The Smashing Pumpkins played with special guests Metric on the Shiny and Oh So Bright Tour on July 17th at the Toyota Center in Houston.

Smashing Pumpkins (note: not “the”. Just like the band Doves – read a book) are on tour after 18 years of, well… NOT touring.

Subsequently, in a clear sign of appreciation for long-time fans, the band is pulling out a lot of their old stuff. Selections from Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness dominated most of the set.

As a casual “radio” fan of The Pumpkins (see how wrong that sounds? (I just used the word “see” and then the word “sounds”, which makes zero sense (at least my parenthetical positioning is immaculate))) I wasn’t expecting much and I was nowhere near as excited as many of the mid-30’s fans in my general area, many of which had SP tattoos.

What got me was a wonderfully-performed rendition of “Thirty-Three”. Billy (note: William Corgan) is not known for a.) being normal, or b.) love songs. However, “Thirty-Three” is as strong a love song as any. So much so, that I almost shut down a little and absently responded to my friend Drew who is as casual a fan as me and was just making conversation. Sorry, Drew.

The name “Smashing Pumpkins” carries a lot of weight. They’ve been around for thirty years.

With that, a certain amount of production for live shows is just expected. I’m not sure if the show lived up to their name. Corgan and Co. ruled the radio waves in the late nineties and here they are on a nostalgia-fueled tour, essentially celebrating those years… but I can’t decide, even days later, if what I perceived as a lack of “magic” is, in fact, a negative, or if it played out precisely as they wanted. I don’t know. I’m not even all that smart. Truth. And there was talk of Toyota Center perhaps being a bit too big. But the show sold out. So, that’s clearly not accurate. There was just something missing… I don’t know. Next topic.

Canadian openers Metric did their part to energize the crowd as they filtered into the arena – nothing mind-blowing in my opinion, but enjoyable, nonetheless.

If nothing else, I can say I saw Smashing Pumpkins live.

– ES