Billy’s second day in Wellington

Just went to go and buy a copy of American Gothic from Real Groovy in wellington. The dude behind the counter told me that Billy was in store yesterday (tuesday 18th). Said he was there for like 30mins before any of the staff recognized him! He was apparently buying ‘old 60’s records’ with two ‘chicks’ one of which was probably Kirsten Burns judging by the description.

All very exciting stuff.

Lol, my blog is turning into a tabloid magazine. sigh.

First Billy sighting!

So I was at the last day of the NZ vs England test match today at the Basin Reserve in wellington today (New Zealand lost ) and they announced over the loud speaker that Billy Corgan had come to the match to watch. so i immediately get excited and start freaking out. Anyway at the end of the game he went onto the field and talked to some press people and walked around, i managed to take a pic or two – mind you from a distance.

Billy on the right wearing black and the big sunhat (very nice billy:) ):

and again using dirty digital zoom:

Following that i went out the back of the stadium and saw him in his car driving away, i called out happy birthday to him but he didnt seem to notice, the girl with him waved

sooo exciting!

So anyway if you ever manage to read this Billy, welcome to Wellington, it’s a pleasure having you here, and Happy Birthday

tickets arrived today!

sooo excited now!

here is my ‘i just got woken up by a courier to give me pumpkins tickets pic, enjoy! yes, opening my eyes was a big issue.

Smashing Pumpkins – American Gothic

The American Gothic EP was released today via the itunes music store today. The release was only announced only two – three weeks before hand on billy’s blog which obviously wasn’t long enough for the folks at itunes to work out that the Smashing Pumpkins fans come from the world over – not just the US. Thats right, to legally obtain this EP you need to be a US citizen, its tougher to get hold of here in New Zealand.

Needless to say I have managed to have a listen or two to the album, and I enjoy it. The opening chords of ‘Again, Again, Again (the crux)’ take me right back to ‘Adore’ whereas Billy’s lighter hearted voice harks back to his days in ZWAN, while some of the chord progressions in ‘Pox’ spark off memories of the Jimmy Chamberlain Complex.

With only 6 months since The Smashing Pumpkin’s release of their most recent full length album ‘Zeitgeist’  ‘American Gothic’ is a real treat for fans.

‘American Gothic’ is the shy younger brother of Zeitgeist – not outspoken, not boisterous, just beautiful. It is gentle and kind, soft and loving, new and nostalgic, sad, true, and all things pumpkins. Thank you once again Billy, Jimmy, Jeff, Ginger, and Lisa. well played.

Oh yeah the tour!

and while im here writing stuff i should probably mention that I did in fact go to Interlaken Switzerland and see the pumpkins play there. I also got home to New Zealand safely (wallet got stolen in bangkok ) The tour was amazing! photos can be seen here

Venice – 06.16.07 Heinekin Jammin’ Festival

After a mammoth drive from Barcelona to Venice – 24hours worth, we arrived in venice and found out on the boat to the Island that the concert was cancelled due to high winds ruining the stage, and set. :’(

So off to Interlaken….

06.12.07 – Madrid – Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas

wow, so after two days and two concerts I am totally exhausted, so todays post won´t be to any great detail. heres the setlist for last nights show:

United States
Today
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Glass and the Ghost Children
Tarantula
Starz
Zero
To Sheila
Thirty-three
Tonite, tonite
Stand Inside Your Love
Lucky 13
Doomsday Clock
Disarm
1979
Untitled

Encore
Muzzle

We showed up outside the plaza de toros at about 2pm in the scorching spanish sun, bought an umbrella and met some great people in the line for the show, two spanish girls whom I have completely forgoten the names of but will be sure to get in contact with. They talked on our behalf to the Spanish TV people while I tryed to say ‘I love madrid’ in Spanish, which i’m sure I completely botched up and looked like a fool doing.

the Opening bands did Ok, decided that I’m not a fan of Kasabian, their music is ok but they just seemed like a bunch of posers… seemed to be too much into that whole ‘rock star’ thing that people like billy and morrissey seem to be above… but maybe thats just me and my delusions.

The Killer’s played a great set, had the crowd rocking pretty hard, and they seem to command a following of some fairly loyal fans. Good to watch.

We had the front row, it was great to be that close to it all, i am determined to get that spot for the every show afterwards. The Pumpkins played a killer set, Billy was everything he always is, commanding the stage just by the look in his eyes. Jimmy played a pile of amazing solos that only jimmy could pull off and ginger seemed to come out of her cage a little, she really seems to be falling into step with the rest of the band, good to see. It was soo good to hear Glass and the ghost children, and muzzle, two big highlights. Seemed to be a lot of hits, but I guess that this can be expected at festival shows.

The crowd was fantasic, a lot of appreciation, and little in the way of pushing, It made for a great night out. Cant wait for Venice!!

