SMASHING PUMPKINS & WEEZER
Cardiff Castle, Cardiff - 14th June 2024
Support: Teen Mortgage
Early evening, Thursday 13th June 2024. MrsRobster's phone rings. It's our eldest sproglet TheMadster.
"Anyone want to come to see Weezer with me tomorrow night?"
Like, wha...? Is she for real? MrsRobster and I are HUGE Weezer fans. The only reason we didn't buy tickets for their co-headline tour with Smashing Pumpkins was the absurd cost. Turns out, our son-in-law TheEmster works with someone who had tickets but couldn't go at the last minute. They were literally giving them to whoever wanted them. TheEmster said he'd take them as his wife would probably go. And so it was that two tickets for the hottest show of the summer found their way into our daughter's sweaty paws and now she wanted company.
The real tragedy here is that only one of us could go, and as MrsRobster works on a Friday night, it fell to me to offer myself as TheMadster's gig buddy. What a drag, huh?
What I won't dwell on is the ridiculous method of entry into the gig itself, via an awfully convoluted route up the east side of Bute Park, through crowded gates that took forever to get through, and then the long walk from the gates to the north castle entrance. That took so long, we missed the opening band Teen Mortgage and the first three Weezer songs (though we could at least hear the start of Weezer's set as we approached the castle entrance).
I also won't dwell too much on the weather which was, how shall I put it, a touch damp. It had been a rather changeable start to the summer, much like the good old fashioned British summers of old. TheMadster and I had gone prepared with our rain-proofs, but some poor sods hadn't checked the forecast...
Rain or no rain, it has to be said, Weezer were just brilliant! They were touring the 30th Anniversary (yikes!) of their classic debut album, so a lot of tracks from the blue record were aired - in fact they started with My Name Is Jonas. From then on, it was a largely crowd-pleasing journey through their back catalogue: Beverly Hills, Dope Nose, Undone - The Sweater Song,Pork And Beans,Pink Triangle, Island In The Sun… all in their opening salvo. And the audience just lapped it up. It was a mass singalong for 90 minutes, with even the newer material being welcomed and hollered by the faithful. A cover of Hole's Celebrity Skin (co-written by Billy Corgan, no less) and even a run through of early b-side You Gave Your Love To Me Softly were thrown in as nice surprises.
Talking of surprises - I had no idea just how many Weezer songs TheMadster knew and loved. She was singing along as much as the rest of us. Great stuff. The rain had eased off towards the end, and a huge version of Only In Dreams seemed to round things off, but then the band ploughed through Surf Wax America before finishing on Buddy Holly, during which not a single soul in the audience could stand still and not sing. A huge way to finish, and there were grins abound in Cardiff.
If it had all ended there, I'd have gone home happy. I wasn't really there to see Smashing Pumpkins, if I'm honest. I've long thought Billy Corgan was far too much up his own arse for my liking. Having said that, those first two albums were a major part of my soundtrack of the early 90s. Both 'Gish' and 'Siamese Dreams' were sensational records that pretty much everyone in my peer group were in love with. A handful of songs from the next three were very decent too, but the Pumpkins had lost me by then. I bought their greatest hits album which had pretty much everything I needed.
But again, I have to admit, they were exceptional. With three of the original four members back on board, this felt like a re-energised band connecting with its audience again. It was the first time in more than 30 years since the Smashing Pumpkins last played Cardiff, so they had a bit of making up to do. Mind, it took a few songs before the adoration returned. Kicking off with The Everlasting Gaze wasn't a bad move, but following it up with Doomsday Clock (the opener of the 2007 comeback album) and a bloody U2 cover was a bit of a curveball too early in the set. Things really got going when those familiar guitar chimes signalling the start of Today rang out. Cue mass singlalong a la Weezer.
From that point on, the mood lifted and Messrs Corgan, Iha and Chamberlain, along with their extended membership delivered a fine overview of their career, though oddly nothing from the then-pending new record 'Aghori Mhori Mei', and from a personal point of view, the omission of Rhinocerous was a minor disappointment. It was, rather predictably, the older classics that thrilled me most - Tonight, Tonight, Disarm and 1979 in particular, before the mighty Cherub Rock blew my head off and set closer Zero smashed it back on again.
When Corgan pointed at the old castle building on the motte and declared "That is my castle!", and James Iha quipped "So you're the Earl of Bute, now?", I don't think you'd have had any complaints from those gathered if the Smashing Pumpkins decided to take over and rule the city. I certainly don't have any complaints about it being the best "free" gig I've been to since Glastonbury 1995.
Photos by TheMadster
No comments:
Post a Comment