am no Billy Corgan fan, always considered him a poor man's Kurt Cobain and while in the 1990s it MAY have looked like:
1. Cobain
2. Vedder
3. Corgan
Really, what happened was Cobain offed himself, Vedder abdicated, and in a fit of hubris (or is that ego?) worthy of Jack White or that dick from Wilco, Corgan fired his band and couldn't regroup.
Until this year, I don't think I've mentioned Corgan in a positive light on rock nyc once. Indeed, I once wrote about being stuck in a crowded subway with a Smashing Pumpkings song on repeat and being too crowded to turn it off.
But this year a couple of things happened.
1. First and foremost, his latest album, Oceania, was pretty solid. His best since Mellon Cholie. Now, part of that is a downgrading of the latter, which today appears to have five great songs and 90 minutes of filler. But the rest of it is pretty good sonic rock, no melodies worth mentioning, but an intenseness that was its own reward.
and
2. Everybody he dissed, Courtney Love, Pitchfork, Radiohead, he had a damn good point.
But that isn't why I am going to see Smashing Pumpkins it will be my third ever) on Halloween at Barclay Center. So why?? because every fucking gig SP have played in the past decade have been SRO sheds like T5. I can sit down at Barclays and therefore I am going to Barclays. Plus, on the way back? I can ride the N Train all the way home!!!