The Smashing Pumpkins - 2000-08-24 - VH-1 Storytellers,Live at Hammerstein Ballroom,New York City,NY

THE SMASHING PUMPKINS
2000.08.24
@ Hammerstein Ballroom
New York, NY
VH-1 Storytellers

UNCUT:
Flaming Sack Of Monkey Penis Edition {Fresko/Agnew/StArSeEd}

2xDATm[SHN0+SHN1]+SHNm > dEDIT > flac [> CDR0]

Mix Sources: Fresko [AUD > DSM-6S > PA-6LC3 > M1 > DATm > CDR0 > SHN1]
Agnew [AUD > SPPB > M1 > DATm > SHN0]
Agnew/StArSeEd [Agnew > dEDIT > SHNm]


dEDIT: ... > Wave > SF Vegas [Sync+Mixdown] > Steinberg FreeFilter [75%->pVHS, -6dB@150Hz] > ...
SF Reverb ["Bright Hall" -32dB/-20dB] > SF Smooth/Enhance [Enh+1] > SF Wave Hammer ...
[Comp Inf:1 @ -9dB RMS 10ms/1s, VolMax -6dB 150ms] > Sound Forge [Cut+Fade] > Wave > ...
Mixdown: Fresko: -0dB, 25%->Right, TimeStretch 2nd+3rd Discs to Agnew, NR -32dB
Agnew: -0dB, 33%->Right, TimeStretch SIYL 2 to Fresko
Agnew/StArSeEd: -7.5dB, 10%->Right, TimeStretch SIYL 2 to Fresko

Final render time: 1 hour, 6 mins, 34 seconds. Render attempts: 4˝.

Disc 1 Start Length
---------------------------------------------------------- -------- --------
01 - "Not A Song" 00:00.00 01:42.13
02 - Story: Glass And The Ghost Children 01:42.13 01:35.08
03 - Glass And The Ghost Children 03:17.21 10:18.30
04 - Story: Today 13:35.51 03:25.20
05 - Today 17:00.71 04:46.14
06 - Band Intro / Story: Snail 21:47.10 02:15.64
07 - Snail 24:02.74 03:35.64
08 - Story: Stand Inside Your Love 27:38.63 03:58.46
09 - Stand Inside Your Love; break 31:37.34 04:55.33
10 - "Take Your Seats" / "Play Spiteface!" 36:32.67 01:16.70
11 - Story: To Sheila 37:49.62 03:02.21
12 - To Sheila 40:52.08 03:21.64
13 - Story: Thirty-Three 44:13.72 03:32.28
14 - Thirty-Three 47:46.25 04:22.45
15 - Story: Blue Skies Bring Tears 52:08.70 02:19.12
16 - Blue Skies Bring Tears 54:28.07 07:44.26
17 - Story: Try, Try, Try 62:12.33 04:17.56
18 - Try, Try, Try 66:30.14 04:52.74

Disc 2 Start Length
---------------------------------------------------------- -------- --------
01 - Drum Solo / "How I Shave My Head" 00:00.00 02:58.24
02 - Story: The Tale Of Dusty And Pistol Pete 02:58.24 01:22.22
03 - The Tale Of Dusty And Pistol Pete 04:20.46 05:32.63
04 - Story: 1979 09:53.34 03:06.31
05 - 1979; break 12:59.65 04:15.15
06 - Story: Raindrops + Sunshowers 17:15.05 02:13.46
07 - Raindrops + Sunshowers (Abandoned) 19:28.51 00:55.25
08 - Raindrops + Sunshowers 20:24.01 05:01.49
09 - Story: With Every Light 25:25.50 03:16.19
10 - With Every Light (Abandoned) 28:41.69 02:32.17
11 - With Every Light (Abandoned) 31:14.11 02:12.51
12 - With Every Light 33:26.62 04:45.68
13 - Story: Let Me Give The World To You 38:12.55 02:30.58
14 - Let Me Give The World To You 40:43.38 03:55.33
15 - "This Concludes..." / "Do A Few Again?" 44:38.71 00:46.20
16 - Unknown (Tease) 45:25.16 00:31.64
17 - Unknown (Tease) 45:57.05 00:19.10
18 - Don't You Want Me Baby (Tease) / Story Recap: LMGTWTY 46:16.15 00:34.04
19 - Let Me Give The World To You (Take 2) 46:50.19 05:07.42
20 - Glass And The Ghost Children (Take 2) 51:57.61 10:24.18
21 - Zero (Tease) / Lounge Improv 62:22.04 02:43.07
22 - Stand Inside Your Love (Take 2) / "Thank You" 65:05.11 04:57.14

Special thanks go out to the following people in no particular order:
Eric Agnew, David Fresko, Jason Guzman, Fares Halteh, and Dead (Sean Bowen).
Without the help of these people, this project could not have been completed.

