The Smashing Pumpkins 1996-12-17

December 17, 1996 – Sacramento, CA, US
Live performance by The Smashing Pumpkins
Infinite Sadness tour
Date	December 17, 1996
Venue	Arco Arena
Coordinates	38°38′57″N 121°31′5″W
Location	Sacramento, CA, US
Venue type	Arena
Capacity	17,317
Personnel	Billy Corgan, James Iha, D'arcy Wretzky, Matt Walker, Dennis Flemion, Jimmy Flemion
Order of bands	Garbage, The Smashing Pumpkins
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Rescheduled from August 19, 1996 due to the death of Jonathan Melvoin.

Setlist

1. "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" (prerecorded) 
2. "Tonight, Tonight" 
3. "Rocket" 
4. "Fuck You" 
5. "By Starlight" 
6. "Where Boys Fear to Tread" 
7. "Zero" 
8. "Today" 
9. "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" 
10. "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" 
11. "I Am One" (tease) 
12. "Slunk" (tease) (acoustic) 
13. "Galapogos" (acoustic) 
14. "Disarm" (acoustic) 
15. "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" 
16. "Muzzle" 

Encore one

17. "X.Y.U." 

Encore two

18. "1979" 
19. "The Last Song" (tease) 
20. "Cherub Rock" 

Notes

• "1979" with Jimmy Flemion
• Last performance of "Galapogos" until 2008-11-04

Banter

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness Intro
Tonight, Tonight
> Rocket
BC: Hi, thanks a lot. We are the evil Smashing Pumpkins.
Fuck You
BC: Good evening, thank you very much.
By Starlight
> Where Boys Fear to Tread
> Zero
BC: Thank you very much, how's everybody doing?
Iha: Good evening, good evening.
BC: Thank you for such a warm response, it's uh, it’s been a while. I don't know what we're doing wrong, but uh, nobody seems to like us anymore, so thank you very much for liking us. Yes, it's pathetic, but we need your love.
Iha: With this next song, we really want your love, so um, everybody, be happy. ‘Cause today is a semi-okay day.
Today
> Planet of the Apes clip
> Thru the Eyes of Ruby
Porcelina of the Vast Oceans
BC: Thank you very much. Well, Matt’s--Matt has broken his kick drum pedal, Matt, the drummer.
Iha: Ladies, ladies and gentlemen, Matt is--
BC: He's so strong that he just....
Iha: Yes, Matt is quite the He-Man drummer.
BC: So, what would you like to hear then since we can't play any songs with Matt? (crowd yelling) Oh, I see.
I Am One (tease - Iha plays a few seconds of the riff)
BC: Your drum is fixed now, Matt? Well, we don't want to play with you now, Matt, that's the problem.
Slunk (tease - Billy plays through the riff once) (acoustic)
Iha: (singing) Right on, motherfucker. (speaking) Wow, all you have to is just uh, be vulgar and get some attention.
BC: Heh heh heh.
Galapogos (abandoned immediately - Billy gets the 2nd note wrong)
BC: I'm not very good on the guitar, you have to excuse me.
Galapogos (acoustic)
BC: Thank you very much. This is the part of the show where we tempt you with silence.
Disarm (acoustic)
> Circus tape
> Bullet with Butterfly Wings
BC: Thank you very much. We'd like to um, end the concert tonight with a Ted Nugent song.
Iha: Yes.
BC: Although it may not seem to have relevance to you at this particular time, it's a song for all the ages. I don't just mean just 17 to 63. (laughing) Anything to add there, brother?
Iha: Well...I don't know, man, um, people have been nice. And uh...I don't know. People of all race, creeds and colors, let's get it on!
Muzzle
[encore break]
Iha: Thanks a lot, you guys have been rockin’. (Billy doodles a blues riff) We got the--we got the Chicago blues, you see.
BC: Would you like to tell everyone what kind of blues we're about to play?
Iha: Ah, yes, well, let’s--let's examine the music, it starts--starts off in a 4-4 time signature and there’s a distorted guitar chord and it moves into a--
BC: That's not what I mean.
Iha: What? Oh, it's uh, cyber metal, cyber futuristic metal,
BC: No, cyber--
Iha: Let's fucking rock! I'm sorry, what, what, I'm sorry. I stopped halfway through the spiel.
BC: The cyber blues.
Iha: Oh, I--(hits first chord for X.Y.U.)--that part escaped me. Okay, cyber blues rock, let's rock.
BC: That's it?
Iha: Um...alright, the name--
BC: These people paid a lot of money for an explanation.
Iha: Listen, it's been a while since I’ve been to college, so I will just give the introduction to the name of the song, ladies and gentlemen, the name of this next song is (whispered) X.Y.U.
X.Y.U.
[encore break]
Iha: Grazia, merci, thank you very much for sticking around. Ladies and gentlemen, I must introduce this green angel next to me. Our good friend, everybody, it's Jimmy Frog! Jimmy Frog. And now, his brother, on the keyboards, ladies and gentlemen, he’s come all the way from Milwaukee to rock with us on this tour, Jimmy Frog’s brother, Dennis Frog! Dennis fuckin’ Frog, let me say that again, Dennis Frog! Woo! And now, the man behind the drum kit, we've introduced him before but now we have to give him a proper introduction, all the way from Wilmette, Matt “Cosmo” Walker! Yes, Matt. Matt's an old family friend of ours and uh, his father and my father went ice fishing about fifteen years ago in Saskatoon. They met at a bait shop, I found this out just weeks ago and I'm still flustered since.
BC: Are you saying that you're Matt's uncle?
Iha: Yes, yes.
BC: Now, people.... This of course is the part of the show where we used to ask people up on stage to dance, used to.
Iha: Yeah. I'm feeling kind of nostalgic, aren’t you?
BC: Because--because of the unpredictable nature of Smashing Pumpkins fan type people, we can no longer do the dancing on stage.
Iha: It seemed that whenever we did such an act, we only got psychopaths on stage and uh....
BC: Of course, not that there are any crazy people here, but um, you never know.
Iha: So on this next song, we encourage you all to dance, yes, dance. Let's do the bugaloo.
BC: In your seat.
1979 (with Jimmy Flemion)
Iha: Is nothing sacred anymore? Ladies and gentlemen, let's have a round of applause for Jimmy Frog. Yes, he came all the way out here on a Learjet, put the whole show together, got the shit together, we just--we give it up for Jimmy Frog. And now we will go back to a older record of ours. It's a rock song, yes, and we hope you enjoy it.
(Matt starts Cherub Rock drum intro)
The Last Song (tease)
BC: This is the last song, this is the last song I can sing for you. (Matt continues with drum fill) You’d think, Matt, after all this time you'd learn how to do the fucking drum fill!
Iha: He's a quick learner [unintelligible].
BC: All his years in the circus.
Cherub Rock

Photos and memorabilia

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