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| Date : 14 May 1998
Germany - Hamburg Venue : Speilbudenplatz Attendance : about 25,000 people |
Reviewed by : Vincent Jager
Email : v.jager@st.hanze.nl |
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When we arrived in Hamburg from our long, irritating trip from The Netherlands, the Pumpkins were already playing. Luckily it was their 2nd soundcheck, so no big deal. They played 2 soundcheck sessions, each session 3 songs (Tonight, Ava Adore etc.). After the 2nd session, D'Arcy thanked the Pumpkins for letting them open for them. Yes, it was clear they were in a good mood. The show started at about 7.30pm, where the Pumpkins opened with To Sheila. I had heard new songs from the Bridge School shows, The Stones openers and the Viper Room, but this time they played it a lot better, more intense and ofcourse with the help of 2 extra percussionists, it sounded much better. Billy was in a really good mood, talking between the songs, making jokes about Germany's 'pride' The Scorpions and so on. A few times he was ready to say something, but then he changed his mind and started laughing. D'Arcy threw back a rugby which was thrown at her. The band was really relaxed. The crowd reacted very well on the new songs, so that must have helped the band as well. I was very surprised beacause the show was so rocking. When you heard Billy and James talking about the new album, it was clear that it's more intimate and introvert, but this show, well... apart from the extra percussionists it's not much of a difference with the Mellon Collie tour. I don't know the exact setlist, but they played 13 songs. I'll do my best to remember them, these are the songs they played for sure (in random order): To Sheila, Ava Adore, Daphne Descends, Shame and from Mellon Collie: Tonight (acoustic), 1979, Bullet and Ruby and as encore they played (as I was told) Transmission by Joy Division, a big fat jam, like the Silverfuck-jams used to be. The total show-length was 105 mins, which was pretty cool. The show was taped by at least 2 people in the audience and it was broadcasted at WDR Radio, but only for one hour. Also, on Thursday (21st) VIVA will broadcast parts of the show on tv. Billy was wearing this knee-length black leather coat (very cool), James was in black and well D'Arcy, she didn't hide anything (remember some MCIS-photo's?). Kenny Aronoff was wearing this cool yellow glasses which made him look 20 years younger then on certain photo's circulating on the Web. The other 2 percussionists were pretty invisible as well as Mike Garson, the keyboardist. Well, it really was an awesome show, great new songs, phantastic atmosphere, it was for free and we saw a relaxed band...what else do we need? |
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