Smashing Pumpkins – Shiny and Oh So Bright Tour

Smashing Pumpkins brought their “Shiny and Oh So Bright” Tour to the First Mariner Arena in Baltimore, MD on July 27th, 2018. Singer Billy Corgan reunited with founding members James Iha on guitar and Jimmy Chamberlin on drums, with touring musicians Jeff Schroeder (guitar), Jack Bates (bass) and Katie Cole (piano) filling out the lineup.

The founding members: Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin and James Iha, Jeff Schroeder (Guitar), Jack Bates (Bass) Katie Cole on Piano

As the lights came down, the audience was greeted with an animated package of the band’s journey through space and time, complete with some of their iconic album art. From the start, the crowd knew that it would be treated to songs from the band’s entire 30-year career.

The first song played was “Disarm”, featuring Corgan on stage by himself. Behind him were altered pictures from his childhood. Again, this demonstrated that this show was all about the band’s travels through space and time, starting with him as “a little boy, so old in his shoes.”

Since this show was played on the 25th anniversary of the album Siamese Dream, it was appropriate that the next song played was the single “Rocket”.

Staying with the earlier part of their catalog, the Smashing Pumpkins performed their first single “Siva” from their debut album, Gish. It’s crazy to think that Corgan almost called the band “Siva” instead of “The Smashing Pumpkins.” It was also amazing to see how immense their stage set up was.

“Siva” was not going to be the only song played off of Gish, as the next song was “Rhinoceros,” which is also the B-Side from “Siva”. It was interesting to see more old clips play on the massive video screens, and the rest of the stage had some great lighting.

“Space Oddity” by the late David Bowie was the first of three cover songs performed. This was also the first of a number of costume changes for Corgan. It really felt like Corgan was an alien traveling through space during this stage setup. Definitely a mind-blowing moment, especially so early in the set. It really made one wonder what other surprises they had in store.

The night continued with 26 more songs and no break. Production was top-notch the entire night! The video boards displayed a series of videos with Corgan as a religious character, as well as what appeared to be the the human version of the cover character from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. The crowd also got to see Mark McGrath from Sugar Ray as a narrator twice during the vaudeville clips.

All in all, this was one of the best shows to hit the area in a long time. Hearing 31 songs spanning their 30-year career will make many fans quite happy.