When the lights went out, a sold out audience automatically stood up and started cheering.

Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlain, James Iha, Jeff Schroeder and Jack Bates walked out on stage and got right to business.

Corgan started the show with a long red and gold gown. I felt it really added something to his stage presence. He changed into 2 other outfits during the show. My favorite was the outfit he changed into before ‘Disarm’, a black and white gown with the number ‘0’ on the back. His black acoustic guitar matched the outfit and had a white star on the front of it.

The 18 song set list started off with a new song and then went to some familiar essentials,  ‘Zero and Today’. There were two surprise covers of Depeche Mode and The Cure. James Iha performed “Friday I’m in Love’. There was a great mixture of the old and the new.

The sound was impeccable. 

The lighting was timed perfectly with the songs and there was also an LED wall behind them displaying very colorful and beautiful images. While performing ‘Disarm’, there were images and videos of Corgan on the screen as a little boy. There were innumerable guitar changes throughout the show. I was impressed, I did not know that so many different types of guitars went into those songs. 

The highlight of the show was when they performed their new song ‘Porcelains of the Vast Oceans’.  It was beautiful and ended with all four guitarists playing in perfect synchrony together. You could see the emotion in Corgan’s face while playing it and it ended with James Iha jumping up and down. Four people in front of me were so moved by it that they hugged each other. 

The audience stood for the entire show. 

I felt like I was 13 again.

It was the perfect rock show. 

Set List:

1. Solara
2. Zero
3. Today
4. Never Let Me Down Again (Depeche Mode cover)
5. Knights of Malta
6. Tonight, Tonight
7. Dross
8. Friday I’m in Love ( The Cure cover James Iha on lead vocals)
9. Disarm
10. Bullet with Butterfly Wings
11. Porcelina of the Vast Oceans
12. Travels
13. Cherub Rock
14. 1979
15. Ava Adore
16. Heavy Metal Machine

Encore

17. Silvery Sometimes ( Ghosts)

18. Muzzle