Madrid 06.11.07 – SECRET SHOW

So this was a total supirse. Me and one of my friends started freaking out that we were going to miss the madrid show because we lost track of the date. So we ran down to an icafe and discovered that we werent missing the show but that there was a secret show on in Madrid that night. I went to the myspace page that allowed me to register for free tickets but i was too late. So we left the icafe and headed back to our hotel. We were nearly there when we heard some cheers and screams so we turned around to see a group of SP fans on the other side of the sqaure, we ran over and sure enough, we had found the concert. Some awsome guys gave us a ticket which they said was goodfor two people (THANK YOU!) only when we got to the door, they only let my friend in and not me. AND HE HAD THE HOTEL KEYS! I waited round and eventually they let me and pretty much everyone in!

The show was incredible, it was long, and it was filled with spanish VIPs and SP fans – so there was none of the pushing and shoving that you get at festival shows. there was room for everyone to stand and see.

The stage was set up for a queen tribute show or a play or something, so there were suits of armor and mummy coffin things up there.

The show seemed to follow a similar pattern to the festival shows, just extended a little, and a lot more talking and joking from billy. something like ¨Jeff doesnt speak spanish, he only speaks english and the language of love¨ Billy and Jeff then played a little accoustic duet which i can only assume was called the language of love.
Because i was so under prepared i had no pen or paper, and no camera so no photos and an inaccurate setlist but here goes :

United States
Bleeding the Orchid
Thats the Way
Today
Stand inside your love
…
Rocket?
…
Hummer?
…
Accoustic set:
(¿the language of love?)
For God and Country
Thirty-Three
To Sheila
Winterlong
…
…

Encore
Silverfuck

There is a lot missing (obviously) and im unsure of the order of hummer and rocket, but with anyluck, the guy who was standing in front of me from the fan group ·abalone· will post the setlist somewhere. He had it given to him before the show! Other songs they played which i wont try to put in any sort of order were: Neverlost, Tarantula, Bwbw, Disarm, Untitled, Doomsday Clock, Tonite, tonite, Home(might have been after standinsideyourlove).
Sadly they didnt play 7 shades of black or muzzle- two songs im hoping for tonight.

We have photos from our trip and of some of the concerts here: http://sptrip.myphotoalbum.com/

Lisbon – Alive 2007

After arriving at the venue 2.5 hours in advance, and sitting in the Portugese sun for a couple of hours the music started. First up were a punkish Portugese band, who were really loud, followed by a strange French? band who would have been more at home playing in a lounge bar. Then we had the white stipes. They played a good set, but attracted a nasty crowd… no good feelings in that mosh pit at all. I had a crazy portugese dude sweating on me as he was grinding against me whilst shouting all the wrong lyrics to the songs. Mind you during white stripes i managed to move forward a row or two so i was eventually in the second row for the pumpkins – for my first pumpkins experience a mosment I have been waiting for since 1996.

Set list was:

Today
Stand Inside your Love
Bleeding the Orchid
United States
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
1979
Home
Silverfuck »The End [The Doors]

Acoustic set:
Thirty-three
Rocket
To Sheila (band returns then electric)
Tonight
Tarantula
Starz
Zero
Disarm
Untitled

Encore:
Cherub Rock
Gossamer

The show was amazing, billy seemed to be feeling everything. He looked to be hurting through Disarm, and thirty-three reduced me to tears, which i didn´t see coming.

The crowd was great for the pumkins, loads of sing-alongs. When he started singing ´the end´from the doors on the end of silverfuck, the crowd sang along, he then let us to sing the rest of it which we botched up completly while billy laughed and booed us! Lots of humor involved and a lot of fun. We really seemed to move the band just as They moved us. The whole crazy circle seemed to complete itself – we were there for them as they were there for us. It was a most spiritual experience.

Billy and Jeff seemed to have a crazy chemistry developing there. For example they would be jamming away, jeff plays a chord, then billy glances at jeff´s guitar looking genuinely impressed and smiles and laughs.

At the end of the show billy stepped down from the stage and greeted the fans looking truely humbled. He accepted a few gifts from the fans.

The Pumpkins show was truely perfect, I can´t wait to get to Madrid for the next one.

If by any random chance Billy reads this, THANK YOU!

glass

Tomorrow we fly…

So the day has finally come. Tomorrow morning we start flying to Europe to embark on our trip across the world to see the smashing pumpkins in concert for our first time ever!

Slight change to the itinerary, we are no longer going to the show in nickolsdorf - Austria. Instead we are going to a concert in Madrid on the way through to Venice. If any of you readers are going to any of the shows we are (Lisbon, Madrid, Venice and Interlaken), look for a group of four people (3 guys and a girl) wearing silver shirts. Come say hi and mention this blog!

Ok i got to go! See you in Europe

glass