Here's a review of the Pumpkins' show in Rio de Janeiro last night.

Well, after waiting a lot since 1996, when the Pumpkins came to Brazil during the Mellon Collie tour, they finally came back to play here... I found it quite unusual, since Brazil hardly ever get small tour gigs, but anyway, the Pumpkins were nice and gave us the pleasure of their visit for an anthological show during the Adore tour.

When I last heard the news on MTV and other sources, I've heard that only one-fifth of the tickets were sold for the Rio de Janeiro gig... I thought it could be better in the aspect of only the real fans, who really wanted to see them, would be there. I guess I was right, but some people were taken by surprise because of the setlist (they only played 4 songs from Mellon Collie)... which was no surprise for me, I was there to see them play Adore stuff.

I arrived at Metropolitan at about 22:00h... had some trouble with stuff I tried to fetch for a friend (who got some promo stuff for Adore), but when I got inside... what was my surprise? There was this railing thing across the crowd... I asked a friend about it, he told me it was meant to keep people who got in earlier inside, and the others outside. Of COURSE I wanted to be in there! So I got in the crowd (mad crowd indeed), and the security finally opened the railing so *some* people could get in (myself included). After all the confusion, the lights came down...

And they got in the stage... Billy had this black cowboy hat on, D'arcy was wearing her transparent (and no bra for you D'arcy lovers/stalkers) shirt, and James had this colorful shirt... They started it all with "To Sheila"... as beautiful as the album version, and from "Sheila rides...." on, some heavier guitar sounds came in, and it was an amazing version of the "official" opening song for this tour... But the best was yet to come. Mike (Garson) started playing some sadder tones after "To Sheila"... so then it started.

"Tear". This song was AMAZING live, it was a killer! The people pogoed like crazy as the great keyboard and solo guitar combo in the beginning was playing... I couldn't believe it. It was a heavier version of the song, Billy singing acapella just like the album... but all the the times when the chorus came, a sonic symphony came along, driving the people up and down. In my opinion, it was the BEST song in the show. And oh yeah, Mike Garson made up this "latin" feel on a small keyboard solo during the song...

Happy vibes coming in, and "Perfect" started! It was the album version of it, not the acoustic version they were playing a lot during the tour. After this song, Kenny starts doing a drum sequence which reminded me of "Ava Adore"... but it wasn't! It was "Pug", my favourite track on Adore!! Great version, great version indeed... no "kiss kiss" as all the fans are complaining, but does it really matter? It was great anyway, they fulfilled my desire of listening to "Pug" live.

When it was done, THEN they came with Ava Adore.... the people recognized it, and it was a killer too.... "we must never be apart", lots of people singing along, it was great to see the crowd being so responsive! And yes, "you'll be perfect just like Billy" has appeared on this version too, on the final part. Then came "Crestfallen". Beautiful version of it, with Billy and D'arcy singing the drumless chorus... it was cute, the people could ease down and listen... taking a breather after the starting killer sequence!

Then came the most beautiful (IMHO) song on Adore... "Blank Page". Starting just like the original, Billy and the keyboard going on... then on the middle of the song, the guitars and bass came in... It was a great live version of it, I was so curious to listen to it live. (well, I can say I was curious about ALL the songs, but anyway...) After another latin-feel keyboard intro, "Thru The Eyes Of Ruby" came in... finally the crowd could sing along, when Mellon Collie tracks come in it's easier for us (even though I sang all the songs). It was beautiful, "the night has come to hold us young" was echoing from the crowd to everywhere around, great responsiveness!

After Ruby, Billy said "obrigado" ("thanks" in Portuguese) and thanked the audience for coming to the show... and apologized for not knowing how to speak Portuguese, even though he thought everyone could understand what he was saying... D'arcy said "you sing in good English and..." ... and the crowd started yelling, so nobody could understand the rest of her speech...

So Billy asked if we wanted to hear an old song! James answered "well, we've got them right here!" and played an acoustic version of "Tonight Tonight"... it was nice, the people were singing along and it was cool anyway. Then there was this crowd yelling "ZE-RO! ZE-RO!" all the time... and then Billy laughed, gave in and played an acoustic version of Zero!! Unbelievable! The crowd went wild and baffled at the same time, heh heh.... Then came the most beautiful version of "Stumbleine" I've ever heard. I can hardly describe it, I was kind of hypnotized singing along.

The Pumpkins leave the stage, leaving it at Kenny and the percussionists' hands... The drum solo from Hell. It was great, Kenny really is an amazing drummer... And for the fun of it, the latin-feel samba drum solo ending... it was so funny, they were having a blast during it all. Meanwhile, the Pumpkins were coming back to the stage with the unrecognizable version of "Bullet With Butterfly Wings". It was totally deconstructed, crazy guitars, faster vocals, and the crowd singing along!! And when the chorus came, the guitars stopped. Billy stops singing. The crowd takes care of it, and after the first 2 "despite all my rage..." verses, the guitars came back in, the crowd still singing... But I have to admit it was the most insane moment of the night, it was amazing for ones, disappointing for others... Guess what was my opinion on it? KILLER. That's it.

After the sonic storm, they lighten up for a beautiful, beautiful version of "Shame"... Billy started whispering the lyrics, but then came back to the normal tone of it. It was so beautiful... Billy made up some lyrics in the end, something about "calling on the telephone"... It was great.

And then, the opus ending. "For Martha". I can hardly describe how great this song worked live, it had some amazing solos, it was just perfect for finishing the show...

And yes, there was NO encore for some reason. Some people say it was because of the house rules (David Bowie's show at Metropolitan had no encore too -- because of the time? I don't know), some say because the crowd knocked off the railing ("the band asked for it", some told me about the railing) and invaded the area.

Anyway, it was an amazing show, I'm glad I was there to tell the story, and I'll never forget this show.

SETLIST:
- To Sheila
- Tear
- Perfect
- Pug
- Ava Adore
- Crestfallen
- Blank Page
- Thru The Eyes Of Ruby
- Tonight Tonight (acoustic)
- Zero (acoustic)
- Stumbleine
- drum solo
- Bullet With Butterfly Wings
- Shame
- For Martha

Cheers!