How much of a good thing is too much? When Halifax’s Piece Hall returned to the live music circuit in 2018 the five shows it put on felt like special events at a unique location. Seven years later, despite Covid’s interruptions, this number has grown to thirty six, making it one of the most used mid-size outdoor venue in the country at the slight cost of making nights there becoming slightly too much of a common occurrence. But of all the names to have played their in recent years, not many can claim to be quite as big as The Smashing Pumpkins, proving to be an irresistible draw for music fans such as myself who grew up as guitar obsessed teenagers in the nineties.
Asides from it’s aesthetic qualities one of the attractions for shows at the Piece Hall is that they make sure crowds get their money’s worth in terms of support acts. As with all three of my visits this summer, the first band appeared on stage at half past six whilst punters were slowly drifting into the venue. In this case Los Angeles’ upcoming indie grungsters Rocket made for enthralling viewing under the early evening sun. The main support came from White Lies – a band whose debut topped the album charts back in 2009 but seemingly have failed to build on it. The said, the years in between have seen them hone their live performance, with breakthrough single Farewell to the Fairground resonating well with the crowd.
With the dark begin to fall it was time for the headliners. Flanked by what I’ll describe only as two gigantic light up sci-fi dolls (has the Piece Hall ever had such extravagant stage decoration before?) the band clearly enjoyed the unique setting they found themselves performing in. From the off the sound was strong and muscular – the recent addition of third guitarist Kiki Wong to bolster the output from founding members Billy Corgan and James Iha adding extra depth to their live performance, whilst Jimmy Chamberlain’s performance thunderous performance means he retains the crown of most impressive drummer I’ve had the fortune to witness live.
Whilst the tour was advertised as the Aghori Tour, in reference to 2024’s Aghori Mhori Mei album, the setlist was dominated instead by the band’s masterpiece Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, with Billy not only remarking on it being the album’s thirtieth anniversary but that many in the audience weren’t that old. For a band with a reputation for being grumpy their jovial side was on show, Billy noodling away threatening Nirvana covers and Jimmy delighting the locals with his praise for local fish & chips and remarking how he’d been warned that the local crowd’s chants of “Yerk-shire” shouldn’t be mistaken for cries of “You’re Sh*te”.
Despite a slightly bizarre take on Berlin‘s Take My Breath Away, the band were set on pleasing their audience, delivering a reminder of how they came to dominate the mid-nineties alternative rock scene. The early back to back performance of Today and Bullet With Butterfly Wings proving particularly popular, the latter of which being its thousandth live performance if setlist.fm is correct. Later on the run through of Stand Inside Your Love, Zero and The Everlasting Gaze finished off the set in style and sends the audience home happy – even those who weren’t around to see them during their initial glorious run.
Were you at the Piece Hall for the show or seen The Smashing Pumpkins live recently? Leave your thoughts and comments below. And don’t forget to check the AlexReviewsGigs artists reviewed list for write ups of many of their contemporaries.
The Smashing Pumpkins performed:
Glass’ Theme
Heavy Metal Machine
Where Boys Fear to Tread
Pentagrams
Today
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
Muzzle
1979
Edin
Porcelina of the Vast Oceans
Sighommi
Mayonaise
Take My Breath Away
999
Disarm
Tonight, Tonight
Cherub Rock
Jellybelly
Bodies
Ava Adore
Stand Inside Your Love
Zero
The Everlasting Gaze
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