The Smashing Pumpkins, Gerard Way @ Festival Hall, Melbourne (23/02/2015)
The latest reincarnation of Gerard Way is less dark. The music he and his band, which he introduces as The Hormones, play to the sparse but growing crowd at Festival Hall seems to come from a place best described as the light at the end of the tunnel. Each song is, for the most part, a short, self-contained moment, with an emotive acoustic performance of piano-track ‘Brother’ being the highlight of the set.
As someone in the audience behind me says while updating a friend who has arrived mid-set-- “Their set’s been pretty good, I quite like them. I’ve never heard their stuff before.” Gerard sheds some light on the reasoning behind the unexpected support spot, telling the audience how important The Smashing Pumkins are and have been for himself and his brother Mikey. |
He even shares a story about Billy Corgan’s involvement in the making of his album Hesitant Alien. Billy apparently told Gerard he was making a glam rock album after listening to demos for the album, something Gerard wasn’t even aware of himself. However, it is difficult to label the music played on the night as simply glam rock, rather, the breadth of sound is something which cannot be so easily pinned down.
When it comes time for the Pumpkins to enter, Billy awkwardly dawdles over to his place centre-stage as if he is the quiet, awkward kid at school. The only difference is that he does so to waves of applause. As soon as he starts playing though, the rock icon within is unleashed and ever-present. The band opens with ‘Cherub Rock’, which almost appears to be a warm-up song when set alongside the pairing of ‘1979’ and ‘Ava Adore’ that follows. The audience response increases dramatically for the two songs, the many faces swelling with admiration. ‘Disarm’ receives an equal amount of love when it is played a bit later in the set, 1,000 or more voices joining in the refrain “the killer in me is the killer in you”.
Although Billy is not one to be upstaged by anybody, Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk close to steals the spotlight at times. This is especially the case when things start to get heavy, in particular during the astounding performance of ‘United States’ which also sees Billy repeatedly let out several brutal screams of “revolution!”
The set, which is followed by an encore of ‘Tonight, Tonight’ and ‘Fame’ by David Bowie, peaks at the end with ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings’ and ‘Heavy Metal Machine’. It is a night full of hits with a few newer tracks scattered throughout and very little talk, and it is clear as fans mosh along while the band jams through the later part of the set that the audience is left wholly satisfied.
Nathan Fioritti
When it comes time for the Pumpkins to enter, Billy awkwardly dawdles over to his place centre-stage as if he is the quiet, awkward kid at school. The only difference is that he does so to waves of applause. As soon as he starts playing though, the rock icon within is unleashed and ever-present. The band opens with ‘Cherub Rock’, which almost appears to be a warm-up song when set alongside the pairing of ‘1979’ and ‘Ava Adore’ that follows. The audience response increases dramatically for the two songs, the many faces swelling with admiration. ‘Disarm’ receives an equal amount of love when it is played a bit later in the set, 1,000 or more voices joining in the refrain “the killer in me is the killer in you”.
Although Billy is not one to be upstaged by anybody, Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk close to steals the spotlight at times. This is especially the case when things start to get heavy, in particular during the astounding performance of ‘United States’ which also sees Billy repeatedly let out several brutal screams of “revolution!”
The set, which is followed by an encore of ‘Tonight, Tonight’ and ‘Fame’ by David Bowie, peaks at the end with ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings’ and ‘Heavy Metal Machine’. It is a night full of hits with a few newer tracks scattered throughout and very little talk, and it is clear as fans mosh along while the band jams through the later part of the set that the audience is left wholly satisfied.
Nathan Fioritti