The Smashing Pumpkins
The Shiny And Oh So Bright Tour
The Forum - Inglewood, CA
Night 2 of 2
August 31st, 2018



"Mellon Collie and the Infinite Setlist "


EX-


Taper: mixter_






Lineage / Equipment:

Sec: 133 - Row: 15 -> 4.5' h -> at933's (4.7k dt mod) cards -> naiant pipsqueak pre (+4dB) ->
edirol r09 (24/48) -> san disk extreme plus 32gb class 10 - 80mb/s -> reader -> audition 3.0 (minor level
adjust +6dB l / +8dB r - fades - normalization - de-clap process) -> har-bal 2.3 (slight e.q.) -> audition 3.0
(dither to 16/44.1) -> cd wave editor (track split) -> tlh (flac level 8, etc...) -> you -> sense of enjoyment
-> sharing is caring -> support the artist (yes) -XX convert to mp3 (no!!!)


K.I.L.L. = Keep It LossLess. Convert to mp3 or shortwave radio for personal use only.
Please do no sell or attempt to profit from this recording. I do ask that any reposts, links
or artwork credit me as the original taper. Thank-you.


Setlist:

01. Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
02. Disarm
03. Rocket
04. Siva
05. Rhinoceros
06. Space Oddity *
07. Drown
08. "Zero Intro Video"
09. Zero
10. The Everlasting Gaze
11. Stand Inside Your Love
12. "James Speaks #1"
13. Thirty-Three
14. Eye
15. Soma
16. "Mark McGrath Video #1"
17. Blew Away
18. For Martha
19. To Sheila
20. Mayonaise
21. Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans
22. Landslide +
23. Tonight, Tonight
24. Stairway To Heaven @
25. "James Speaks #2 - Band Intros"
26. Cherub Rock
27. "Mark McGrath Video #2"
28. 1979
29. Ava Adore
30. "Billy And James Banter #1"
31. Try, Try, Try
32. The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning
33. Hummer
34. Today
35. Bullet With Butterfly Wings
36. "Billy And James Banter #2"
37. Muzzle
38. "Encore Break"
39. Solara
40. Baby Mine #


03:16:00



Originally performed by...

* David Bowie
+ Fleetwood Mac
@ Led Zeppelin
# Betty Noyes



The Smashing Pumpkins are:

Billy Corgan - Vocals, Guitar, Solo Acoustic Guitar on 02, Acoustic Guitar on 13, 22, Piano on 18, 19,
               Electric Piano on 24.
James Iha - Guitar, Backing Vocals, Lead Vocals on 17, Ebow on 18, Slide on 40.
Jimmy Chamberlain - Drums, Keyboards on 13, Drum Solo on 39, Ukelele on 40.
Jeff Schroeder - Guitar, Acoustic Guitar on 20, 22.

Jack Bates - Bass, Keyboards on 13
Katie Cole - Piano, Keyboards, Organ, Backing Vocals, Acoustic Guitar on 17.
Linda Strawberry - Visual Design



The Band / Performance:

When I saw Billy Corgan perform a solo show at The Hollywood Forever Cemetary last November, he shared his intentions
to reform the original lineup of the Pumpkins. You could sense the optimism in his voice as he talked about some of the
classic songs and how they not only had an impact on him personally (as the songwriter) but the other members as well.
Billy has made it no secret that he feels that the legacy of The Smashing Pumpkins has been eclipsed by other bands of
the time like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Radiohead. Although he has expressed some praise for Radiohead, he has not been
nearly as kind when speaking of the other two. One thing is almost certain, by 2000 he struggled to express his creative
genius within the framework of a band. Even as far back as "Siamese Dream", the writing was on the wall as Billy elected
to re-record James Iha's and D'Arcy Wretsky's respective guitar and bass parts, substituting his own. Billy's creative
output reached supernova critical mass with the follow-up Mellon-Collie and the Infinite Sadness as he had written nearly
100 songs for the project. Unlike Nine Inch Nails, which was clearly and completely centered around Trent Reznor since day
one, the Pumpkins soldiered on as a "band" for a decade before the shit hit the proverbial fan. Jimmy was "fired" prior to
Adore and then D'Arcy and James left shortly thereafter. The band also made some drastic stylistic changes that left many
of their fans puzzled. The layered guitars were subjegated for synthesizers all of a sudden. Imagine The Beatles jumping
from Help to The White Album. Would their legacy exist without Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt Pepper and Magical Mystery
Tour? Anyway, when we last saw "our hero" he had already gotten James and Jimmy to sign on to the idea and was in the
process of communicating with D'Arcy for the first time in neary two decades. Unfortunately by spring of 2018, it had
become very clear that Ms. Wretsky was either not willing nor able to commit to the reunion tour. We may never really know
what happened except that D'Arcy publicly released her text correspondence with Corgan. By her own admission, she was pretty
"rusty" and probably not up to Billy's vision of a three hour show each night.

