Billy Corgan @the ambassador

selpher

Anyone else going, got my ticket today. 42.50 well spent!

tom thumb

do you think this will sell out i won't be able to get my tickets till monday

Alana

What the devil where did this come from...?

selpher

you might, its not exactly being advertised that much, i came across it by pure luck, it wasnt even on his offical site.

John

****, already got plans to go see Wolf Eyes that night.

When is it on?

John

June 17th

James Hunt

A few rumours in webland (I know, I know......), that Robert Smith might appear as a guest or whatever, seeing as he is on a tune on Corgan's new album....

Anyone hear anything about that?

Ianop

are the tickets still for sale or whats the story? gone off ticketmaster, but does not say sold out????

any help............

Mr Rivers

he ain't gonna play any Pumpkin's stuff

tibor

The new stuff sounds very cool though. Well, the 2 tracks I've heard anyway.
Looking forward to it - although he'd better have a decent length set for near 50 eurobucks.

Ianop

Anyone know bout the ticket sales???

Where can i get em?

Sweetness!

I'll be annoyed if I miss Billy Corgan (which I probably will) but if I find out that Robert Smith did appear I will just die! Someone must have spare tickets to sell?

PiE

Ianop wrote:

Anyone know bout the ticket sales???

Where can i get em?

Gee I dunno... Ticketmaster maybe?

BleakestH

His new stuff is pretty average sounding, judging from the 4 songs I heard. If you're a fan of Machina's overprocessed guitar sound then you might like it. Also, the synths and programmed drums sound ****.

I definitely want to go to this though, although he had better throw in a few Pumpkins numbers or i'll be highly disappointed.

dross

BleakestH wrote:

he had better throw in a few Pumpkins numbers or i'll be highly disappointed.

he probably won't. and you're a ****. if you don't like him, don't go.

BleakestH

he probably won't. and you're a ****. if you don't like him, don't go.

He's hardly going to play his entire solo album from start to finish to bunch of people when it'll have been on sale for less than a week when he comes over here.

And shut the hell up idiot, just because I offered a bit of criticism to his solo stuff doesn't mean I don't like him. I've been a SP fan since about '95, people who'll like anything an artist ****s out just because it has their name on it are the worst kind of fan, and the songs i've heard from his new album are below par. **** off.

John

BleakestH wrote:

He's hardly going to play his entire solo album from start to finish to bunch of people when it'll have been on sale for less than a week when he comes over here.

Why not? If he's actually releasing the album of course he'll want to play it because he's proud of it no matter what anyone thinks. He didn't play Pumpkins songs with Zwan so why should he play Pumpkins songs solo?

BleakestH

John2 wrote:

Why not? If he's actually releasing the album of course he'll want to play it because he's proud of it no matter what anyone thinks. He didn't play Pumpkins songs with Zwan so why should he play Pumpkins songs solo?

He hardly have enough songs of his own to sustain a full set, with Zwan he had written dozens of songs. Zwan was a different band altogether, whereas this is Billy Corgan on his own. He wrote most of the Pumpkins' stuff, so it's not inconcievable he'll play some of that.

John

He's probably trying to do a Morrissey and forge a completely new career without having to use his previous band as a crutch. And Corgan is an incredibly prolific songwriter, more than likely he has about four albums worth of songs that no one's heard yet and as usual I expect he'll throw in some covers.

I don't know why I'm even debating this, I'm not going to the gig

My Name IsJonas

BleakestH wrote:

He hardly have enough songs of his own to sustain a full set

are you sure you know who this Billy Corgan guy is?

BleakestH

I'm referring to anything he's released as a solo artist, which at the moment stands at zilch.

John

Just because he hasn't released anything yet doesn't mean he doesn't have enough to fill a gig

BleakestH

Maybe so, but an artist who plays an entire set of material that hasn't been released yet is treading thin ice reaction wise, and i'm sure Billy is well aware of this. Can you honestly say that the majority of people who go to this are going because they're interested in Corgan's post-Zwan repetoire, especially after the relative mediocrity of aforementioned band?

dross

hey man, i wasn't trying to be a prick and i don't like everything he does, some of it's really flawed, but why the fúck WOULD he play pumpkins stuff? it's a TOTALLY different dynamic and style. billy thinks about this kinda stuff way too much to play pumpkins just caus he doesnt have enough songs for a gig. and he has fúckLOADS of songs, he wrote loads during his singersongwriting thing back there and i don't think they're on the album.

course. now he's gonna play pumpkins and i'll be wrong, but i really doubt it.

herobear

3 days after the gig officially his album will be released, 2 weeks before the gig it'll be online.... there'll be a fair few people who'll be aware of his new solo stuff

dead air

Billy Corgan is probably one of the most prolific songwriters of his generation (consider for example, the amount of unrecorded zwan songs that wern't on mary star of the sea and the songs corgan gigged last spring, none of which will be on this new album). I'd be very surprised if this gig contained only new album tracks.

I don't even want to hear smashing pumpkins songs if the smashing pumpkins aren't playing them.

smackbunnybaby

BC only really plays songs he is currently working on-therefore i doubt any SP or zwan songs will be played at all.
when they played their last gig in the olympia they played about 5 (possibly more) from machina II the internet only release.
one thing the guy doesnt lack is confidence in his own material, therefore expect plenty of stuff from the new album.
could someone post the link where they expect the downloads to be available from(legal one obviously!!)

James Hunt

He played in Portugal last night, practically all new stuff, a cover or two I believe as well. The closest to any Pumpkins tunes was that he apparantly played the intro lick to 'Today' at one point in the show........so, I don't expect a raft of old favourites.

