lady_porcelina (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} lady_porcelina) wrote,@ 2007-06-07 13:19:00 |
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My Smashing Pumpkins concert review
First off, I write this in English because from the three people who're interested in this review, one is from Germany, one from Luxemburg, and one from the U.S., so I chose the language everyone can understand...
Where should I start? When I came to the Columbiahalle, I was greeted by the somehow muffled distorted sound of Billys voice and I thought that perhaps someone had turned his/her car stereo up really loud, but it actually was the band rehearsing, and they kept the doors open ( because they wanted some air, I suppose, but it was still cool^^). We couldn't watch them, though.
I found a friend of mine in the row and there we were standing, listening to some italian guy standing behind us trying to imitate Billy's voice and, of course, failing miserably in doing so ;)
The Columbiahalle is wider than long, so you can practically see the stage no matter where you stand. But because I'm pretty afraid of moving body masses, I chose to stand on the balcony, and I didn' regret it, I could see everyone and hear very well. My friend staid in the front row.There was room for about 3,500 people, and it was full.
I was surprised by the number of "old" people there. I had two men standing behind me who were in their forties, if not in their fifties. It was fun to listen to them discussing siamese dream^^
The Pumpkins appeared half an hour late, but they compensated this with a 3-hour-show! It was just amazing, hypnotizing, and there was not a single song I did not like. They played a handful of new ones, the well-known singles from Siamese Dream, some not so well known songs like "Winterlong" or "Glass and the Ghost Children". I was so happy to hear them playing "drown", because it was the first song I had heard from the Pumpkins, the song that made me fall in love with them.
There was an unplugged session in the middle of the show. Billy performed a few songs alone, and was accompanied by Lisa on the keyboard during a few others. It was so beautiful I almost cried. Luckily, the hall manager at some point opened the roof windows, so at least the people on the balcony had fresh night air and the soft light of dawn, and Billy singing "33..."...it gives me shivers when I think of it, although it's 27° celsius in my room.
The outfits were gorgeous. Ginger wore a fairy-like dress, Lisa had a fancy top hat, Jeff and Billy wore overalls and, at the beginning, capes. I couldn't really see what Jimmy wore, but their clothes were all white, except for Billy's sleeves, which were black-and-white-striped.
There was a guest guitarist there, a guy who looked as if he had stepped into a time machine 30 years ago and came out in the year 2007 - but man, could he play guitar! His name was "Uli" or something, he was a friend of the band. I guess I am making a fool of myself right now because he's probably a very famous musician but I just didn't recognize him^^
Of course the show had it's funny moments too.
Someone threw a Winnie-the-Poo soft toy on stage. It landed right beside Ginger, who looked at it, shook her head disbelivingely, and threw it back to the audience.
Billy started to talk to the audience after half an hour. I loved his announcement of "God&Country":
"I'm gonna play a song about my country, about the United States."
The Audience was not cheering...( for Joy: it's considered cool to haven an anti-american attitude in Europe at the moment because Europe rejects the current political programm of the U.S. - sadly, people reject everything that's american, even the non-political issues. And many Europeans - except for the French of course^^ - cannot understand why anyone would be patriotic...it's a very tricky issue in Germany, you know, Patriotism and all...).
So he then added. "You know, I think Gerhard Schröder ( that's our ex- chancellor, that would be the equivalent of the President) loves America too. He cheats on his wife with America. Is he still prime minister?"
The Audience responded "No"
Billy: "well, that prooves how much I know about Germany. Who's prime minister now?"
(Our chancellor at the moment is a woman called Angela Merkel, normally referred to as "Angie". So people cried "Angie!")
Billy: "Ali G? Ali G is prime minister of Germany? Awesome!"
There was another funny moment during the second encore. The Pumpkins and that Ulli guy played "Gossamer" but at some point it turned into a jam session, improvising, and creating a hypnotic sound I've never heard before...it seemed like nobody knew when to stop, and everytime somebody stopped playing, somebody else would start another tune, and so it went on and on...and after about 20 minutes Billy tried to end this all, announcing "that's the end of the show" about 10 times or so, always laughing because everybody was playing on...it was just great!
