a beam from a laser gun on his guitar pickups.
The Smashing Pumpkins - image © Clea-marie Thorne
The group soon took a detour from downright nasty synth bass to acoustic guitars, with Corgan and Iha providing a rendition of The Church's goth-pop masterpiece 'Under The Milky Way'. This preceded another acoustic duo performance, this time with their bittersweet symphony, 'Tonight, Tonight'.
It was then that the other Smashing Pumpkins saddled up again. The superb 'Cherub Rock' solo saw Corgan bathed in tessellating rainbows, with whirling beams of marvellous colour cascading around him. One of the most well-composed rock songs of all time, it was goosebump-inducing to witness such glory in the flesh.
Thus followed the one riff to rule them all. 'Zero' set Gen X heads banging on Pavlovian autopilot, moshing up enough whiplash for a class action lawsuit. Here however the crowd screamed out for more, as Corgan and Iha teleported them to the '90s with searingly hot guitar harmonies and snarling vocals.
"Emptiness is loneliness, and loneliness is cleanliness, and cleanliness is godliness, and God is empty – just like me."
The Smashing Pumpkins - image © Clea-marie Thorne
'1979' followed, a dreamy excursion into a hopeful, wistful, and ultimately optimistic world of high school blues, road trips, and uncertain futures.
"June bug skipping like a stone, with the headlights pointed at the dawn – we were sure we'd never see an end to it all."
Yet another left turn saw 'Beguiled', a new tune from Smashing Pumpkins' latest record 'Atum', accompanied by a wrestling comedy sketch. Yes – comedy wrestling, in the middle of a Smashing Pumpkins show. Even more surprising was the fact that it landed with hilarious effect, with male and female wrestlers battling it out for the crowd's affection over the track's operatic antics.
The group landed on 'Silverf...' to close out the night, a near nine-minute psychedelic odyssey from 'Siamese Dream'. The song saw Corgan and co again doused in miraculous lighting, this time lacquered in swirling, geometric circles of green.
The Smashing Pumpkins - image © Clea-marie Thorne
For a stadium-level act famous for brooding tunes and vampiric tendencies, The Smashing Pumpkins create a remarkably approachable atmosphere. The group present no elevated rock star pretence nor sinister edges, instead facilitating a warm and light-hearted experience.
It was an evening which brimmed with intense nostalgia, the band casting out waves of bliss and hopeful memories intertwined with the itch-scratching angst of '90s rock.
With a slew of incredible songs from benchmark albums and exceptional covers sprinkled in throughout, The Smashing Pumpkins gave fans something to treasure for years to come.
