LIVE REVIEW: The Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer, Teen Mortgage, O2 Arena, London, 08/06/2024
If any of us were to jump into a time machine back to, say, 1995 and enter the booking agents for both Weezer and The Smashing Pumpkins proposing this tour, you may have been told in no uncertain times to leave and that you’d never work in this town again. Sure, two bands who had put out beloved albums that sold a lot of records and had big MTV hits going out together on paper makes sense, both are fronted by genius songwriters and creatives who wrote almost every note themselves…..hang on, this package makes perfect sense! Why did it take so long?
Teen Mortgage opened the show with the toughest of tasks, opening a co-headliner in an arena not even close to full. Credit to them for managing just fine, not being swallowed up by the space, by staying close to each other, allowed the audience to focus in and not think “there’s only two people on this big stage”. This is one kind of mortgage that hopefully will be going up. 7/10
When Weezer hit the stage just after 7pm, opening with the song that opens their eternal mega classic debut album, My Name Is Jonas, the crowd erupts into a wonderful singalong. Immediately following this, they launch into a song that may have brought people in more from a decade later, Beverly Hills, which will never not sound big enough to fill a room, not least one the size of the O2 arena. Rivers Cuomo, a man who’s ability to play the guitar only increases the more he looks like everyone’s favourite physics teacher, looks delighted to be here, as do the rest of the band. Brian Bell and Scott Shriner brought forth the numerous excellent harmonies. It’s easy to forget, partly because they have released an astonishing amount of music (as have the other half of this package) but Weezer have a frankly ridiculous amount of great songs to pick from. The fact that absolutely nothing from their 4th self-titled album (the white album) is in this setlist is the choice of a fool, but Rivers and friends have written more than enough songs to cover this. Seven of the ten tracks from the blue album is it? Oh go on then, that’s like being offered your favourite breakfast, snack, lunch, afternoon tea, drink, dessert and coffee for afters all at once!
1996’s now beloved Pinkerton is certainly not forgotten (but if there is a grumble, 2016’s self-titled and 2021’s Van Weezer were) with The Good Life and a faster version of Pink Triangle going down very well. The biggest surprise of the night was when Cuomo informs the audience that they are about to play a “Billy Corgan song”, and only the most deeply knowledgeable people would have guessed it would be Celebrity Skin by Hole. The song may well have got the biggest reaction of the night, and it sounded fantastic and like it had been written the same day. Saving the absolute best for last, a closing run of Only In Dreams, Surf Wax America and Buddy Holly sends the crowd (metaphorically) home very happy indeed. 8/10
After that wonderfully entertaining slice of power-pop punch and pie, its time for some of Chicago, Illinois’s most beloved bands to make us all scream, cry and occasionally dance wistfully looking out over an autumnal park. Whilst they used ATUM from their newest album as the intro tape, they launched into a savage one-two of slightly lesser known songs, The Everlasting Gaze and Doomsday Clock, absolutely smashing the audience’s collective pumpkins in a move that absolutely works. If anyone was feeling a bit relaxed after half an hour of quiet, they certainly were not after that aural backhand. Immediately, in case it wasn’t clear, you see that Jimmy Chamberlin was and is what may not have worked quite so well was covering U2 on the third song, the element of the crowd who were all in definitely cooled down a bit here…….but they came back swinging when they played Today. One of those songs that the opening guitar chords alone gets an audience of people who may have experienced back pain at some point in the last few years to react like children opening Christmas presents, the entire arena was singing every word like it was their last.
Straight after this, as this reviewer was thinking “i’d really like to hear Thru The Eyes Of Ruby, but they probably won’t” they launch into it. Thanks Billy! The sprawling, magnificent song from disc 2 of Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness also got a big reaction from the crowd, and Chamberlin continued to bring the heat behind the drums. James Iha, dressed tonight in all white looking like the coolest man in the room, handled most of the talking to the crowd tonight. Corgan’s voice sounds strong and vibrant, and he clearly gets more and more into the show as it goes on, a particular highlight is his performance of Ava Adore from the much underappreciated Adore record. Disarm also lead to a big singalong moment from the crowd, and more than a few teary eyes were visible from all around.
This was very much a show where the hits hit, but the deeper cuts occasionally struggled to capture the attention. There was a very sweet moment during the song Beguiled where Corgan’s children emerged from the side of the stage to dance, wearing appropriate ear protection of course (we stan sensible choices) that really served to humanise and ground the show a bit. Other underappreciated glorious moments were the magnificently indulgent guitar freakout at the end of Gossamer near the end of the show. Ending with a pounding version of Cherub Rock immediately followed by iconic t-shirt as well as song Zero is a glorious way to send the crowd home happy, especially as there had been nearly four hours of music by this point.
What did we learn from this? Well, we learnt that if you’re going to have two bands like this one after the other, you have to bring it wholesale as performers or you end up looking a bit past it. Nostalgia may have brought this package together, but it’s the strength of the songs and of the individuals involved as performers that made this a fun Saturday night out. If The Smashing Pumpkins were to, say, come back next year doing Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness for the 30th anniversary, they have done enough to assure fans that it’s worth the price. Go on Billy, you know you want to! 8/10
Written by: Louis Tsangarides
