The Smashing Pumpkins @ Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion
Review by Natasha Christian
Billy Corgan has successfully connected passion and purpose with his travelling circus The World Is A Vampire tour.
On Wednesday, the real-life Pumpkin King - he asked for a better nickname than Vampire from Outer Space - took over Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion for a second night to host some wrestling. The Smashing Pumpkins frontman owns National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), one of America’s oldest wrestling bodies and thought it would be fun to share his passion with his fans.
It’s not every day one of the world’s biggest rock stars lets you see behind the curtain into their off stage life. But Corgan clearly loves wrestling, and it appears he wants his fans to know it so he can talk with them about it. So instead of standing around staring at our combat boots during set changes, we were treated to some pretty fun wrestling matches between the NWA and Wrestling Alliance of Australia (WAOA) as Corgan happily watched ringside.
Battlesnake was a hard opening act to follow with their Tenacious D-esque fantasy rock. The Sydney 7-piece donned white and gold robes as they dished up some impressive guitar and keytar solos and dragged us to Hell with songs Nightmare King, The Atomic Plough and The Battlesnake.
Melbourne punk rockers Amyl & The Sniffers kept the energy going with I’m Not A Loser, Security and Hertz before Jane's Addiction roared in with the ferocity of a headliner. Red Hot Chilli Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer stepped in for the notably absent Ink Master Dave Navarro, as frontman Perry Farrell welcomed us into his manic pixie dream show of sex, drugs and rock and roll.
While we could’ve done without the drinking wine on stage, 64-year-old Farrell showed he was still very much a rock star, belting out JA classics Pigs In Zen, Mountain Song, Jane Says and Been Caught Stealing. It was a family affair as Farrell playfully teased the audience in his iconic black hat and cowhide chaps while wife Etty Lau showed Nothing’s Shocking with a stunning XXX-rated burlesque show complete with monkey bars and sex swing.
While Corgan was here for the wrestling, the main event for many of us tonight (tonight) was The Smashing Pumpkins set. Joined by founding members drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and guitarist James Iha, the Pumpkins also includes long-serving guitarist Jeff Schroeder, Jack Bates on bass (son of bass legend Peter Hook) and Aussie singer Katie Cole. There’s a lot to say about this near-perfect hour and 40-minute set that digs deep into the band’s 35-year history. After watching tricks and gimmicks for four hours to get here, I thought we were in for more of the same. Instead, we got a band of extremely talented musicians, some simple and effective lighting, and a back catalogue of songs that speak for themselves.
We’re welcomed with Atum song Empires as a kaleidoscope of colour surrounds the band, who are all dressed in black and white. The song of the tour, Bullet With Butterfly Wings is up next followed by Today. One of the most beautiful moments of the night was Corgan’s acoustic lullaby We Only Come Out At Night from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.
But the light and bright set quickly turns dark as the band shifts to an industrial arrangement of Talking Heads' Once In a Lifetime. It’s by far one of the coolest covers I have ever heard with its dreamy guitar drone and booming bassline being swallowed by a bloodred light show. Here’s a video of them performing it last year, it’s insanely good. The riffage continues with Solara from 2018’s Shiny and Oh So Bright where we are treated to a Chamberlin drum solo. The most surprising moment of the night is when Corgan’s long-time friends The Veronicas joined the stage for a delicate rendition of Eye - Corgan briefly dated Jess Origliasso in the early 2010s so it’s nice to see they’re still on great terms.
We reach the halfway mark with Ava Adore. Until now we’ve had minimal interaction with the band aside from the odd check-in from Iha (and his chicken salt-inspired rap) and Corgan declaring he wasn’t a fan of being likened to a “Vampire from Outer Space” in a recent review. Corgan and Iha’s intimate acoustic version of Tonight, Tonight is sandwiched between some close-to-home covers - The Church classic Under The Milky Way and Katie Cole’s take on John Farnham’s You’re The Voice. The kaleidoscope of colour intensifies for Cherub Rock and we’re taken home with crowd-pleasers Zero and 1979. The wrestlers get their encore with riff-heavy Beguiled and the band gives us one final jam with nine minutes of Silverfuck.
Some critics will say the show lacked the gloom and sorrow the band are infamous for, with songs like Bodies, X.Y.U and Disarm missing from the setlist. But if Corgan is as chuffed as he appears to be in his wrestling promoter era, who are we to demand he stays stuck in a dark, depressing pit of despair? Bands aren’t doing us any favours by being stuck in their trauma, so if Corgan’s happy to tour the world sharing how he’s risen above his, all power to him.