I've heard 4 of the new tunes on a promo ep thingy, very heavy electronic depth, or 'haunting' I believe is the phrase that is being used. It's 'Adore' on steroids. Whatever the right word is, the new tunes are brilliant - those following on a progression from Machina, add a few years (leave out Zwan), and it's a reasonably logical step that he's made with sound. The old Corgan vocals are kind of reassurring to those of us of a certain vintage. Then again, 4 tracks is only about 1/3 of the album. Me Likey.

smackbunnybaby

zwan seems like something he had to get out of his system.......

James Hunt

I really like the Zwan album to be honest, it just bears no relation to the direction in which the Smashing Pumpkins were headed. A lot of people look down on it as crap almost by definition just because of the circumstances surrounding it's conception, but taken on it's own merits, and if you excuse the frequent indulgences, it's a blinding album IMO.

ronano

His album leaked

I am MAN

ronano wrote:

His album leaked

It sure did and I got my hands on it yesterday

doggz

billy is alwyas writing new material, so i'd expect that along with tunes from the future embrace, he'll also throw in one or two brand new compositions.
i doubt that any pumpkins tunes will be played, he doesn't need to play them.
thats something someone like jon bon jovi would do at a solo gig.

anyone going to see jimmy chamberlin at oxegen???

evad_lhorg

im goin. got my ticket when it was announced.

i got the album the other day. its ok. nothin amazing but its listenable. should be good live.

Pet

Reactions anyone? I didn't think it was all that great to be honest.

The support group, Gliss, were absolutely dire. They really need a crash course in "How to play musical instruments", "How to write interesting songs", oh, and most of all, "How NOT to rely completely on a reverb pedal to lift a song out of the depths of sheer mediocrity". I liked the instrumental musical chairs, but it wasn't enough to break my boredom.

Billy Corgan himself...was nyeah. On the plus side, the background was pretty amazing..very futuristic. But I didn't know any of the music (I thought the album wasn't out til Monday and hence didn't even look for it), so I can't be expected to enjoy the new stuff immensely. I was right at the barrier, so got up close and personal, but I really couldn't distinguish one song from the next, they've all blurred into an electronic mess...there was no change in dynamic or tempo or anything like that. I loved the Pumpkins, and I trust(ed) him as a songwriter..but the newer stuff is just disappointing.
He didn't give the most enthusiastic of performances either, and the overdrive pedal was on for..the entire gig.
If it wasn't for that psychotic "I LOOOOVE YOUU BILLLY *cries hysterically as she elbows everyone in the face trying to get to the barrier*" fan, I'd have been able to give the concert a 6/10. Instead, it gets a 5/10.

AARRRGH

Did anyone notice how desperate the touts were outside? Hilarious!!

It's a shame so many underagers were turned away... (not because I'm a paedo, but because I know how important €42.50 and going to gigs is as a young one...)

Pet

It's a shame so many underagers were turned away... (not because I'm a paedo, but because I know how important €42.50 and going to gigs is as a young one...)

Oh god, that was terrible. I went to loads of gigs when I was 15/16 etc, a lot of which were my favourite bands, and I know that if I had bought a ticket and got turned away (after the concert had sold out), I would've been in pieces. I tried to get these 2 16/17 year olds in with my posse, but the security were really strict. I felt so sorry for them.

evad_lhorg

ha i was outside havin a smoke and 4 kids hopped the gates. the first three got in fine but the lsat one got caught. thats gotta hurt.


best bit in the gig was that song where in the middle of the song he just played a tiny bit from the today intro and the place went mad! . good gig. nothin amazing.

PiE

Really wanted to go, but didn't have the cash to pay for my ticket yesterday. By the sounds of it I didn't miss much

honru

Pet wrote:

The support group, Gliss, were absolutely dire.

Christ yeah, they were the most mundane and gimmicky bands I've seen in awhile.

Billy though was fantastic, but I like the new album, and I like where this is going. The backdrop was amazing, the AC/DC cover was cool and Matt Walker was on the drums.

selpher

Yeah billy was great as is his album. Billy really didnt like that sound guy did he? the looks he gave him, then he just kicked his mic stand over, great stuff.

PiE

Anybody get any decent pics?

Pet

PiE wrote:

Anybody get any decent pics?

Took loads more, but I'm saving all the really good ones.

Redegg

god that looks class. in the ambassador. Dont know what you lot are moaning about. Its billy bloody corgan.!?!?

James Hunt

Absolutely class gig, can't how anyone could think otherwise. To be honest, I've had the album a while and know it well, so the songs were second nature to me, others at the gig maybe less so, but he still got a great reception after every tune and at the end.

mr_angry

I've been listening to an advance copy of the album for a few weeks now, and I think its poor. There are 2 or 3 decent songs (Mina Loy for example), but I think the rest is filler, and a big disappointment considering the obvious talents of the man.

dead air

I heard a few guys behind me getting worried about the lack of drum kit before the show started. But it was a pretty cool show none the less, I didn't think the sound was great at the beginning (vocals were low) but it got better. Mina Loy and Walking Shade were stanouts for me...

Best part of the night was that china riff thing with the riff from today

Töpher

Where to begin, sigh...

Been a Pumpkins head, and huge Billy fan, for about 12 years or so now. Liked Zwan - quite a bit actually, and was dying for this gig. But, frankly, it blew. There was no atmosphere, at all. But that can be somewhat forgiven as I think everybody was suffering from the weather! Every song sounded the exact same (but they don't on the album! I actually quite like the album!), every song blurred into an electric bassdrum and some bass, at the same tempo as the preceeding song. My girlfriend got so bored she left half way through - never a good sign! In all, very, very dissapointing!

Quite simply, I've made more interesting noises in the bathroom on my own...

selpher

This should help clear things up:
http://www.lindastrawberry.com/bcspeech.mp3

spaceboy

a few pics from friday