It is clear that besides the huge draw that a complete Smashing Pumpkins reunion would create, that Billy's vision was to
present these songs in the best light possible. He wanted to reproduce the material with the detail that was present only on
the albums. He retained Jeff Schroeder, his guitarist of the last decade since the Zeitgeist tour. Hence, three guitar players.
I noticed at times that Jeff did some of the "heavy lifting", so to speak. Things kicked off with Billy playing "Disarm" on a
solo acoustic guitar adorned with a Blackstar. The LED wall behind him showed several photos of Billy as a child growing up. The
snapshots were adorned with the type of grafitti that you would find on a jr. high school pee-chee folder. When the opening
chords of "Rocket" blasted off it was clear what he was trying to accomplish with the wall of sound of guitars. Unlike an unrelenting
guitar duel fest (a la Judas Priest), the parts were clearly defined and distinct (think Robert Fripp's League). Over the course of
three and a quarter hours, the band poured through 31 songs carefully handpicked from the group's first five album (six if you include
Pisces). The video segments were carefully choreographed to match each of the songs. I'm sure that this was the primary reason that
there was no variation in the sets from night to night. I won't editorialize the entire show track by track. Needless to say. I was
simply blown away at the scope and scale. I get it. That's not to say that the shows haven't received there fair share of criticism,
sadly most of it from the "fans". I won't get into it, except to say that many people said Hooky's son, Jack look bored to tears
playing his bass. One dude said he looked like he just got off his shift at Office Depot! (Jack was dressed in a pique polo shirt
that night). I personally thought he did great. I saw this kid "grow up" playing with his dad over the last six years. He cut his
teeth playing back to back JD/NO sets night after night. One things for sure, that Pumpkins fans aren't happy unless they're NOT!



The Recording:

An incredibly clear pull from the back of the Lower Bowl section, some 100 feet or so from the left ceiling stack. Vocals are clear
and at the front of the guitar heavy mix. Thanks due in large part to a seat upgrade from the Forum concierge staff, I was blessed
and bestowed with a very quiet group of fans around me. No whistlers, thunder clappers or karaoke singers near me. The guy to my right
woo-hooed once (during "Siva") and the guy to my left, twice (during "For Martha" and "Porcelina"). This is astonishing for a nearly
3 1/2 show. There is some light background murmurring during some of the quieter songs. Still, in my 30+ years of taping, this is one
of the best thing I've ever pulled from an arena. This is what makes it worthwhile.



Personal Highlights:

Clearly "Soma" was one of the high points for me along with being able to hear nearly all of Siamese Dream performed live. Hearing Adore
ballads "For Martha" and "To Sheila" was fantastic as well. You can really appreciate Billy's skill as a songwriter and pianist on those
intimate songs. James turns in some really delicate ebow work on "For Martha". Last but not least, how can you go wrong with 14 minutes
of "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" smack dab in the middle of the set!



Of Note:

I made some minor level adjustments in order to slightly amplify some of the quieter portions. Most notably "Disarm" and the beginning
portion of "Soma" received a +2dB increase while "Landslide" and "Baby Mine" received +3dB. For those really into stats, "Thirty-three"
was performed at the nearly one-third point of the show.

Also, there are a few musical interlude pieces that I elected to not track separately. They appear at the beginning of certain songs and
the end of others.



For What It's Worth...

https://www.alternativenation.net/smashing-pumpkins-bassist-darcy-first-interview-in-20-years/





Enjoy,


mixter_