AndySlash wrote:tour stopped here last night. a few months ago live nation did a deal where you could get 4 tix for 80 bucks total and no additional fees for 'select' shows (i.e. shows that were not selling well), so i grabbed those because i didn't think i'd want to pay much more than that. they were nosebleeds, of course, but the xcel is a good arena for concerts even up in the boonies, so it was worth it. i honestly don't recall the last time i paid $20 for a ticket, let alone an arena show for a classic band. i'd never seen jane's addiction before, either, so that was a significant plus in deciding whether to go or not.
poppy opened the show and i actually think she was a pretty good choice and fit for this show. jane's addiction was missing dave navarro due to long covid, so that was disappointing, but troy van leeuwen filled in just fine. they ran through their hits and mostly early stuff, but they definitely felt like they were playing with purpose and i especially enjoyed hearing avery and perkins' rhythms/grooves.
this was my first time seeing iha with the pumpkins since 2000, and it was nice to have him back, and we even got a bit of entertaining billy/james banter. the set was mostly classic hits with only a few of the more recent and newest songs, so the nostalgia fix was good and billy seemed to be more comfortable with this being the case on this tour, referencing the age of the band and how long fans have been coming to the shows. we only come out at night was probably the oddest choice to add for this tour's set, but i still enjoyed hearing it. for the newer stuff i do really like the song cyr and was glad it was a part of this show, and the other newer songs were fine for what they were and at least sounded way better live. i don't think i'd ever heard silverfuck in my 10 or so previous shows, and while it wasn't a classic 20-30 minute rambling freak out, it was a good way to close the show for a fan like me. i do wish i had better seats because the stage setup and lighting looked really good even from up high, but i also don't think i'd have been as happy paying $75-130/ticket for that for this band, either. the band did sound pretty good and there was little bloat compared to any of the previous times i'd seen them even going back to 1998, but there definitely wasn't any adventurousness and looseness (like jane's had earlier)- these smashing pumpkins were definitely more polished/refined in that regard.
Great review! Sounds like a cool night...im also curious about Janes with Eric A coming back and Troy filling for Dave. They seem to be in high spirits.
The Pumpkins setlist is wonderful.
