When Corgan Had Hair

Some tunes for a Saturday night. 1994 doesn't seem all that long ago to me. I know I've done so much since then and in many ways I'm a completely different person than I was way back when... yet in a way it seems like only a few years ago.

In any case, not too long ago I found out that Billy Corgan has decided to allow people to freely record Pumpkins shows and permission's been given to Archive.org for people to upload audience recordings into the vaults there. Lookin' at the setlists, they mix it up which is nice, unlike some other bands who essentially roll out the same friggin' setlist night after night. Not a bad selection of stuff! Lots of juicy shows from 1988 right on through to pretty much the present. Which one first? How about this one...

Smashing Pumpkins
August 5, 1994 - Downing Stadium
Randalls Island, New York City
Lollapalooza Festival

Rocket, Quiet,
Miss World [Hole] (tease) -» Disarm,
Today, I Am One -» Zero (tease),
Drown -» Hummer,
Geek U.S.A., Soma, Cherub Rock
Encore:
Siva (abandoned) -» Star Spangled Banner (tease),
Stay [Lisa Loeb] (tease),
All That She Wants [Ace of Base] (tease),
Bullet With Butterfly Wings (tease),
Dancing In The Moonlight [Thin Lizzy]

"The wind sucks," says the taper. Yes, yes it did that night and I know because the mics seemed to've picked up every gust. The mics also picked up people talking and not only between songs but talking while the headlining band of Lollapalooza '94 was winding up the day, talking while they were playing! Hello?! And on top of that, oh how lovely it was to seemingly be listening to the crowd do Pumpkins karaoke at times. Nice to sing along with Billy, eh? No! Just listen!! All of those flaws unfortunately kinda wreck this recording and that's too bad. Interesting freakin' show!

The year before, their latest release, Siamese Dream, had been one of the best selling albums of 1993. They truly got launched. No more playing clubs night in and night out. Time for bigger venues and bigger ticket prices... and now here they were playing the biggest festival in the land (Moneystock '94 aside) and totally destroying.

Summer of '91 was my first of two times seeing these guys. Cruised on up from the Jersey Shore for a night of drinkin' with friends and a show in good ol' Hoboken. Few months later back out in Utah, the Pumpkins hit Salt Lake City and there was no passing that up! Both shows were in fairly small clubs and were a couple of the best non-Dead related shows I've ever seen! But after seeing a date on each of the first three Lollapaloozas, I didn't go in '94. Missed the Pumpkins (as well as the Beastie Boys and L7 and P-Funk) but since I got to see 'em back in the day when they were still almost nobody, no huge loss. Although, this was an incredible show (when it's able to be heard nicely.) A funny show, too, man, holy crap! Corgan goes off during I Am One -> Zero -- F this and F that and he doesn't F'in care about MTV and people now don't know integrity and yada yada yada. Yeah, and then before the encore starts up he and Iha are making fun of NY Knick John Starks for blowing it in the finals a couple months earlier against the Chicago Bulls. Then throw in some insults against the NY Giants for letting quarterback Phil Simms go... and mention Mike Ditka for good measure. There's just a whole bunch more that I ain't gonna take the time to document but it's good, entertaining Billy Corgan at his "great at sucking" best. So despite the piss poor quality, okay, well, maybe just near piss poor quality of the recording, it's an interesting listen to say the least. I'm almost debating with myself on whether or not to keep it. Since I'm from New York, kinda sorta -- 22 miles west of midtown Manhattan -- even though I wasn't there, it's a show from my hometown area so maybe I'll hang onto it. Just too bad about the audio quality 'cause they freakin' ripped!!

@ Archive.org,
Listen or Dload over this way --> here

Homer & the Pumpkins
backstage at Hullabalooza