I had heard about some kind of instore signing thing in January. They
were rumors at that point. Then on February 2nd...I got word from Live
105. SP was going to be doing a signing at Dimple records in Sacramento.
They were also doing one in San Jose. On Friday there was an
announcement of a secret show on Sunday. Tickets went on sale Saturday
morning. The problem was Sacramento and Palo Alto (where the club show
was going to be) were 3 hours away. We were told one or the other by
our parents. Then, the San Jose signing was changed to Mountain View.
This was 10 minutes away!! Our original plan was to go camp out for tix
and then wait around til that night when we ORIGINALLY thought they
would play(but we found out was not true). Then camp out again for the
instore signing and meet SP. We were to make a weekend out of it! We saw
Scream 3 that night and then I got stuff packed and went to Seans house.
He argued with his parents while I printed out various maps to get us
there. We had a snack, convinced his parents to let us embark on this
rode trip and headed out the second we got word. We then headed into
San Francisco. We were doing good, although our maps screwed us up a
bit. We got onto the wrong exit and wondered around there for a half
hour. We then got back on the highway. We called Sean's dad to make
sure we were doing OK. We were going the right way. We found the
right exits and then got lost in Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale
and other various towns for 2 hours. We finally decided to go back to
Palo alto and look around for California Ave. again. I called 'The Edge'
which was where the concert venue was. They gave us some instructions
that helped us out. We then headed to Ca Ave.. We found the street
and let out a sigh of relief. We parked. Then we got at the end of the
already long line to camp out. We got are sleeping bags and laid in
them. We saw our friend Jonathan whom we met at the bridge school
benefit. We call him crazy guy. He's just a tad crazy. He was walking
around the line to make sure everything was in order. We slept for a
few hours and then woke up when some 'Edge' worker said tix were going
onsale soon. We stood waiting for another hour. Then tix went onsale.
I saw another friend of mine that I had met at the bridge school benefit
as well. We talked. Sean and I now had 2 tickets to a sold out club
show by The Smashing Pumpkins!!! We then found out the concert was the
next day at 8. So we headed home. Preparing to meet Smashing Pumpkins
and then see them in concert. WOW!!! It was gonna be one hell of a day.
I woke up at 8 and called Live 105 and Tower Records in Mountain View.
They both said to get there ASAP. There was already a line forming and
not that many ppl were gonna get in. I called Sean and we left right
then. We got to Tower about 11a.m.. I saw yet another Bridge School
friend of mine and other Internet buddies of mine. I bought a Kerrang
magazine which I was gonna get signed later. It was the latest issue
with the new lineup of SP, including new bassist Mellissa Auf Der Maur.
Live 105 got there and we put in a CD-R copy of the new album
"Machina/The Machines of God", which wasn’t going to be released for
another 3 weeks. Thank god for Internet piracy. They took it out so they
wouldn’t get in trouble. They then proceeded to play crappy music for
the next hour like korn, limp bizkit and bush. Somehow I survived. I
would crawl on broken glass to get this opportunity to meet Smashing
Pumpkins, listening to crappy music was the least of my worries. The
Live 105 DJ then announced there would be Smashing Pumpkins kareoke.
Whoever was voted the best won a prize pack. Sean and I decided to fight
back for being tortured earlier and said we do a song. It was an
instrumental (Mellon Collie and the Infinte Sadness). We didn’t say
anything. We just swayed. And yelled random things or pretended like we
were about to sing, adding to the suspense of the DJ. The person before
us was a 10 year old boy doing 'We only come out at Night'. Everyone
thought that was the cutest thing ever. Then an SP/n sync fan decided
to do 'Zero', which she didn’t know the words to. Everyone booed. I
wanted to do some actual singing, but not alone. I found to other
willing SP fans to sing 'The Everlasting Gaze' with me. In the end the
little boy one. D'OH! They said they'd be handing out wristbands in 20
minutes. I got a blue wristband and 5 minutes later was on my way in.
I got my camera and my magazine ready. Then I saw them!!! I was
freaking out. I was like 'oh my god theres Jimmy Chamberlin' 'theres
Billy Corgan and Mellissa Auf Der Maur and oh my god, James Iha'. I
also got my individual notes to give to the band. Then I was next in
line. I handed Mellissa and James my notes. I said 'Here are notes,
cos I love you guys so much She said 'cool, individual notes' and
I smiled. She said 'thanks' and passed the magazine to James. I said
'James, I love the solo album ,when's the next one comin' He said
'Thanks, um, maybe next year when I figure stuff out.'
I said 'thank you guys soooo much'. They smiled as I took there
picture. Then some other guy was there, he signed Seans poster as
'Fred'. Uhhhh, riiiight. Anyway...I told Jimmy 'You are the best
drummer ever, since like Keith Moon' He said 'wow, thanks' and then it
passed to god himself ,my idol Billy Corgan. I said 'I love you sooo
much, thanks for everything' He said 'No problem' I handed Billy and
Jimmy my letters and they said 'thanks' I shook Jimmy and Billys hand.
I took thier picture got my signed Kerrang magazine and left of awe.
Sean told Billy 'As long as your alive ,rock will never be dead'
and Billy said 'I keep trying to kill it' Sean said 'well, try harder'
and Billy laughed. Sean and I just stood outside with our jaws on the
ground. We said 'Oh my god , I can't believe this' repeatedly. We then
drove The Edge and waited in line. I met up with Bridge friends and had
some middle age gay guys save our spot while Sean and I mingled. I took
pictures of the tour bus, SPs equipment, The Edge, and the sign saying
'The Smashing Pumpkins Feb 6 SOLD OUT!' At 8:15 we were let into the
club. An hour later SP came on stage. Everyone cheered and hollered.