-StArSeEd/Jonathan G. Weston, 2002.08.17

CD1
link 1:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3P20UEPL
link 2:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SIIFZWU7
mirror link 2:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BB0E9HYB

CD2
link 1:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=A2ISQOX6
link 2:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IIYY23T2



StorytellersStorytellers
- Hammerstein Ballroom -
New York, NY
Date: August 24, 2000
Submitted by: Cristin McKee

Thanks to Drowning, Ghost passing through, Eric Fries, Jen Ray, DrownGlynis,
tess, luna_grl, and my sister for helping me out in writing this!
Wow. Let me say that again with more emphasis, WOW!!!! Last night was absolutely
and unbelievably amazing. Billy admitted to things I thought he would never
reveal... the meaning of 33, some of the concept to Machina, the possible
existence of a next album... And I was in the first row of seats!
I actually didn't have a ticket when we left for the venue. I was going on luck
and strategy alone at this point. The luck part was the 15-ticket drawing that
afternoon on the official website. The strategy part was the fact that I got up
at 3am to arrive at Hammerstein by 8am. We were the first two people (my sister
and I) to get to the venue. It was actually 2 hours before other people started
showing up. At about 12pm I decided to call my dad to see if by some strange
chance of luck I had won that o-board drawing (he was monitoring the board and
my email for me). So I called him and guess what? I WON!!! So I freaked out
about that for a while before realizing that I had about 6 anxious o-board
members gathered around me, wondering if they had won. So my dad named off names
and I said them aloud to everyone slowly, until I came to gwendolyn_something.
Sorry, I don't remember the second half of her screenname. Anyway, she was there and started freaking out, naturally. My dad even heard her through the cell
phone. ;)
At about 3pm, who should walk right by our line but Mr. James Iha, himself. I
didn't notice him at all but apparently he got out of a car on the wrong side of
the building and asked a security guard where he was supposed to go. As soon as
he noticed us he hid his face and tried to get by us. Some of my friends looked
up and thought he looked like James Iha so they started following him. I stayed
behind to hold my spot in line. God knows why because there were only 10 people
in line... but I didn't even understand that they had actually seen James. The
security guy directed James through a parking garage that cut through the
building to the other side where the back entrance was. When they followed him
to the garage he started looking back at them, probably thinking, "Oh crap! They
better not jump me!" hahaha. They were just curious though. He slipped around
the corner and entered through a side door while no one from the back entrance
crowd saw him. Apparently, Billy came right after. He actually came walking down
the street from out of nowhere and walked into the building. He was wearing a
t-shirt too! *grr* I can't believe I missed Billy in a tshirt. Anyway, then Mike
(machinesofgod523), who has got to be the nicest guy on earth, took the chance
to run back and tell us that the band was coming. So we all ran back just in
time to see Jimmy ride up in a van and go inside. Then we went back to waiting
in line. While we were waiting, someone told me that she had seen Yelena dart in
throught the front door. The doors opened at about 7:15pm.
Ok, the room itself was set up very beautifully. They had set up a huge tree
trunk behind the stage setup and large oak tree branches were draped down from
the ceiling to create the illusion that the band was playing under a large tree.
Strings of tiny white lights were strung up throughout the "tree" and about 4
paper lanterns were hanging down from the branches. The floor of the stage area
was a grass shag rug. I don't think it was real grass but it looked like a good
replica. Fog machines preserved the whole eerie outdoors feel of the set. The
reason I keep saying "stage area" is because the band wasn't on a stage. All of
the instruments were set up in front of the stage on the floor! So the band was
right down at eye level with us. I don't think I've ever seen a storytellers
with such a beautiful and intimate setting. To the right of the set were an
electric keyboard and a piano, proving the rumors that Mike Garson would be
there. There were some canadian flags on Melissa's amp.
When I first walked in and saw this setup, and the fact that even the farthest
chairs on the floor were incredibly close I was just blown away. I felt like
exploding with happiness right then. ;) I was literally shaking with excitement.
So, they walked us down to the fourth row and I'm thinking, "Hey! Not bad!" but
then the woman leading us keeps going and says, "Sit here..." pointing at the
second row of chairs. I actually turned to her and said "Are you serious?!" and
she laughed at me. lol. The row in front of us was empty because they were
walking around picking out some "beautiful" people to put up there. After we had
been in there for about 15 minutes, one of the camera people walked up to the
people sitting directly in front of us and explained that, due to the lighting,
people in white shirts couldn't sit in the front. They then looked at me in my
black zero shirt, and the guy to my right and said, "You. Sit up here in their
place." Who was I to argue! The girl next to me who I had met at some other
shows said she was with me and I backed her up so they let her come up with me.
So, now we were in the front row with only a low bench in front of us so the
people sitting on it were well below eye level. In front of them there were just
some people sitting on the floor. And in front of that... James! I was only
about 6 feet from James and 12 feet from Billy. When they came out I could make
