By Jessica Robinson

Poster for Billy Corgan at St Luke's, Glasgow, 17 June 2019The night began in a buzz as many people within the queue waiting to enter the venue discussed Download festival where many had just been to see The Smashing Pumpkins perform only a day prior. People then began discussing the various times they have seen The Smashing Pumpkins in their earlier years and their experiences of seeing Billy Corgan before. After a long soundcheck which pushed over when doors were meant to open a few people were able to be let into the venue at ten past seven. However, this seemed like a mistake as security inside stopped any more people from coming in. Eventually the venue filled up and the upstairs of the building began to flood with faces as well.

You can tell Katie Cole is the type of person that knows how to handle herself well onstage, immediately she introduces herself and has a laugh with the crowd before going into her first song which was incredibly well received. The lighting was perfect with a subtle blue and purple colour highlighting the stage behind the extremely talented performer. There seemed to be no nerves at all despite her being the only performer on the stage and she continuously spoke lively towards the crowd and had many people laugh between song changes. Between one song change Katie mentioned the fact that she is Australian, yet now lives in America and feels like Glasgow is incredibly homely to her and how the people seem so friendly. All of her songs complimented her vocal ability really well and it was more than enjoyable to listen to her for the amount of time we were granted. Katie also spoke about her experience visiting the mansion of Elvis Presley – Graceland – which she was inspired to write a song about. Mentioning it is indirectly about Elvis as she knows many people don’t like him, but really the song is about being the bad guy and leaving things unresolved to your own fault. Later on she played a cover of a Smiths song and additionally played her own song ‘All My Winters’ yet added a twist by adding Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’. Overall her set was wonderful to watch and has made it clear she knows how to make her guitar work with her voice in a more than complimentary manor.

Between the acts the interlude music was relatively funky and many people discussed the songs they would love to see Billy perform. It was presumed that Billy would be performing two sets as he usually does within his performances and as the setlist was laid down many people leaned over the barriers to get a chance to view what was to come. Many people were confused as the titles were songs that they haven’t heard before and additionally that there wasn’t a single Pumpkin’s song on that list however it is a Billy Corgan show after all.

As soon as Billy walked out of the door that separates the back of the stage to the crowd the room lit up in a roar of cheers greeting the man we were there to see. He wore a long cloak that swayed strongly with every step that he took and it was the true vampire essence which resonated from Billy himself. As he began to play it was clear everyone was intent on just listening to every sound coming from both Billy’s guitar and vocals. Later on he said that he was playing a lot of new songs which have never been heard before so we had been blessed with the pleasantries of hearing these songs before anyone else had live. Billy also mentioned that he would be releasing the album in the fall so we will be able to look back and enjoy these creative new songs which still carry the folk sound of his previous album ‘Ogilala’. As the set progressed Billy took a drink from his water then picked up a spray bottle and said “many people have asked me what is in the bottle and it’s cocaine” and he took two sprays right afterwards causing the crowd to break out in a laugh and yet again as a member of the crowd shouted that he wanted some and Billy laughed. Later on within the set Billy brought Katie Cole back onto the stage to have her sing two songs with him and Billy states that she is singing them on the album too.

As the room went silent again another audience member shouted from the roof “I love you Billy” and Billy quickly after said the person to “shut the fuck up” as he pointed to them and tried not to laugh. Later on he told stories about the content of some of the songs as well as how they came to be, discussing ‘The Half-Life of an Autodidact’, ‘Aeronaut‘ and ‘Zowie’. Billy stated that originally Aeronaut was a originally a lot faster and inspired by his first born child Augustus Juppiter Corgan and was a very upbeat song although producer Rick Rubin suggested a change. With ‘Half-life’ Billy mentioned that it was about singing to aliens to take him off of the planet to somewhere new and to have his family, band and if you’re nice to have you taken too. Upon discussing Zowie he reminisced his friendship with the late David Bowie and mentioned how he came to him in a dream and showed him things to tell Billy to keep going. After Zowie he finished that set on a cover of ‘Along the Santa Fe Trail’ by Sons of the Pioneers.

The second set Billy walked back onto the stage cheered on yet again by the whole room. This half of the show was predominantly songs by The Smashing Pumpkins, excluding one Zwan song which was ‘Honestly’. He opened this half of the set with ‘Wound’ which did shock the crowd a bit due to the acoustic feeling on the song with it being more intimate. Few people began to sing although when Billy started to play ‘Thirty-Three’ the crowd lit up with everyone singing. Before ‘Spaceboy’ touched upon stories from his younger years with his brother Jesse and explaining some of the things they both had to go through together in their lives. Even though Billy didn’t talk too much between songs he did hold the crowd in a trance waiting for his every word and when he did speak he captured the stories and allowed for the  crowd to become a part of  and imagine the things he was going though. ‘Tonight, Tonight’ saw the room as one singing along to the iconic Smashing Pumpkins song feeling every word as the room sung as well as they could. It was a very homely and united atmosphere until when the song finished a few people in the audience began to scream and fight with one another due to a female within the crowd being punched in the back of the head. Billy was unsure what was happening as were many of us and he organised for security to go to the scene and sort it out as he played “grunge riffs” on his guitar with patience hoping the issue was resolved.

After that followed three more songs and another speech before ‘Disarm’ discussing that it was banned by the BBC due to the line “cut that little child” as around the time the song was released a young boy had been murdered due to a stabbing which Billy did feel incredibly sympathetic about. He then further went on to say he wrote ‘Disarm’ and ‘Today’ during one of the most depressive periods in his life. It was a period in Billy’s life where all he could think about was killing himself and planning how it was to be carried out, his funeral, as well as giving away his belongings. He also mentioned that anyone going through a period like this should speak up about it as suicide rates are going up and no one is talking about their issues. Billy then stated that no one in his life knew what was going on because he didn’t talk to anyone yet he was handed a checklist of the ten signs of suicidal behaviour and he was nine out of ten on that list. He then went on to play the incredibly well known hit ‘Disarm’ as the audience listened and sung along in a sombre manner.

Yet again Billy Corgan walked off of the stage and shortly came back after loud screaming and chanting by the crowd to play ‘1979’.  Which when he started had many people within the audience clapping along and singing as it began. When this finished Billy said goodnight to everyone walking to each end of the stage as the audience applauded the incredible show which was held.

It was certainly an exceptional show which held the audience well leaving no doubts about either of the acts’ talent and hard work. Both performers told beautiful stories about their songs and really allowed for the audience to be let into a part of their world for a night. The show is absolutely an experience that should not be missed if the chance to ever see either of these acts arises!

  • Billy Corgan’s show at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin tonight (Wednesday 19 June) is sold out.
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