We walked about 5 blocks from the nearest metro station to get to Constitution. We were a bit early, since there was assigned seating, but I wanted to look around anyway. We passed some tour busses on our way to the entrance. One was marked "Lights and Equipment" and has roadies going on and off pretty frequently. The other was not marked and there wass no activity around it. I heard the band wasn't coming on a tour bus but I waited a few minutes anyway, just to see. There was no sign of them so I went in to the Hall and bought a tee shirt and a sticker. We entered the actual auditorium to a swinging jazz track. I wondered to myself if the Pumpkins picked the music as I surveyed the view from our seats. We were a little high, but the view was perfect. I also noted that we were on D'arcy's side of the stage. There was a lot of percussion equipment. It was 8pm already, which was the time the show was supposed to start, but I suspected it would be late. The security was pretty tight so I wondered if anyone was booting the concert. Around 8:15 the band came out and went right into the first song. The band members were dressed in all black except for the percussion people. Billy lost his black frock coat after a few songs...the audience cheered at this, as if he was going to strip or something! Shortly into the set Billy bent down and accepted roses from some girl, then he waved them to the audience. He also stopped several times throughout the evening to thank the audience. The entire band seemed in good spirits. I noticed that Billy's voice sounded really good too. They played 16 songs (not counting the percussion solo) and the show lasted about 2 hours. After the show a lot of people ran outside to try and catch a glimpse of the band. They played a dirty trick on us though…the percussion guys' van was in clear sight and Billy, James and D'arcy sneeked into another van parked out of sight. People were actually running down the street after the van…it was pathetic.

Anyway, here is the set list with some comments on the songs.

1. To Sheila - At first I didn't recognize this one. They into was different than usual and it was louder and more full, unlike the album where it is kind of soft and stripped down.

2. Once Upon A Time - Also louder than on the album. I realized this one right away, it's such a great song.

3. Ava Adore - There was a neat percussion intro into this one, and it was a little faster than on the album. Billy also decide to change some of the lyrics around, mostly it was the same words, just different order.

4. Perfect - This one was really fast but I loved the live version! D'arcy sang some great backup too.

5. The Tale Of Dusty And Pistol Pete - Billy played acoustic guitar on this one. The sound was pretty true to the way it is on the album. The chorus was changed, he dropped the "(And) She calls to him" parts. D'arcy's voice sounded really nice on this one. I thought her backups really cut through, and that they added a lot of texture.

6. Tear - This song was huge! There was this really neat Phantom Of The Opera type piano solo/intro that really made the whole song. James also soloed on this song. This was one of the best of the entire set.

7. Annie-Dog - I personally thought that this song was the one (out of the entire set) that sounded closest to the album version. Billy put down his guitar for this one and just sang. I love his hand gestures…

8. Thru The Eyes Of Ruby - I had seen this one on some other set lists from the tour and had hoped they would play it. Billy did a nice solo, changed the lyrics around a bit and the effect was really nice. It was another big, big song. I was glad to hear something off MCIS

9. Blank Page - This one started out kind of soft and had a big crescendo to it. James and Billy took turns soloing

10. Tonight Tonight - Wow! This was faster, and really big. I really liked it played acoustic and the band looked like they were really having fun on this one. Before they played it Billy explained (half-jokingly) how most of the stuff they were playing was new, but since people liked their old stuff better, they would play it.

11. Blissed And Gone (???) - I'm not sure if I got the name right on this one, but Billy played it alone on his acoustic. The other band member left the stage before he started, and he talked about howthe past two years have been rough on them and they wanted to thank everyone for being there. He said it had been about a year since he played the song live, and that he'd only played it live a couple times.
*Here, Billy left the stage. The percussion people went straight into their solo.

12. Percussion Solo - This was really, really cool. Billy, D'arcy and James left during it. We could see D'arcy and James sitting together behind the percussion. Billy was talking to a tech member. Towards the end of the solo they came onto the stage, but it was so dark you could barely notice them.

13. Bullet With Butterfly Wings - The guitars kind of eased into the percussion solo to start this one. It had a very tribal feel to it and it was pretty hard. There was an intro before Billy screamed "The world is a vampire" which I think had a lot of people fooled. I said it was BWBW and the guy next to me look at me like I was crazy. The most suprising thing was Billy's huge smile as they played this one.

14. Shame - There was some really cool lighting in this one and once again D'arcy's vocals really stood out. It was a louder, harder version than on the album. James soloed and at the end of the song Billy announced, "Love is good all the time, yes, yes, ask Monica and Bill" (or something like that).

15. For Martha - Billy and James both soloed on this one, I liked it live more than on the album.
* At this point, the band left the stage, including the percussion. They were gone for quite a bit, maybe 8 or 10 minutes. The crowd cheered constantly. Billy kept teasing us by opening the door and looking out. I don't know how many people saw that though…anyway, then the people from The City Lights School came out and accepted their check and thanked the Pumpkins. Some Government (???) guy declared it Smashing Pumpkins day, to which the crowd responded with a huge cheer. They left the stage and the band prepared to play again. James started talking to the crowd and screaming into the mic. He wasn't pleased with the crowd's return screams and said something like "It's a disgrace for me to encourage them. They aren't loud enough, obviously we aren't good enough for them to be louder…Let's just go." He seemed to direct this to Billy and D'arcy. They proceeded to leave the stage, to which the crowd raised a huge protest. So, they came back and began to play again.

16. 1979 - They really ran through this one quickly. It was still really good. I thought they played it more like a rock song than the pop song it was on MCIS.