out Billy's birthmark, his ring, and even the freckles on the top of his head! I
was two people from the edge of my row and there was a cameraman right there.
Two people to my left was another cameraman. I'm assuming I must've gotten on
film at least a couple of times because of that... so, on Nov 4 look for me, the
girl with the black zero tank top and the guitar pick necklace, with her hair in
a pony tail. There is a black guy in a "Porn" shirt to my right and a girl in a
purple shirt to my left. :)
Before they came out, the stage director, Bill (who was a wicked nice guy that
looks like the lead singer of the frogs!) was giving us a speech on how to and
how not to behave. He also said that Billy was incredibly nervous and had never
done anything even close to this before, that he had never been in such an
intimate setting where people were so close and would look him in the eyes as he
talked to us. He also added that Billy never revealed the meanings to his songs
so no one, not even the rest of the band knew what he was going to say during
the taping and that it would be incredibly special. They had wanted to get the
band to do this for a number of years but it wasn't until about a year and a
half ago that Billy finally agreed. He asked that we please please laugh at
Billy's jokes and try to look interested so he wouldn't be so nervous. Haha,
you should have heard our reaction to that. He said that if anyone looked bored
they would be kicked out and asked that we please respect the fact that this was
not a concert, but an intimate private recording. In other words, the band might
have to repeat some songs (as you can well imagine, we liked this idea as well).
Also, he said to please try to ignore the cameras cause it would just look
stupid if you stuck your face into one. ;) One cool thing he said was that they
had done 50 storyteller recordings in the past, many at this same venue, but,
"no offense to the other bands," but this show was going to make many of those
pale in comparison. :) A number of times before the band came out, they tried to
get us riled up by making us cheer for the band. It's not like we weren't
already melting off our seats with anticipation, but whatever.
When the band finally came out it was quite casual. It was obvious that Billy
was kind of nervous, though. He avoided looking at the audience, at first and
whenever he was telling stories he would look down at his guitar, or anywhere
BUT the audience. When he was singing, however, he did have his eyes closed most
of the time but he did look around a lot and made eye contact with people,
especially during the songs he knew well, like '1979.' James was wearing a very
nice black suit and looking incredibly nervous. He did his best to avoid all
forms of eye contact. I only noticed him looking at the audience a few times. At
one point he even pushed away a cameraman who got too close. He stayed standing
the entire time and played electric guitar on all of the songs. Billy was
wearing a blue shirt! I was surprised when he walked out. At first I thought he
was one of the bald roadies that they like to tease us with but, no, it was
Billy Corgan in a light blue long-sleeve shirt, dark gray pants, and black and
gray sneakers with a big "N" on the sides (New Balance sneakers). He sat the
entire time and played nothing but acoustic, alternating between 6 and 12-string
guitars. There was some kind of microphone or headphone feed on his back that he
kept fidgeting with. During the first few songs he was very nervous and fidgety,
leaning down to adjust knobs here and there, or shifting around in his seat and
adjusting the wires on his back. It was cute. :) Although I did feel bad for him
in front of all those people, especially since none of the band members had
anything to say. Melissa was wearing black pants and this weird green top that
was kind of high on one shoulder and cut really low on the other side, with long
sleeves. It looked kind of like a witch costume but in a beautiful way. She also
had this tight green thing around her neck that I noticed her fidgeting with a
few times, probably because it was so hot. Her boots had wicked high heels. She
sat the entire time too and liked to swing her swivel chair back and forth as
she listened to Billy talk. Most of her basses were very sparkly.
So, they basically just stood around and set up their instruments and tested
them out. James and Melissa hooked up first while Billy talked with some of the
VH1 people. Then Billy walked over to his chair and stuck in his ear plugs
before sitting down and fidgeting all over the place. When James turned on his
amp it was making those rather loud air noises that crappy amps tend to make.
Something was wrong with his guitar too because he looked really embarassed and motioned for a roadie to come over and fix it. All these people in the audience kept cheering for him so he had this shy grin on his face that he kept trying to
hide. The amp problem went away somehow. Billy started saying something I
couldn't make out but some people laughed. He then started talking to James and James replied but his microphone wasn't working so he just kind of looked at it
and Billy in dismay. Then Billy's microphone cleared up and I heard him saying,
"The VH1 people told me they don't want you to talk, James." Afterwards, Billy
was talking about how they weren't used to this kind of intimate setting and he
wasn't very good at this social thing, though Melissa was. He then turned it
into a funny Canadian joke that I can't remember. Melissa eyes widened when he
said it, but then she started to laugh.
One interesting thing was that whenever Billy was telling his stories the entire
band was completely engrossed in what he was saying. Jimmy did look bored
sometimes and James dazed out every once in a while but Melissa and Mike were
hanging onto his every word, especially Melissa, because we all know she's a
huge Smashing Pumpkins fan. ;)

