30 years ago this month, the Lollapalooza 1994 traveling festival touched down at South Philadelphia’s FDR Park, with anthemic alt-rockers The Smashing Pumpkins headlining; a few days later, a buzzing Bay Area punk trio jumped on the tour at Randall’s Island in New York, riding the irreverent high of their kinetic third LP Dookie.
In the months following Lolla, both Green Day and the Pumpkins quickly ascended to icon status in the modern rock world, and subsequently went on to chart hits, rack up Grammys, and have at least one Broadway production based on their music. Sure, they’ve each experienced setbacks, and offered up forgettable moments — and occasionally bewildering ones — in the course of their careers. But generally, their respective trajectories have been upward, so much so that their combined strength brought a sellout crowd out on a rainy Friday night to pack Citizens Bank Park in South Philly.
Coming at the tail end of a blustery rainy week as Tropical Storm Debby traveled up the east coast, it seemed at first like a rather grey day for Green Day; a late afternoon downpour resulted in the The Linda Lindas‘ opening set getting called off. (More on that later.) The first band to hit the stage were Berkley punk vets Rancid, whose half hour onstage was unhinged and rifftastic, drawing strongly on their 1995 classic …And Out Come The Wolves, from “Maxwell Murder” and “Roots Radicals” to “Ruby Soho.”
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Rancid | photo by John Vettese for WXPN
When The Smashing Pumpkins returned from a long hiatus in 2007 and began to shape-shift its way across the 21st century, it leaned hard into not being a nostalgia band. Under Billy Corgan’s leadership, it embarked on ambitious projects like song cycles (2012‘s Oceana), and a triple album (2023’s ATUM), all conceptual and heavily-produced and rather good. The band even released a new record last week, Aghori Mhori Mei, which is doomy and focused, kind of reminiscent of their Machina era.
The Pumpkins see themselves as very much existing in the now, but Corgan doesn’t disavow the band’s hits either, and as a result, their own shows can be three-hour epics packing it all in. What does that mean for an hour-long set in the context of this tour? All of the above, in a condensed fashion. Of course we heard “Today,” “Cherub Rock,” “Zero,” and “Tonight, Tonight.” And then there were surprises — “Jellybelly,” wasn’t expecting that, a dirgey metal cover of U2’s “Zoo Station,” wasn’t expecting that either — as well as new songs like Zeitgeist‘s “Doomsday Clock” that were punchy and proggy and entertaining.
The current Pumpkins lineup features co-founders Jimmy Chamberlin (being extra on drums in the best way) and James Iha (skulking on guitar at stage left), along with more recent band members like bassist Jack Bates and keyboardist Katie Cole. For his part — and in contrast to his sometimes super-sullen, super-serious persona — Corgan seems seems surprisingly cheery to be up there performing, especially while mixing it up with new guitarist Kiki Wong. With so much instrumentation surrounding him already, he was freed up to put his own guitar down during “Ava Adore,” throwing himself full-bodied into the vocals and delivery, howling and writhing on catwalk — which, later in the set, was the site of a mini wrestling exhibition sans explanation.
As the band played “Beguiled,” two ripped folks entered, flexed, and sparred, until the heel got dramatically body-slammed. Corgan told the crowd “we’ll be back on August 21st at 2023 Arena, the old ECW arena.” Important to note: he means he and the wrestlers will be back, not he and the Pumpkins — if you weren’t aware, he’s also been a professional wrestling promoter since 2011, and is the owner of the National Wrestling Alliance.
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The Smashing Pumpkins | photo by John Vettese for WXPN