The Smashing Pumpkins 2022-07-27
| July 27, 2022 – Highland Park, IL, US | |
|---|---|
 Poster with artwork by Gary Baseman | |
| Live performance by The Smashing Pumpkins | |
| Artist | The Smashing Pumpkins |
| Date | July 27, 2022 |
| Venue | Madame ZuZu's |
| Coordinates | 42°11′11″N 87°48′2″W |
| Location | Highland Park, IL, US |
| Venue type | Teahouse |
| Capacity | 300 |
| Personnel | Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin, Sierra Swan, Billy Swan, Frank Catalano, Chloe Mendel |
| Order of bands | Janelle Lake, Frank Catalano Quartet, Bob Moses, Billy Corgan, Sierra Swan, The Smashing Pumpkins |
July 27, 2022 was the Together and Together Again benefit show for the Highland Park community in the wake of the Highland Park parade shooting. The full performance (which can't be embedded here) is available on YouTube.
The first set was by harpist Janelle Lake, while the third set was by Canadian duo Bob Moses. All other sets featured personnel of The Smashing Pumpkins, in whole or part. The sets featuring Billy Corgan are notable for the live debuts of two new songs, "Photograph" (which was written as a "reaction" to the mass shooting) and "Scimitar".
The event raised over $250,000 for the Highland Park Community Foundation.[1]
Relevant setlist
Set two
- "Night and Day" [Cole Porter] (final performance)
- "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" [Duke Ellington] (only performance)
- "Impressions" [John Coltrane] (live debut)
Set four
Billy Corgan solo
- "Processional" (acoustic) (final performance)
- "Thirty-Three" (acoustic) (final performance)
- "The Celestials" (acoustic)
- "Like Lambs" (acoustic) (final performance)
- "Ithax" (acoustic) (final performance)
Set five
- "I Can Help" [Billy Swan] (acoustic) (final performance)
- "Don't Be Cruel" [Elvis Presley] (acoustic) (only performance)
Set six
Corgan, Chamberlin and Swan
- "Aeronaut" (acoustic)
- "Today" (acoustic)
- "Wrath" (acoustic) (final performance)
- "Scimitar" (acoustic) (Hush Your Mind)
- "1979" (acoustic)
Set seven
Frank Catalano Quartet with Swan
- "At Last" [Glenn Miller] (final performance)
Encore
Corgan with Frank Catalano Quartet and Swan
- "With a Little Help from My Friends" [The Beatles] (acoustic) (only performance)
- "Jane Says" [Jane's Addiction] (final performance)
Notes
- First set by harpist Janelle Lake
- Second set by Frank Catalano Quartet with Chamberlin on drums
- "Impressions" cover featuring Corgan on guitar including a solo
- "I Can Help", "Don't Be Cruel" and "Aeronaut" with Chamberlin on drums
- "Aeronaut", "Wrath" and "Scimitar" with Swan on backing vocals
- "Don't Be Cruel" with Corgan on electric guitar
- "At Last" with Swan on vocals
- "With a Little Help from My Friends" with Chloe Mendel on lead vocals
- "Jane Says" with Perry Farrell on vocals
- First performance of "I Can Help" since 2016-04-16
- First performance of "Like Lambs" since 2017-01-31
- First performance of "The Celestials" since 2017-09-23
Banter
…
Like Lambs
…
Corgan: Ladies and gentlemen, I'm certainly more dumb than I am courageous heh heh. I'll let you think on that one for a second. In a zigzagging career – and yes I call it a career – 35, 36 years and counting, [I've seen] a lot of crazy things. Last night, I played a new song. [unintelligible] Of course, I'd like to play this song for you now. What I did is I explained before I played the song that I was doing an interview the other day; we did a lot of press to set up this event. The interviewer asked me, "Did you ever think about writing a song about what happened here?" I said, "Well, that kind of reminds me of like when you get your heart broken when you're young and you write really bad poetry. I wouldn't want to write really bad poetry about something that was very hurtful." A couple days later I was working on a new Pumpkins song. I started playing something, and I thought "that could work." Took a nap, woke up, and the song was spinning in my head. So, this is my reaction, I guess you could say, to what happened. I don't know if it's a good song or bad song, but it certainly expresses the way that I feel. Normally I do not explain what my lyrics are about. I'm loathed to do it because invariably I ruin somebody's stoner-trip version. [laughs] Or given my lack of diction, those misheard lyrics that are certainly better than the ones I wrote. So if you indulge me for about 60 seconds, I'd like to explain what this song is about (which again falls into the category more unwise than courageous.
Corgan (continues): So in the opening scene, I'm explaining to somebody that I found a photograph of us standing in the very spot where this horrible thing happened. It's as simple as that. Something so simple like a photo taken on a beautiful day, right over here by the ice cream shop where we go sometimes for fancy sorbet. And uh, suddenly when we look at the photograph it has meaning, "oh my god, we were in that spot." That's what something like this does, it turns everything upside down. Good things become bad, bad things become good. Simple things become complicated. Complicated things suddenly have no meaning. Certainly no resonance. And then it shifts into a dream. Sometimes I have these dreams where it's as real as it is I'm sitting here with you. I don't know why I have these dreams, but I feel like I'm on another planet having these dreams with unfamiliar people. So it shifts to the dream. Suddenly, right over there at the square [points outside], hearkening back to our origins here in Highland Park. I see a young woman dancing by herself. She's obviously dancing in my dream for those we've lost. My reaction is to try to explain to her, or ask her for something, which is interesting because, she's mourning the dead and the wounded. Why do I need something from her? I think we all have that reaction sometimes, right? I wonder what this has done to all of us. You could say it's selfish, you could say it's focused. And that's what the rest of the song is about. I hope you enjoy it.
Photograph
Corgan: Alright, now let's have some fun! Instead of all this depressing stuff. I'd like to bring up two close, close friends of mine. We consider them members of our own family. From Nashville, we have Billy Swan. The man, the myth, the legend himself, and his daughter Sierra Swan.
Corgan: Come on up here, young man [speaking to Billy Swan] Now as I like to point out, Billy is the only man or woman in this room who has a #1 hit song, which I'm very proud to say.
…
Can Help
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