Ok, setlist time:

-Glass and the Ghost Children
-Today
-Snail
-Stand Inside Your Love
-To Sheila
-33
-Blue Skies Bring Tears
-Try, Try, Try
-Dusty and Pistol Pete
-1979
-Raindrops and Sunshowers
-With Every Light
-With Every Light (Take 2)
-With Every Light (Take 3)
-Let me Give the World to You
-Let Me Give the World to You (Take 2)
-Glass and the Ghost Children (Take 2)

(please note that nothing here is direct quotes, just the best I remember the
gist of what Billy said. I'm trying not to put too many words into his mouth but
I might be mixing up some of the songs or imagining some things he may not have
said exactly the same way. I put 6 periods between the spaces where I can't
remember the detail of his description.)

-GLASS AND THE GHOST CHILDREN-
BILLY: "I guess I'll explain some of this concept album to you cause noone has
gotten it right yet... [Audience laughs] ...this song is like a painting in that
it does not have a literal meaning, but it does have a general meaning."
Unfortunately, I was too immediately shocked by how close I was to Billy that I
can't remember much else he said about this song at all. It figures that I
wouldn't remember the one time he explains the concept of Glass. :P All I
remember is that he first explained the role of Glass in the song and who glass
was, mentioning something about how fragile glass is. He also said: "'The Ghost
Children' are you, the audience [Audience Cheers - One person stands up and
yells something]. Well, not specifically YOU, but everyone... ...so, that tells
you more about the concept of the play."
They did a really amazing job on remixing this song. The bass was way too loud
at first but someone eventually turned it down. Billy's voice was simply
wonderful. During the entire show his voice was indescribably beautiful. He did
a very very very good job singing on all of the songs. At one point he actually
lifted his guitar to the mic and started singing into the microphone through the
opening in the guitar. At first I thought he was trying to play with his teeth
or something because his voice got very faint. But then he started singing
louder and I could hear that it was making his voice all echoey. During the
piano interlude, everyone stopped playing except for Mike, who proceeded to play a long piano solo that was pretty good but had some points where it got kind of
annoying. I think Billy may have disapproved because he spent most of the solo
nodding in agreement with what Mike was doing but towards the end he stopped and looked a little confused. Then he looked over at Mike and started laughing
because the solo got so damn weird. I think this may be the reason Billy decided
to do another take. He had a wonderful acoustic guitar solo at the end of the
song that James was echoing some squealing guitar notes over.


-TODAY-
BILLY: "This song came out of a really low point in my life. We had just
finished a long 16-month tour for Gish, which was really rough because the
longest we had toured before that was only... well, 20 days. [Audience laughs] I
was in a really bad position at this time. I was living in Chicago, with a
hippie... named Bob [audience laughs]. I had to sleep on D'arcy's floor once
[glances at Melissa... as if expecting D'arcy to be there?] and I even ended up
sleeping in a parking garage. I was going through a really low time. It was also
when my old memories began to return to bother me. I thought I had long buried
the memories of my unhappy childhood but, suddenly, it all came back to me. I
had thought at the time that I could just bury my feeling and disconnect from
the past but now it all returned and I had to deal with these personal demons.
It was the worst writing period of my life. I couldn't write one decent song in
eight months. At this point, I was constantly suicidal, obsessed with killing
myself. I was a suicidal maniac... you can laugh at that. It's funny. [Audience
laughs a little] At the time, I thought I had two choices, he had two choices;
either kill myself, or learn to live with it and be happy. I chose the second
but didn't think I could be happy. Anyway, finally this song came to me. And
people think this is a very positive happy song but it's actually not...it's a
joke about how I wanted to kill myself. 'Today is the greatest,' is actually
sarcastic. You can see I chose another form of death, which is rock and roll
[audience laughs]. Though, when I look back on it it has now turned into a song
of survival. It really reveals what I was going through at the time and the fact
that I got over it." Melissa looked very sympathetic and even sad when he was
talking about this song.
Billy's voice wasn't quite on target with this song. It was still good but not
quite on a level with the other songs they did as he got a little too whiny
sounding in some areas. I'm surprised they didn't do another take because VH1
will almost certainly want to air this song. James sang backup for some of the
lines. The guitar was very different from the single version, more like the
Adore era version.

-SNAIL-
BILLY: "This next song is from Gish. We wrote it when Melissa was in high
school. I don't know why I even picked this next song. It doesn't really mean
anything. [Audience laughs] It evokes the simplicity that we really did feel at
this time in our lives."
I don't really remember what else he said about it, aside from talking about how
[i think] it was about controlling your own destiny. He also compared 'Snail' to
'Mayonaise' and said that the lyrics to 'Mayonaise' were just thrown together
and, at the time, he didn't see much meaning in them. Looking back, however, he
says there was a lot more to those lyrics than he originally thought. When he
said 'Mayonaise' the first time, his voice kind of shook, llike he was nervous.
I really liked Billy's voice in the Gish era and I was hoping he would sing that
way for 'Snail,' but he didn't really. Regardless, he still did a wonderful job.
I don't think he can even sing that way anymore, anyway. James sang backup on
this song as well. It was definitely cool to hear a Gish song.

-STAND INSIDE YOUR LOVE-
BILLY: "This is a rare... one of those few love songs I've written... it's
dedicated to my friend and partner, Yelena... [Audience cheers] who isn't very
happy with me right now... [Audience: Awww...] This song is a classic Pumpkins
song. One of those songs that I think could fit on any of the albums. Originally
this song was very new wave, when I first envisioned it. I had this new wave
guitar riff that I liked and brought in to the band. It goes something like
this. [Plays upbeat guitar riff, a little awkwardly, however, as if not
remembering it too well]. It only had one line at the time, actually, 'Who
wouldn't stand inside your love,' And we just couldn't make it work with that
new wave sound. It sounded too awkward. I couldn't think of the right lyrics for
this song... So, I decided to sleep on it. I went home and went to bed that
night. When I got up the next day I was reading a book [I wish he had said what
book!] and suddenly these lyrics just popped into my head. You know how when a
good song just pops up in your head... you don't know where it came from and
it's so fast you just want to get it down before it's gone. You almost don't
want to take credit for it because it wrote itself, but I do anyway [audience
laughs]. So I wrote the lyrics down right away. You won't believe me but the
lyrics only took ten minutes to write. I'm serious, It really did. And I sang
that song exactly as I initially wrote it, no words were changed. It's all
stream of consciousness. So, this is 'Stand Inside Your Love,' for my
girlfriend. I hope she forgives me." Ohhh, that just tugged on my heart strings.
For all I know, he did something horrible to her but I still sympathize
(obviously! it's Billy!). I hope people didn't get mad at Yelena over that. She
was in the audience, btw. Someone saw her enter the building earlier in the day.
On that note, they went into a version of Stand Inside Your Love that was
changed slightly from the album version but still had the same sound. I couldn't
help but think he was singing this song as an apology to Yelena so his emotion
as he sang it may have been more than for just any performance...

