The Smashing Pumpkins 1993-11-20

November 20, 1993 – Washington, DC, US
Live performance by The Smashing Pumpkins
Rock Invasion tour
Date	November 20, 1993
Venue	WUST Music Hall
Coordinates	38°55′5″N 77°1′26″W
Location	Washington, DC, US
Venue type	Club
Capacity	1,000
Personnel	Billy Corgan, James Iha, D'arcy Wretzky, Jimmy Chamberlin
Order of bands	Swervedriver, The Smashing Pumpkins
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Setlist[edit | edit source]

"Geek U.S.A."
"Quiet"
"Today"
"Disarm"
"I Am One" (with rant) [6:08]
"Rocket" (abandoned)
1. "The Star-Spangled Banner" [Francis Scott Key] (tease)
2. "Rocket"
"Drown" (abandoned) [0:32]
"Drown" [4:21]
"Hummer" [6:23]
"Siva" [5:12]
"Cherub Rock" (abandoned)
"Soma"
"Cherub Rock"

Encore one[edit | edit source]

"Silverfuck" (abandoned) [6:26]

"Suffer" (tease) (verse 1 + bridge)
(improv: "The Boredom Song")

"Silverfuck" (abandoned) [5:15]

Encore two[edit | edit source]

"Bury Me"
"Pissant"
"Spaceboy"
"Frail and Bedazzled"
"Silverfuck" [8:52]
1. "Over the Rainbow" [Harold Arlen / Yip Harburg] (tease)

Notes[edit | edit source]

"Silverfuck" is attempted twice during the first encore before Billy Corgan walks offstage due to hecklers

Banter[edit | edit source]

