Two Shows Later
Two of my highlights the past year, were having the opportunity to see two artists that have been around for twenty years, perform. These two artists can be arguably considered two of the most influential and successful bands of the Nineties.
NIN Front man [or sole man] Trent Reznor has had a busy past two years. It included producing releasing his seventh album Year Zero, along with an elaborate ARG [alternate reality game] with clues being found anywhere from USB drives in bathrooms at venues, to binary codes on the disc visible when heated.
Besides releasing Year Zero, he also continued a tour that has been going on since his 2005 release of With Teeth, which marked his comeback into music after battling substance abuse and alcoholism.
2008 – Upon his release from record label contracts, he releases a 36 instrumental track album under a Creative Commons license. Not even two months go by before he released yet the next NIN full length album titled ‘The Slip,’ for FREE.
And while many fans thought he would remain in the studio writing and producing both his and other’s work, he shortly returns with the announcement that he would once again be on tour.
Once again Reznor stretched the limits of performing arts, this time not in writing, recording pace or release style, but in Concert production. His ‘Lights In The Sky’ tour can arguable me the most sophisticated Rock production ever.
Going through a canadian company called Moment Factory, Reznor and his art director Rob Sheridan worked to make the stage virtually an instrument and tool in itself.
With the use of sophisticated computers in lasers, they made the stage react to what was being played and also at certain points in the show individuals’ movement. Besides responsive visuals, this tour would also mark the third year in a row Reznor has been on tour.
Until recently, due to record labels greed, this incredible tour would’ve only been remembered by fans’ memory, and uploaded videos on youtube with shaky cameras.
The Smashing Pumpkins made their name known commercially with the release of their second album ‘Siamese Dream.’ This was followed up by what is called by many as ‘the Wall’ for Generation X, ‘Mellon Collie and The infinite Sadness.’
I had ther opportunity to see them exactly eight years to the day that they disbanded marking the end of the original four piece incarnation of the band with guitarist James Iha and bassist Darcy Wretsky.
In 2006 Billy Corgan reformed the band with Drummer Jimmy Chamberleign, new guitarist Jeff Schroeder and bassist Ginger Reyes.After touring in support of his come back album ‘Zeigeist,’ the Pumpkins were far from finished. Returning for a 20th Anniversary Tour, [mind you, according to him it is NOT a reunion tour] Billy Assembled a nine piece band, adding on to the other three already present besides himself from the 2006 tour.
This would prove to be another sign from his behalf that according to him [Corgan] the Smashing Pumpkins are NOT the original four members.
Both these bands have evolved over twenty years and have had the chance to see exactly how technology has made it difficult for artists. Reznor having realized why fans steal music took it all the way as he encouraged his audiences during his performance 2007 tour to steal it online and distribute it.
While Corgan has no doubt commented on this, I have found in the majority of his recent interviews that his main rant has to do with fans. He has made his firm point on his utter frustrations on how his audiences’ only main concern is to hear their favorite song, leaving no room to want to hear or see the band accomplish new things and further evolve.
but what is the major difference that these bands have [besides genre] that makes their fans have different attitudes towards them?
Is it the aspect of a show? I must admit that I was rather disappointed with the stage design the Smashing Pumpkins had. While it is hard to be pleased with anything after NIN’s techie showcase, I thought it was a stage mess of amps and random equipments boxes [it looked like those from my vantage point.] Not to mention that Corgan’s encore was all nine members playing two final songs on kazoos intermixed with his very own comedic talk.
I have already mentioned a taste of NIN’s light show, but another aspect that made the difference was how he ended the show. For those fans that wanted to have a head-banging finale, he gave them just that and for the other fans that wanted some emotional inspiration, [Hi, I'm a guilty member of this party] he ended the show with a four song encore and in the final song the members walked off stage one by one as the music dissolved layer by layer.
Another difference I clearly noticed between their shows was how they ran it and interacted with the crowd. Reznor is well-known for carefully arranging a set list and sticking to it with very little [if any] talk to the crowd. The most he had done at the show I saw was a quick intro of his band members followed by a dry-joke segway that led into their next song.
Corgan explained each aspect of the show to the crowd and at some points would go on for minutes in his own comedic talk.
Music Itself? Early fans of the Smashing pumpkins do not hold his latest album in as high regards and as a result look forward to hearing the old songs rather than his new material. With NIN, he continues to feature songs from all eras of his career, some of them considered by fans as ‘concert staples.’
In the end I think the question is about the balance to what fans expect from the artists, what the artists expect the fans to give them and to tie those both up, what the artist ends up giving, whether that be in music, set lists or stage design.
Nonetheless, I very much enjoyed both of these shows. They are both unforgettable moments to me and I very much look forward to seeing and hearing what both of these bands come out with in the future.
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