-TO SHEILA-
BILLY: This next song came off of our [sarcastically] groundbreaking fourth
album, Adore... [Audience cheers. He pauses and gazes off as he collects his
thoughts] This next song off of our fourth album, Adore... It was written
without Jimmy in the band, who, actually... [turns to look back at drum kit] Oh!
Jimmy isn't even here [Billy & Audience laugh]. He was here in spirit which will
later be confirmed. This is one of the first songs I wrote for the album. And I
knew when I wrote it... right when I finished this song in the studio, I was
shaking... because I knew I had just jumped right off of a cliff. This song
really symbolized our direction, that we weren't going to rehash the past. We
were going to make our own way and stand by it..." I think he may have also
given a short meaning but I don't remember.
They sped this song up a lot, as with the Summersault shows, which surprised me
because I assumed they had done that to save time. I didn't notice if Jimmy came
back but I assume they did it without drums. His voice was wonderful, as always.

-THIRTY-THREE-
BILLY: "This song was written in 1994. You're not gonna cheer for the year?
[audience cheers and laughs. he said this because we cheered for EVERYTHING else
he said. lol.] It was the first song I wrote for the album, Mellon Collie
[audience cheers]. That's what it was called at the time, right? Yeah, it was
already called Mellon Collie. Why did I choose 'thirty-three?' 33 is a good
number. When I wrote that song I was just moving into my house, which eventually
became a purple victorian mansion. I had a good home, a wife, a cat [scattered
laughter], money, and, oh yeah, fame [audience laughs]. And in some ways the
song talks about me entering a new phase in my life. But it also talks about how
I don't really necessarily trust that part of my life. Obviously it has more
relevance now that I'm divorced and I'm out of my house. I thought that I had
everything I had ever wanted. But it didn't make me happy. And I couldn't figure
out why I had everything but it wasn't what I wanted. Anyway, there was gonna be
a '33,' a '66,' and a '99.' I never did write the other two, however. That's one
for the internet [laughs]. Well, I went for a tarot card reading because I was
curious. I went to this psychic that my friend recommended. They don't like to
be called that however. So, I went to this intuitive [scattered laughter] who
I'm really close friends with now and she told me that my life was gonna change
dramatically when I was 33. I was 27 at the time. And now I'm sitting here at 33
and it has. After that meeting I was truly at peace with myself and I went home
and wrote this song very fast." James sang backup on this song.
It was very interesting to hear this song live after being given its meaning...

-BLUE SKIES BRING TEARS-
BILLY: "We'll delve more into the meaning of the concept album now.
This song is called 'Blue Skies Bring Tears.'
Don't cheer! [Billy & Audience laugh. You could
tell he was semi-annoyed that we interrupted him a lot with cheering] It's not
like you know what it is anyway [audience protests]. Ok, protagonist and
antagonist, I can never tell these apart. The antagonist, right, the antagonist
is the hero... [audience protests]. Oh, the protagonist. [looks kind of
embarassed, laughs] You can tell I didn't go to college [audience laughs]. The
protagonist is no longer a zero but a hero. [audience cheers] I'm not a zero
anymore. I'm a hero! [audience laughs & cheers] It's about this person who is
having a dream about an armageddon. Rather than trying to better himself or try
to improve his life and well-being, he finds himself focusing only on survival,
getting food, shelter... ...It's kill or be killed. He comes to realize that
his own life is reaching this armageddon in reality."
Yes! Awesume bass! Amazing amazing performance. This is the best live
performance I've seen of this song. Unfortunately, the end was ruined by some
ear-splitting feedback, compliments of James Iha's guitar. I hope that doesn't
keep VH1 from airing it. :P He also added the lines, "Everyone needs somebody,"
"Even I need somebody," "Even I need nobody." And I loved hearing this song
after being given it's meaning. It sounded completely different and even better
after I knew what he was trying to say. Jimmy was really on the top of his form.
I found myself watching him a lot during this song cause he was really into it.
I love how fluidly, how easily he just whips out these amazing beats.