Iha: I really love DC.
D’arcy: [unintelligible word or two].
Iha: I appreciate you [unintelligible].
Geek U.S.A.
(BC alt last line: I fuckin’ hate the U.S.A.!)
(Quiet feedback intro begins)
BC: Hello. How are you? I am fine. Nice to see you, nice to see you too.
Quiet
Today
Disarm
I Am One
(BC midsong: All I ever wanted was everything. All I ever wanted was everything. And all I ever wanted was everything and all I got was shit. What you want is what you'll get and that's nothing. What you want is what you'll get and that's nothing. And nothing can be taken from me that hasn't already been taken. Nothing can be taken from me that hasn't already been taken. Ask the man inside your heart what you want. There's nothing. And give me more of that nothing. Just a little taste of nothing. Give me some more of that nothing. Nothing. And in a world full of fuckin' eyes and flapping jaws, there's nothing. Like a crab in your ear...gimme some of that nothing! Give me a little more of that nothing. I want some more of nothing! I want some more of nothing! Gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme...nothing! There’s nothing! There’s nothing! There’s nothing!!)
BC: I don't hear you!
Rocket (abandoned before first time through riff complete)
> Star Spangled Banner (tease - 2 lines on guitar)
> Rocket
Drown (abandoned after first line)
Iha: Yes, it's another tune –- tuning mishap. Let’s all lie down to the...our Stonehenge. [4 unintelligible words]. Man, that sounded really weird.
BC: Did not achieve the proper cosmic...moment.
Iha: Oh, what was it? [2 unintelligible words]?
Drown (starts directly at first line)
> Hummer
> Siva
Cherub Rock (abandoned after 5 drum rolls)
Iha: Damn, bustin' that dope rhyme again, Jimmy. And now it's time for the human beatbox. (beatboxes for a few seconds) Hahaha, okay, just a minute, we’ll start the show back up. We’ll rock at any minute.
Soma
Cherub Rock
[encore break]
Iha: Thank you, oh DC.
Silverfuck (abandoned during intro, with verse 1 and bridge of Suffer in intro)
Girl in crowd: (after 4 min of intro) Billy!
BC: What? ... We’re just continuing your program: me, boredom.
Iha: Some advice, some advice for the women, watch out for these randy security men.
BC: (singing) Give me a B, give me an O, give me a R, give me an E, give me a D, give me an O, give me a M and that spells boredom. Boredom. Boredom! Boredom! Motherfuckin' boredom. (speaking) Thank you.
Iha: Oh well.
(Silverfuck intro abandoned)
BC: So what do you know? (crowd yelling) “We love you”, “we hate you”, um, what else did I hear? “Play Bury Me.” ... Whoever threw the money, you know, thanks a lot.
Girl in crowd: Fuckin’ want some water!
BC: Give you some water? ... Anybody need any money? Tickets to tomorrow's show? Chocolate milk? Heh heh heh. (laughing) That was it. Heh heh heh, I didn’t [2 unintelligible words]. If I had known you were wearing the space helmet, this would be totally different.
Iha: I’m just...wearing my helmet.
BC: Hey, don't throw shit, you pussies.
Iha: This helmet -– this space helmet--
BC: Who's the pussy? Come on, raise your hand.
Iha: He’s hiding.
BC: You see, it's only the people in the balcony who throw shit ‘cause they know I can't see 'em.
Iha: He's hiding amongst the crowd. This space helmet, I'll let you know, it was given to me from Shudder to Think, fine men of Washington DC. Fine outstanding men from Washington DC. More power to Shudder.
BC: God bless the Shudder to Think.
D’arcy: Where are they? One of them could be standing next to you. We are not in tune.
BC: This is gratitude: “Give me some water so I can throw it back at you.” Would Ian MacKaye approve? Hey Dewey, he's part of the indie mafia, watch what you say. Oh yeah! You want us to play a song, right?
Silverfuck (direct intro)
BC after first guitar solo: Hey, somebody throw that guy on his head. He's been thrown out of the Republican Party and now he's sad. Thank you! Now, he’s -– he's one of those people when he gets hit on the head, he's only happier. Hey wait, what is that sign, heh heh. Just...destroy that sign please, someone. I’m serious. Give me that sign, Bryan. See, this is exactly what I don’t like about being in a rock band. Whoever did this thought they were being creative: “The-Smash-ing-Pump-kins”. It's amazing, this guy went to art school for this. Of course, sponsored by Bud – Budweiser and Bud Light. I don't even drink fuckin' beer! See, it's a fuckin' clown puppet show. Oh, by the way, sorry the tickets are so much but that's just the way it is in DC, man. That's just the way it is. ... Should I begin the song again or should we just give it up? What do you think, gentlemen? You want us to get offstage? Alright. (Silverfuck abandoned) See, it's amazing, I'm paying this guy's salary but he wants me to get the fuck off the stage so he can go home. (Billy dismissively waves his hand at the crowd and walks offstage)
[encore break]
BC: Thank you, thank you for being really fucking cool.
Iha: Now we were -– we were just joking, heh. Sounded so--
BC: Yeah, that was someone else.
D’arcy: [unintelligible few words].
Iha: See, that’s the new part, we’ll just go again, I don’t really mean anything you said.
BC: Hearing. (tuning guitar) Alright, hold on, sorry, wrong tuning. Alright, we’re gonna rock your shit. This is an oldie...and a goodie: Bury Me.
Bury Me
Pissant
BC: Thank you! We're just gonna keep playing ‘cause fuck this shit.
Spaceboy
BC: Thank you, thank you, thank you. We’d like to play you an unreleased song. I don't know if it'll ever come out, but uh, I hope you like it. Huh, what?--nah. Next one's gonna be really new wave with no rock songs.
Guy in crowd: Yeah, who cares?
BC: “Yeah, who cares?” Well, you know, I don't think you'd be here if you weren't rockin’, so.... This is, um, Frail and Bedazzled.
Frail and Bedazzled
BC: Okay. So um...thanks, thanks again, I'm really glad it all worked out this way. Just remember there are no rules, as you know.
Iha: Oh yeah, someone lost their keys up here; if you can identify ‘em, come and get ‘em.
BC: So um, I know this is kinda like uh, lame in one way but cool in another, so we'd like to try this one more time, I think maybe we can make it through the whole song. ‘Cause I hate to think that someone beat me down, you know, in anything.
Silverfuck / Over the Rainbow
BC: Thank you.

Photos and memorabilia[edit | edit source]