The Smashing Pumpkins brought their “In Plainsong” tour to San Francisco, along with fellow Chicagoan Liz Phair, who played a solo opening set. The tour features Pumpkins songs reinterpreted into new arrangements, which are mostly acoustic affairs. While it would’ve been great to hear old favorites in their original form, especially some deep cuts and b-sides that were hauled out, the new arrangements breathed some new life into the songs. In particular, the Siamese Dream portion of the setlist was especially fantastic with songs like “Mayonaise,” “Soma,” and “Rocket” getting a treatment that was quieter than the album versions but somehow just as impactful, despite lead singer/guitar maestro Billy Corgan sitting at a piano for these songs and leaving the axe work to guitarist Jeff Schroeder, who more than did the songs justice.
Despite the mid-show focus on Siamese Dream, the setlist was a huge sampling of Corgan’s career, with not just Pumpkins songs but also a few songs from Corgan’s mid-2000s supergroup Zwan, a cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” and a rendition of Hole “Malibu,” which Corgan co-wrote (among many other Hole songs if you believe the talk).
Liz Phair’s opening solo set was a great reminder of her songwriting talents, and the set stuck mostly to her Mataodor Records catalog, with “Extraordinary” and “Why Can’t I?” (her big stabs at mainstream success), and a new song, “Our Dog Days Behind Us” being the exceptions.
Liz Phair setlist:
Johnny Feelgood
Fuck and Run
Polyester Bride
Dance of the Seven Veils
Never Said
Our Dog Days Behind Us
Extraordinary
Mesmerizing
Supernova
Why Can’t I?
Divorce Song
Smashing Pumpkins setlist:
Cardinal Rule
Stumbleine
Tonight, Tonight
The World’s Fair (Billy Corgan song)
Space Oddity (David Bowie cover)
Thirty-Three
Jesus, I / Mary Star of the Sea (Zwan cover)
Mayonaise
Soma
Rocket
Spaceboy
Today
Whir
Disarm
Sorrows (In Blue) (Billy Corgan song)
Eye
Saturnine
Identify (Natalie Imbruglia cover)
1979
Stand Inside Your Love
Pinwheels
Lily (My One and Only)
Malibu (Hole cover)
The Spaniards
Encore:
Angie (The Rolling Stones cover)
Amarinthine
Three Match Breeze 