-TRY, TRY, TRY-
BILLY: "James, do you have any stories to tell?" [Audience cheers a LOT]
JAMES: [looking extremely embarassed, as always] "Um... I'm just here to rock."
[Audience cheers]
BILLY: [grinning, hintingly] "and you're going to..."
JAMES: "Um... roll?" [audience laughs]
BILLY: "No, look at the setlist... you're going to..."
JAMES: "Oh. [with extravegant hand motions]
Try... Try... Try..." [audience cheers]
BILLY: "This next song is number one in... Malaysia [audience cheers/laughs]. I
can't even remember what this song is about [Billy & Audience laugh]. I don't
even know what it's about. "Sometimes we'll just write bullshit lyrics for songs
[Billy & Audience laugh]. We'll have the music but no lyrics and I'll just make
up something stupid to hear how it sounds. [He then sang some silly rhyming
nonsense lyrics which I don't remember although the final line he added as an
afterthought, "Your dad is gay."] Well, if I can't tell you the meaning, I'll
tell you the story behind it. I wrote this song, actually, when I was on
vacation on Long Island [audience cheers]. Why anyone would vacation there, I
have no idea [laughs]. We were in some place called Mantouk or something. I was
there with my girlfriend and we could tell we were really in the wrong hotel.
Everyone else must have been thirty years older than us. They probably thought
we were in some goth convention or something [audience laughs].
Anyway, we were on the beach and I had my guitar, was experimenting
with some riffs, and I had this one line, 'Try to Hold on.'
And my girlfriend turned to me and said, 'Why are all of your songs always so sad?' [audience laughs] And I tried to explain,
I don't mean 'try to hold on,' but that you have to 'try to hold on to me," in a
more positive way. Get it? [um, no? then again, he had more to say about it that
I can't remember] And I know I'm not supposed to but sometimes I check the
internet [audience cheers] to see what people are saying... like finding out
what the bad boys say about you in high school [audience laughs]. Well, one
thing really got to me, that people are saying our music isn't as emotional, as
deep and personal as it used to be, more cold. Well, I guess it's true, at least
about this song. As time goes on, I've gotten more and more detached from my
feelings. So this is the cold version of me."
I was really hoping for a pop tart explanation but I guess Billy didn't feel
like being overly generous. ;) He HAS to know that's what we want to know,
right??? Anyway, I don't really remember the performance too well except that
Billy's voice was great but it was great all night so I guess that isn't saying
much.

-TALE OF DUSTY AND PISTOL PETE-
BILLY: "This song was and is from our fourth album, Adore. It's called 'Dusty
and Pete.' [audience cheers] No, it's 'The Tale of Dusty and Pistol Pete.' Is
that right? [looks contemplative] Yeah. This is a boy and girl song. It's a
story about a girl named Dusty and a boy named Pete. Pete kills Dusty and she is
now a ghost who is haunting Pete. He knows something is bothering him but he
can't figure out what it is. She doesn't know she is a ghost but feels the urge
to question and haunt him." Billy then made some sarcastic jokes about how
bothersome women can be sometimes. Melissa tried to speak up to defend the
gender but she didn't have a microphone, so Billy said something along the lines
of: "See! She's a woman. That's why she doesn't have a mic. She's mute.
[audience boos] Oh all of you are so fucking P.C.! [laughs] When Billy was
talking about the ghost and putting down women, Melissa was making these creepy
ghost-like gestures at him with her fingers and the whole audience was laughing.
I don't think he saw her doing it. ;)
Another cool song to hear after his interpretation. I was way off with my own
ideas so it was a great new way to look at the song.

-1979-
BILLY: "Because this is one of our most well known songs, people are always
asking me what it means. This was the last song written for Mellon Collie. It
was right at the end of recording and there wasn't much time left to add
anything. We had an acoustic version written. Flood gave me, basically, only 24
hours to complete this song. I felt really strongly about it. I only had one
lyric, though, 'shakedown, 1979' Again, that first line [laughs]. I don't even
know why I picked '1979.' I could've picked any year. '1979' is good for rhyming
though [Billy & audience laugh]. I created the rest of the lyrics from a memory
of when I was young and driving in my car in the driving rain, the way it only
rains in Illionois, and I was stopped at a traffic light. It's that simple. The
lyrics came from that single memory. I know it's weird but that's it. Just the
feeling that some new possibilities are about to open up in front of you. And
how right we were with this song..." Somewhere in here he also mentioned that
'1979' was incredibly popular.
This version was much more similiar to the MCIS version of the song, than
they've been doing recently, although the guitar was a little different. I
remember noticing that the drums were really prominent on this one. Halfway,
through the song, these big white lights suddenly started sweeping the audience.
Billy glanced up in surprise, then just shrugged and went back to doing his
thing.

-RAINDROPS AND SUNSHOWERS-
BILLY: "This is a pretty simple song. It started with some of those same
bullshit lyrics [laughs]. It's about when someone wants you to do something
that's simply impossible but you still try to walk between the raindrops for
them, which, of course, is impossible. The protagonist doesn't win in the end.
He gets rained on."
I'm not entirely sure if it was this song, but a few seconds into it Billy
glanced back at Jimmy with a questioning look. Then, about 40 seconds into the
song he stopped singing and said, "Thats not gonna work Jimmy. Too fast and too
loud." They then restarted the song at a slower pace.

-WITH EVERY LIGHT-
BILLY: "This next song is called 'With Every Light.' [audience cheers a lot]
Would you like to hear the meaning behind this song, or the story? [audience:
BOTH!!!!] Let's vote. Who wants the meaning [audience cheers]? Who wants the
story [audience cheers louder]. Ok, the story it is then. Well... my mom died
about... [pauses and looks at the ceiling as he thinks] 4 years ago..."
Ok, this part gets confusing. He seemed like he was trying not to say too much
but doing it anyway so it was really hard to understand what he was trying to
say. I hope I don't ruin the story. Also, the actual story behind this was MUCH
more poignant and moving than what I can remember here. I started crying because it was so touching. I hope they put it on TV.
Anyway, I won't use quotes on this because it might ruin what he was trying to say. Basically, he said that he had talked to a channeler who said she could
communicate with his mom. He had had
experiences with her before where he thought this was possible, that some
connection had been made, so he thought it might work. So he met with a
channeler who said that she had made contact with his mom and that progressed
into something else which Billy didn't seem comfortable talking about so he
skirted around that. Apparently, the experience was a big relief and had a great
effect on him. I'd love to hear a bootleg of this part because he was very
difficult to understand and remember [as you can tell...]. Melissa seemed very
interested in what he had to say for this song.
He also said about the song:
BILLY: "The line, 'With Every Light I've found,' reflects how when we meet
people, whether they are our friends or enemies, we take a part of them with
us."
While it lasted, this song was absolutely beautiful. This was the one song where
I started crying because it was obvious it meant so much to Billy and he seemed
almost relieved to get the information off of his chest. Not to mention, I
glanced over at one point to find a camera filming me close up! I don't know how
long he was filming me but I must say it was a good shot because I was so into
the song. ;) Once I looked at him, however, he stopped filming me. *grr* I
didn't mean to look at him.

