World Is A Vampire

Spotlight about the The Smashing Pumpkins Tour

Jamie Macleod Bryden attends the attends the Smashing Pumpkins “World is a Vampire” Tour, supported by Weezer.

Smashing Pumpkins the eye of the storm. Billy whips his guitar, the band follow. Then the audience – each in their own way. The younger crowd who Billy acknowledges wouldn’t have even been born when Mayonnaise was first written, they bop and scream. Older members are just keen to mosh to any song that’s from the “old days”. Never did I ever imagine that I’d ever see a pit form for 1979. The strength of feeling that the Pumpkins evokes spans many eras now.

Even the tee’s at the merch stall reflect this. Siamese Dream hearts, Mellon Collie’s iconic Zero tees – right up to present day. A massive fan base who all got on the bus at different points. I was hooked as soon as a I saw Bullet with Butterfly wings on MTV. The band playing in shiny decadent clothing amongst miners caked head to toe in mud. Who then get released by the rain. The strangeness of it hooked me for life. Each fan wants their own way of marking the occasion.

One huge guy holds his phone in front of me for the entire three-minute duration of 1979. I want to hit him HARD for impeding the songs beauty. We all have our own adoration. Weezer even pay tribute before the Pumpkins arrive by playing “Celebrity Skin” by Hole. A song that Billy wrote. They roar into life with the distorted juggernaut of “Everlasting gaze”. Billy looks lean and vampiric in a black cassock with red buttons.

There are question marks – like when they roll into a cover of Zoo Station by U2. But you have to applaud the confidence with which they pull it off. They do what they want. The crowd go up a gear when Billy frees the initial chime of “Today” from Siamese Dream. It feels like a carefree summer. All these songs connect to some private internal world for each audience member that they hold dear. “Thru the eyes of Ruby” is Pumpkins at their very best.

A vast world constructed within one song. This was an art they really perfected during the Mellon Collie era. It begins delicately before a squall of guitars send it over the water and through the night sky:“The night has come, to hold us young”. Billy screams over the coda.“Tonight, Tonight” augments the nocturnal beauty of that album further. With its initial string sequence and drumbeat capable inducing tears of joy.

It doesn’t really let up, they bludgeon you with hits and pay respect to some of the aforementioned deeper cuts. “Ava Adore is mesmerising, with Billy channelling his Nosferatu moves from its striking music video – one of the few songs when he’s not on guitar. There is a freshness too. Siamese Dream hasn’t really aged such is its brilliance. “Disarm” then “Mayonaise”, track described by Pumpkins superfan Jacob Givens as a heavy song you could slowdance to.

The snarl of “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” that follows is potent and one of the most relevant:
“Despite all my rage I’m still just a rat in a cage”. The newer songs fit well too and there is a beautiful undulation to it all. “Rhinocerous” slows it down and hypnotises the audience with its repeated refrain of “She Knows” after having whipped them up.

“Cherub Rock” which follows is arguably the highlight of the night. Bolstered by the fact that they now have 4 guitarists on stage, it sounds truly mesmeric, heavy and transcendent. The solo going higher than you thought capable. “Zero” then closes with its beautiful nihilism: “God is empty, just like me.”
The Pumpkins show tonight that they are still needed. No one has ever come close to what they do, in the way that they do it.

The World Is A Vampire / The Smashing Pumkins

Credits:

Artists: The Smashing Pumpkins / @smashingpumpkins
Words: Jamie Macleod Bryden / @jamiemacleodbryden
Editor: Maria Abramenko / @mariabramenko
Assistant: Annalisa Fabbrucci / @annalisa_fabbrucci

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