I Said Yes to the Mighty Smashing Pumpkins

I'm a lucky bastard. I had the opportunity to see the Smashing Pumpkins at their CD release party at the 9:30 Club in Washington this Tuesday.

Reviews for both the new album, Zeitgeist, and the show have not been too good. I'm wondering about the critics' expectations, though. Mostly, I've read that the major problem is that Billy Corgan & Co. haven't changed much even after reforming with two new members.

OK, so let me figure this out. The Smashing Pumpkins of today sounds too much like the Smashing Pumpkins we loved 10 years ago?

I'll do some math, here: (a) we liked Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie, (b) Zeitgeist sounds like both. (a) squared + (b) squared = only a jackass would try to be so high-handed as to be disappointed in a new album of a sound they love.

OK, sorry. Got a little frustrated, there. Really, though, the Smashing Pumpkins are flawed, like all great musicians. But that doesn't change that they're great. In the words of a friend of mine, Zeitgeist is "a tad overindulgent. Although, when have the pumpkins not been overindulgent?"

Exactly. Remember "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans"? Remember "Silverfuck"? Zeitgeist has songs like that. But it also has rockers like "Zero" and "Hummer."

In short, you take the Smashing Pumpkins for what they are - good and bad. And then, you let them rock you. They rocked us at the 9:30 Club on Tuesday night.

Check out "Hummer," from the show:


Also, they opened with the new oh-so-Pumpkins 9-minute-guitar-bass-and-drum orgy, "United States." Check it out.