Partway through the first take of this song, on the line, 'Could you believe in
heaven," Billy messed up and had to end the song. Basically, it went like
this...
BILLY: "Could you believe in heaven, oh shit!" [lol] So, basically Billy stopped
playing as soon as he said that, and, with a big grin, said, "see, I was too
caught up in thinking about the fact that you picked the meaning and not the
story... [laughs] just kidding."

-WITH EVERY LIGHT- (Take 2)
After the first take, Billy said, "Give me a moment. I can't remember the
lyrics," and laughed as the audience laughed at him. People from the audience
were yelling, "Try, Try, Try!" "We'll help you! and "Need the booklet?" which
everyone was laughing at, including the band. He also held his hand up as he was
thinking like he was pointing out the lyrics on a piece of paper, or in his
mind... As the band got ready to start this song, Billy, perhaps sick of having
his name called, said, "My name isn't really Billy.[Audience: William?] No, It's
Fred." The audience laughed a lot at that. About halfway through this song, the
band suddenly stopped playing and Billy glanced accusingly at Melissa. She
denied it with a look of innocence and Billy laughed.
BILLY: "No. That's ok. It's my fault. [laughs] You guys probably don't want to
hear us repeat that song. [My sister yells "It's ok! I like this song!] Thanks.
Fred loves you."

-WITH EVERY LIGHT- (Take 3)
Um, same story as the others except they actually finished it this time.

-LET ME GIVE THE WORLD TO YOU-
BILLY: "This is a legend of pumpkins songs, because it was recorded for two
albums but not released. We recorded it for Adore and people told me I had to
put it on the album, that it would've made an instant hit. But for some reason,
I didn't think it fit. And we recorded it for Machina as well but it didn't go
on that album either. I really like this song. It's one of those elusive
classics that doesn't really fit in any particular category. We probably should
have put it on a soundtrack... or maybe it might end up on a greatest hits
album. Or maybe we won't do that either so it will go on as a living legend.
This song is pretty easy to understand because of how nothing else will make you
fucking happy! [audience laughs] Guys, you know what I'm talking about." A
little after that he said another similiar joke, but this time he said, "Girls,
you know what I'm talking about." He did talk a little about the meaning of this
song but I don't remember it.

-LET ME GIVE THE WORLD TO YOU- (Take 2)
Billy wasn't happy with the way the first take came out so we got to hear 'Let
Me Give the World to You' twice in a row! Billy said something about redoing it
and Jimmy started playing the percussion part so Billy asked, "Oh, you want to
do it now?" and they played the song all over again for our listening pleasure.
:) Just before they played it, however, Billy reiterated his "fucking world"
joke from the previous take, minus the swear, saying something about how you'll
just destroy it anyway. I have a feeling he wanted to rerecord it just to create
a tv-friendly version. I'm still in shock that I got to hear this song once, let
alone twice in the same night!

-GLASS AND THE GHOST CHILDREN- (Take 2)
BILLY: [defiantly] I'm not going to talk anymore! [laughs]
The piano solo in this song was very good and much much better than the first
one. I wonder if Billy gave Mike Garson a talking to for being weird on film. ;)
For some reason, during the piano solo, all of the band members froze in place.
I don't know if it was planned or if they were all just into it. Billy leaned
over his acoustic guitar with his head bowed down. I think he had his hand
resting on his thigh with his elbow jutting out. And he completely froze in that
position for the entire solo, no movement from him for the entire song. Jimmy
just kind of did his own thing but James froze too for a little while and
Melissa did the same for the entire solo.

