Review: Smashing Pumpkins' Cincinnati Show was an Equally Nostalgic and Fresh Experience

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Photo: Garin Pirnia

Smashing Pumpkins performing at Riverbend Music Center on Sept. 5.

The first two times I saw the Smashing Pumpkins in concert was July 2010, first at Forecastle Festival and then at Metro in Chicago, where they started their career. But seeing them the day after Labor Day at Riverbend not only felt nostalgic but also fresh. This year marks the 30^th anniversary of their sophomore record Siamese Dream, which produced hits “Today” and “Cherub Rock.” Lead singer Billy Corgan — still bald — now looks like an alien from 2050. He was cloaked in a black dress-thing and boots, and had a weird symbol smeared on his forehead. I kept thinking it was too hot and humid to be one of the “freaks and the ghouls.” 

As a third timer, I kind of knew what to expect from a Pumpkins show. But the guy seated next to me was a first timer and was blown away by their light show. One word I’d use to describe the almost two-hour, 23-song, career-spanning concert is loud. I should’ve brought ear plugs because I needed them. 

The first three songs pummeled the audience with crunchy guitars, colorful strobe lights and an onslaught of intensity. They opened with “The Everlasting Gaze” from the 2000 album Machina/The Machines of Gods; the crowd head-nodded along. They performed “Doomsday Clock” from 2007’s Zeitgeist, a project that only included Billy and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. Next came a grunge-y, rage-filled version of Talking Heads’ “Once In a Lifetime.” Billy added Ohio into this lyric: “You may find yourself in another part of the world, like Ohio.” The crowd liked that, of course. Oddly, in 2018 I saw David Byrne perform that song on the very same stage with his “American Utopia” tour. But the Pumpkins managed to extract all pop sensibility from the classic and make it their own. It was the first of two covers, the other being a hard-rock cover of the fizzy ’60s song “Hubble Bubble (Toil & Tubble)” by Manfred Mann.

The momentum died down with the less intense “Today” and “Perfect” but picked up with the tour debuts of “Siva” from debut album Gish and “Rocket,” from Siamese Dream. Billy sang kind-of-a-love song “Purple Blood” with the only woman onstage, Australian singer Katie Cole. I would’ve liked to have seen her in the foreground, not the background. During “Ava Adore,” Billy encouraged the audience to shout the lyrics, “We will never be apart,” and Chamberlin performed a drum solo.

Halfway through the evening, Billy finally spoke to his fans and bantered with Pumpkins guitarist James Iha.”It’s a hot night in Cincinnati. It’s too hot,” he said. He compared it to playing at SeaWorld—“a sea of humidity.” He made fun of the fact Iha wore white after Labor Day. 

“You want the hits,” he continued. “It’s a cruel business. Smash Mouth had hits and now the poor guy is gone.” The day before, Smash Mouth’s lead singer Steve Harwell died; he and Billy are the same age and both front bands with “smash” in the title. This came on the heels of the death of Riverbend King Jimmy Buffet, who passed away over the weekend. Suddenly, I thought about how another summer is over and we’re all going to die soon. Everything is ending. Or is everything beginning? The Pumpkins made me feel things on a spiritual level. That existential crisis carried into a beautiful and wistful acoustic version of my favorite Pumpkins song, “Tonight, Tonight”—“we'll feel it all tonight”—with Iha also playing guitar. I’m so glad Iha rejoined the band.

The rest of the set consisted of the head-banging “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” and a sea of different generations yelling “Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage.” They hit upon the synth-esque “Spellbinding,” “Beguiled” (replete with a couple of kids dancing onstage) and “Empires” from new record Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Parts. They played “Hummer,” and Billy tossed an empty plastic water bottle into the crowd, which I suppose was better than a fan throwing one at him. After playing “1979” from Mellon Collie, Iha introduced the five-piece band and Cole. Jack Bates has been playing bass on tour and happens to be Peter Hook of New Order and Joy Division’s son. Jeff Schroeder, “from Hollywood, California,” railed on his guitar during his introduction. Iha introduced a cicada that had planted itself on his leg. 

The show ended as it began: with the band playing hard-rock tunes “Cherub Rock” — Billy riffed on his guitar for a few minutes — and “Zero.” Like a lot of bands these days, the Pumpkins didn’t do an encore. I’m okay with that. However, Iha told the crowd, “We love you,” and Billy stood onstage for a couple of minutes and reveled in the moment. Billy knew he rocked. 

The guy seated next to me said the show was everything he expected and more. He had been looking forward to this show for so long that now it was over, it felt like a letdown. And maybe that’s how a Pumpkins show or any concert featuring your favorite band should feel.