came on around 8:15 while a good 1/3 of the seats were still empty. kind of disheartening. i mean it was sold out, so i'm not sure what the reasoning was. filled up pretty quickly, tho there were still patches of empty seats through out the nite. opened with "to sheila," when it kicked in at the start of the 2nd verse crowd went nuts, with good reason, this would prove to be one of the highlights of the nite. atually, the first 3 songs were quite possibly the best. "once upon a time" was next and at the "i went falling" part we got billy's first real crooning of the nite. "ava adore" was next and it was started by some neat percussion stuff. i was kind of wary of the percussion at first but it really does at to the full sound. so "ava adore" rocked with billy's new little hard-rocking riff. he started getting the hand motions going when singing also. it was indeed a great start to the nite.

then it slowed down a little. "perfect" was ok, i just don't love that song too much. sounds too much like "1979" at least to me. "pisol pete" was next and that too was merely average. things picked up again with "tear" tho. stunning version of this song. i knew that this one would be excellent live and it sure did not disappoint. this went into "thru the eyes of ruby." this is one of my all-time favorite pumpkins songs, but i thought this version was a little lacking. one of the most blissful pumpkins moments is when this song kicks in at "i believe in never..." but they kept it at the same medium pace until the end. it did pick up steam at the end, then they slowed it back down for "annie-dog" which i've got to say has become my favorite "adore" track. billy ditched his guitar for this one just standing at the mic singing, looking kind of uncomfortable. his hands were up near his chest, just seemed to be twiddling around. but he sang it beautifully. "blank page" was next as was a bit long, but still nice.

they brought out the acoustics for "tonite tonite" and i never really did like this song too much, and it was just ok. then was the surprise of the nite. having seen the setlists i pretty much new what to expect. but after "tonite" everyone left the stage but billy. then he was talking about how a little over two years ago the pumpkins played their last show as a 4-piece here in d.c. i had forgotten about that. so he thanked the crowd for putting up with them, and so on. then he played a solo acoustic song that he said he hadn't played "in a year, maybe 6 months more." and he said the name and i couldn't for the life of me understand what he said! frustrating beyond belief. he said it was going to be on "adore" but they didn't put it on. all i could make out was "the listen (something)" but that could be, and probably is completely wrong. anyways, it was a beautiful song.

then was the dreaded drum solo. ugh. i did not pay my $40 to see 3 bald guys who AREN'T billy corgan banging drums. this was pretty painful. they came back out for "bwbw" which was surprisingly good in it's new incarnation. nice to hear that corgan scream. "shame" was next, great song, great version. then came "for martha." spectacular. when billy kicked into that solo, man, it was heavenly. so that was the end of the set.

they came back out for the encore, presented the check to the chairty, nice. james introduced it, speaking for the first time. "1979" was quite excellent. people were actaully moving around. after that, or maybe it was before i forget, james started yelling into the microphone. so billy said something to the extent of, "getting the crowd worked up like that is an insult to ourselves because it is saying that we can't do that with our music." so then billy said, "good nite, show's over." but of course they played "transmission." billy did some a capella "let's dance" by david bowie, some political tirades (e.g. "i listen to the stars, i listen to kenneth starr). then something about "i listen to the silence of the youth, the violence of the youth" and so on. at this point d'arcy was just sitting down looking completely bored. but then they jammed for a bit longer and ended the show by bringing 4 people on stage to play their instruments. pretty funny. the first girl billy brought up was completely shell-shocked. quite humorous. so the pumpkins gave their farewells, and we watched the random audience members play for a minute before the crew came out. and that was it. started strong, ended strong, little lacking in the middle. still, no complaints. and also the radio station here, whfs, said they have a dat of the whole show, and they will play it uniterrupted, so folks in the d.c. area listen for that one. viva los pumpkins!

Set List
to sheila
once upon a time
ava adore
perfect
pistol pete
tear
thru the eyes of ruby
annie-dog
blank page
tonite tonite
(billy solo acoustic song, please help!)
bwbw
shame
for martha