-STAND INSIDE YOUR LOVE- (Take 2)
Allright, I admit, I didn't even remember they played this song a second time...
so details are not gonna happen. ;)
Afterwards, we all gave the band a huge standing ovation. The show ended at
about 11pm. When I stood up after the show I could actually feel myself shaking.
The band members all left, except for Billy who walked around shaking hands and talking to people. I got about 3 feet away from him but at that point he was
trying to wave to the people way in the back so he didn't really notice me. He
actually kneeled on one of the chairs right next to my seat as he waved at
people in the back. I whipped out Chiffon III, the plastic pink flamingo, (don't
ask. the story is in my lupos review on my website.) to which we had tied a
Thank You note from all the fans on the messageboard, with their hand written
notes and screen names, but Earl the big bad body guard wasn't letting anyone
give anything to Billy so he probably didn't see it. When Billy left, I went up
to Bill, the director guy, and asked him to give it to the band. At first he
looked confused so I said, "The band will recognize it. Trust me. It's a long
story," and he immediately reassured me he would bring it to the band and even
asked which band member so I said either Billy or Melissa. I probably should've
said Melissa though because she would definitely recognize him. By then, there
weren't any guitar picks left because the fans had already raced up and pulled
them right off of the microphones. I overheard one kid saying he had grabbed
Billy's used guitar pick right off his chair. So I grabbed a whole bunch of
leaves that had fallen from the overhanging branches, onto the stage area and
started asking roadies for water bottles. I got one untouched, unopened James
water bottle and one used Billy water bottle with a little water left in it! Not
bad if I do say so myself.
So, then we went out back to wait for the band. I didn't see Billy or Jimmy at
all but James couldn't get out very fast because a lot of fans got in his way. I
was standing right next to his car's back bumper so I had a good view of him
standing around next to his car and jumping into the backseat. He wasn't very
friendly with the fans. Melissa, on the other hand, walked around and signed
autographs for well over five minutes. I stood about five feet away from her but
there were too many fans to get very close. She had the weirdest outfit on. It
was like this red shirt that had the bottom all ripped up and knotted and a tail
thing on the back that extended down past her knees. I must say, it looked
pretty cool. That girl has style! Anyway, after that we left for the train
station and I got home at 4am. :P
---------------------------------------------
-RANDOM QUOTES-
These are some random things that were said/done that I can't place to a
particular song:
BILLY: Machina was getting more complicated than we thought it would be.
BILLY: Around this time we were all working out together, lifting weights. I was
working out, D'arcy was working out, James was working out... Jimmy... Jimmy was
working on something. [audience cheers/laughs]
BILLY: I forgot to mention this before but the girl in glass was very heavily on
drugs.
At one point Billy mentioned something about "the album after Machina."
[!!!!!!!!]
One time Melissa was looking directly at me and I waved frantically at her until
she laughed and did that cool nod/smile/wink thing she does. We made eye contact
a lot but that was the only time I really forced the issue. ;) Melissa was
really good about acknowledging the fans. Billy looked at me at least 5 times.
Each time, my heart leaped into my throat as I hoped he would notice me. I think
he may have noticed me singing along a couple of times. During one of the band's
5-minute breaks (they took about 4 breaks) I noticed Mike Garson standing
against the wall to my right, about 10 feet away. This guy from Australia was
having him sign his Machina vinyl. I thought that was a great idea so I grabbed
my Stigmata soundtrack (I'm so happy I brought it!) and asked him to sign the
booklet. He seemed pretty impressed and surprised to get asked for two
signatures at once. There was nothing to lean on so he asked me to hold my hand
under it while he signed. He was a very nice guy.
Between songs, Billy tried to get James to tell a story but James was too shy
and unresponsive, so Billy said, "Why don't you sing a song for us?" The
audience went absolutely nuts and wouldn't stop cheering for nearly a full
minute! When the audience calmed down, Billy started playing the Human League
song, 'Don't You Want Me," that James and Melissa had sung on the Summersault
tour. The audience cheered again so James started to make up some lyrics. He was
obviously nervous though so he didn't say much. Billy asked, "and when did you
write that?" To which James replied, "I wrote that in the taxi, on the way
here."
Between songs, some guy yelled, "What kind of a razor do you shave your head
with?" Billy couldn't hear him so he kept asking, "What? I can't hear you,"
until various audience members managed to get the message across. Billy laughed
and said, "How come guys always ask me that question? Girls never ask about
that. Is it some kind of homoerotic thing?" [audience laughs] Then he made a gay
joke about himself but I can't remember it. "I think it's called Stipism
[audience: ooohh!] What? He didn't cause it. He was just the first one. I'll
talk about that later."
This guy I know, John, at one point yelled out, "Melissa, you match the set!"
because she was wearing green and matched the tree and grass rug. She obliged
his comment by making a weird face at him and modeling her clothes with all
these cool extravagant gestures.
One time, someone yelled Jimmy, then someone called Billy, someone else called
James, and someone else called Melissa. Jimmy started laughing right away and
soon everyone was, so Billy stepped in. "I guess we might as well introduce the
others. Mike Garson is on piano. Chris ? is on keyboard."
Between a lot of the songs, Jimmy would just start jamming and many times
Melissa would pick up on it. It was cool to see her instant look of
concentration as she heard Jimmy start to play and then joined in. One time she
started to play 'Bullet With Butterfly Wings' and as the crowd cheered her on
Jimmy started jamming with her. One time, James even joined in for a quick solo.
Sometimes, I think Jimmy was just plain showing off, however, as he would just
go off on a mad drumming tangent from time to time. This was usually when Billy
would take a water break.
During one of the songs, I noticed that James and Billy were playing the exact
same chords at the same time throughout most of the song. It was really neat to
see the sychronicity they had, where they could do this perfectly to the split
second without even looking at each other. Not to mention, just the fact that I
could see what chords they were playing from how close I was gave me a big
thrill when I noticed it.
I didn't hear this myself but someone told me that near the beginning of the
show Jimmy noticed that Billy was downing a lot of water (he was!) and said
saving about how he better stop or he'd really have to pee. lol. I wish I
could've heard that.
At one point, Billy said that James now has his hair cut the same way as when
Billy met him.
During a semi-awkward moment of silence, maybe at a point when Billy's guitar
was out of tune, Billy apologized, saying that they had had dance moves planned.

STZEROSS 092