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| Date : 17 July 98
Country US, Minneapolis, MN Venue : Minneapolis Aquatennial |
Reviewed by Matthew John Polzin
Email : mjpolzin@students.wisc.edu |
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On July 17th I made the drive up to Minneapolis from Madison to take in the Pumpkins free show at the Hennepin Ave. block party. I got there at about 4:30 and even though, the block party started at 6 and the pumpkins weren't coming on until 8, the streets were already filling up. The setting for the concert was very unique and cool. The stage was set up in a parking lot and the main area for fans took up the rest of the parking lot. This was surrounded by skyscrapers and a few other fairly tall buildings. It was fun to just look around at everything. A band called furslide opened up the concert and they weren't that good but nobody really gave them a chance. Cracker came on next and they got the crowd rocking. During the opening bands, the mayor of minneapolis came on stage and declared it Smashing Pumpkins Day in the city and this got everyone excited. The Pumpkins came on at about 8:20. Billy was wearing a black button down shirt and black pants, along with a black coat that he took off after a couple of songs. James was also dressed in all black. D'arcy had on a black see through top and silver pants. She was wearing black horns on her head. There was also three drummers and a keyboardist. By the time the Pumpkins came on, the crowd was enourmous and it was later estimated at 120,000. It was an incredible sight. The band opened with an electric version of To Sheila and
then proceded to play the following set.
Encore
All of the songs were faster, harder versions of the original album version except for Perfect and Tonight, Tonight which were played acoustic. BWBW really got the crowd rocking. The new version is fantastic. Billy almost comes off as evil when he screams the lyrics in the microphone. The band was very animated during the concert as it seemed like they were enthralled to be playing the free show. Billy got a lot of laughs when he said that since it was Smashing Pumpkins Day they could collect taxes, get keys to everyones house and revoke drivers licsenses. D'arcy added, " And you thought the show was free. " This was by far the best concert I had ever seen and I don't think it will ever be topped because it isn't too often that someone gets to see a concert in such a different setting with that number of people in attendance. |
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