They kicked off with a drum and bass build-up instrumental called
'Pale Scales' which led into the recent single 'The Everlasting Gaze'.
I went bonkers when it came on and threw the whole song. I then was
worn out, already and sweat was beginning to form. They kicked into
another new song called 'Heavy Metal Machine'. By the end of this
awesome song Billy was kneeling and singing the lyrics. It kicked! They
then played yet another new song which I didn’t even recognize until
Billy started singing. It is called 'The Crying Tree of Mercury'. I
got to stand there in a gaze as Billy serenaded the crowd. Very powerful!
Then they went 'back in time' and played a full out rock version of
'Tonight ,Tonight' which proved that Jimmy is the best drummer!! The
chorus left half the audience almost on the floor. I had to grab
someone to stand up. They entered a rawkin version of the originally
synthetic song 'Ava Adore'. That was damn cool. The "rock on" sign
was used during this song frequently. After this the nine minute SP
epic 'Glass and the Ghost Children' was splayed which is from the new
album. It was something to sing along to and soothe your soul, leave you
in a trance as you sung along 'as she counted the spiders as they
crawled up inside her'. Magnefique! SP played their 1991 breakthrough
song 'I am one' next. Billy inserted a rant about how theres not gonna
be a revolution in your computer but in your heart. Talking about Y2K,
being BS. Then he soloed 'We are the machines, we speak this dream, we
are the machines of god....' then they kicked back into the song. People
went nuts. Very rockin. They then played a cover of David Essex's song
'Rock On'. This song showed Mellisa's power on the bass. All SP fans
grooved along to it. 'Hey kids rock n roll, we're gonna ROCK ON!' They
did a bass and drum intro to their 96 trademark song 'Zero' which I was
in theme for with my sweaty ZERO shirt on. Everyone was scratching their
heads at first, but when the guitars kicked in, everyone was moshing
like crazy. Billy then said 'this is from our failed Adore album',
which made me sad. They played 'To Sheila' after he said that. It was
the most sophisticated ,genius, song. So beautifully done. Showed
the Pumpkins true power. From CD to live SP pulls it off better than
anyone. He said 'I don't recommend you try this at home' and played
their hugely popular and awesome song 'Cherub Rock'. It was a defining
moment. I love that song so much, what a great song to hear at a concert.
it rawked! Billy then said that was their last song and they went
backstage. Roadies set up four chairs as we chanted 'Pump-kins' over
and over. Clapping, stomping, yelling names and then SP was back onstage.
For the first encore they brought Jimmy up to play guitar on '1979'.
A drum machine took care of his absence. James was amazing with his
12-string. I made eye contact with Jimmy. It was kewl! They then
played a cover which Billy said he didn’t know all the words to. It was
a song called 'Join Together' by the Who. I waved to Mellisa and she
mouthed 'hi'. I smiled. We all got a hang on the lyrics to the chorus
and sung along 'join together'. They then left again saying they were
done. Billy had a smile on his face ,I knew he wasn’t through. They came
back to do my favorite song from the new unreleased album called
'I of the Mourning'. With my fist tightly packed lunging in the air,
I sang along as I was in tears. What a powerful song in was live, wow!
It was incredible. Then they started up 'Bullet with Butterfly Wings'
and Billy screwed up the word. So he stopped the band. he said 'Lets
do it the old school way. 'The World is a Vampire'....he sang. Someone
said that SP was out of their prime. If you saw them do this song live
again. You would think otherwise. SP can still rock with the best of
them. They left once again leaving us to chant. They came back for a
final encore. They played XYU with a rant about Little Red Riding Hood.
Billy left the crowd in suspense as he wouldn't tell who was in the
house. He said said to jimmy' I am trying to tell a story help me out'
and Jimmy went at it on the drums for 10 seconds. 'When she opened her
eyes, what did she see??? Its big and its loud....What is it???
A 6'4" bald guy playing lead guitar. Then they shot right back into
for a bit and Billy ranted again. 'You guys thought'd be a sexual
ending didn’t you? I expected more from you, I might expect it from a
Britney Spears audience, but not from you. ‘They ended that song and
Billy and James were up to something. James stared playing a riff.
Billy said 'you're not 25, you can't do it anymore.' 'Grunge is dead'
James played more of the riff. Then they announced this would be their
final song of the evening. Billy said 'When we get to the chorus, yell
it back to us'. The chorus went 'We love you' then we would say 'we
love you'. It was pretty fun and great that Billy interacted with us.
They then shook hands with a few people and left the stage. The crew
started taking apart the drums and put stuff away. We left , tired and
sweaty. We wanted to see if we could catch of the band before they left.
We saw Billy before he got into the van. He bowed ,took his hat off his
head and put it back on. Then me and Sean went to get drinks and go home.
At the concert I also got to drink from Billy’s water bottle and Billy
said 'Everythings gonna be allright' during some song. I can't remember
at what time they happened. So me and Sean headed back to Santa Rosa.
With our signed merchandise, high egos and more love for The Smashing
Pumpkins. How could this not be the best day of my life? I talked to
the band that changed my life, gave them notes, shook Billy's hand, and
saw them from less than 10 feet away and got to drink from Billy's
water bottle and had Mellissa say 'hi' during a song. I made eye
contact with every member at some point or another at the show. It was
the best day I will ever have. I haven’t had dreams this good. All I can
say is WOW! Thank you Billy, James, Jimmy, and Mellissa. I love you
guys very much!!! Thanks Sean for taking me. Thanks to yahoo and gas
stations for getting us lost for 3 hours. BEST DAY OF MY LIFE FOR SURE!
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