What's more...someone painted a banner saying "Spaceboy, we've missed you." And they're right.
First off, I write this in English because from the three people who're interested in this review, one is from Germany, one from Luxemburg, and one from the U.S., so I chose the language everyone can understand...
Where should I start? When I came to the Columbiahalle, I was greeted by the somehow muffled distorted sound of Billys voice and I thought that perhaps someone had turned his/her car stereo up really loud, but it actually was the band rehearsing, and they kept the doors open ( because they wanted some air, I suppose, but it was still cool^^). We couldn't watch them, though.
I found a friend of mine in the row and there we were standing, listening to some italian guy standing behind us trying to imitate Billy's voice and, of course, failing miserably in doing so ;)
The Columbiahalle is wider than long, so you can practically see the stage no matter where you stand. But because I'm pretty afraid of moving body masses, I chose to stand on the balcony, and I didn' regret it, I could see everyone and hear very well. My friend staid in the front row.There was room for about 3,500 people, and it was full.
I was surprised by the number of "old" people there. I had two men standing behind me who were in their forties, if not in their fifties. It was fun to listen to them discussing siamese dream^^
The Pumpkins appeared half an hour late, but they compensated this with a 3-hour-show! It was just amazing, hypnotizing, and there was not a single song I did not like. They played a handful of new ones, the well-known singles from Siamese Dream, some not so well known songs like "Winterlong" or "Glass and the Ghost Children". I was so happy to hear them playing "drown", because it was the first song I had heard from the Pumpkins, the song that made me fall in love with them.
There was an unplugged session in the middle of the show. Billy performed a few songs alone, and was accompanied by Lisa on the keyboard during a few others. It was so beautiful I almost cried. Luckily, the hall manager at some point opened the roof windows, so at least the people on the balcony had fresh night air and the soft light of dawn, and Billy singing "33..."...it gives me shivers when I think of it, although it's 27° celsius in my room.
The outfits were gorgeous. Ginger wore a fairy-like dress, Lisa had a fancy top hat, Jeff and Billy wore overalls and, at the beginning, capes. I couldn't really see what Jimmy wore, but their clothes were all white, except for Billy's sleeves, which were black-and-white-striped.
There was a guest guitarist there, a guy who looked as if he had stepped into a time machine 30 years ago and came out in the year 2007 - but man, could he play guitar! His name was "Uli" or something, he was a friend of the band. I guess I am making a fool of myself right now because he's probably a very famous musician but I just didn't recognize him^^
Of course the show had it's funny moments too.
Someone threw a Winnie-the-Poo soft toy on stage. It landed right beside Ginger, who looked at it, shook her head disbelivingely, and threw it back to the audience.
Billy started to talk to the audience after half an hour. I loved his announcement of "God&Country":
"I'm gonna play a song about my country, about the United States."
The Audience was not cheering...( for Joy: it's considered cool to haven an anti-american attitude in Europe at the moment because Europe rejects the current political programm of the U.S. - sadly, people reject everything that's american, even the non-political issues. And many Europeans - except for the French of course^^ - cannot understand why anyone would be patriotic...it's a very tricky issue in Germany, you know, Patriotism and all...).
So he then added. "You know, I think Gerhard Schröder ( that's our ex- chancellor, that would be the equivalent of the President) loves America too. He cheats on his wife with America. Is he still prime minister?"
The Audience responded "No"
Billy: "well, that prooves how much I know about Germany. Who's prime minister now?"
(Our chancellor at the moment is a woman called Angela Merkel, normally referred to as "Angie". So people cried "Angie!")
Billy: "Ali G? Ali G is prime minister of Germany? Awesome!"
There was another funny moment during the second encore. The Pumpkins and that Ulli guy played "Gossamer" but at some point it turned into a jam session, improvising, and creating a hypnotic sound I've never heard before...it seemed like nobody knew when to stop, and everytime somebody stopped playing, somebody else would start another tune, and so it went on and on...and after about 20 minutes Billy tried to end this all, announcing "that's the end of the show" about 10 times or so, always laughing because everybody was playing on...it was just great!
What's more...someone painted a banner saying "Spaceboy, we've missed you." And they're right.
