I've seen the Pumpkins in '91,94,98,07,08 I think that qualifies me as a fan. Very disappointed. This was by far the the worst concert I have seen them grind out. Billy was either worn out or he was having a really shitty day. I've never seen him so distant from the crowd, I could hear him thinking 5,4,3,2 more songs then were out of here. 07 Nashville, they played for 3 1/2 hours( no joke) and you could tell they wanted to be there for every second, Billy started with 4 or 5 acoustic songs before the rest of the band came out (awesome). I'm finished with the large tour dates I think, I'll be waiting for the smaller private venues. Maybe I'm just getting old (34yrs).....Pumpkins fan for life!!!!!! If Louisville was your first Pumpkins concert, and you loved it...you havent seen nothing. Catch another date. P.S. Ticketmaster "F" ucking sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! out. spadore

well, it was my first sp show since becoming a fan 13 years ago. i knew what the setlist would be from the previous shows and i was really excited to be able to see some of my favorite songs played live. and in addition to that got to hear a great new song G.L.O.W. for all of those who knocked it, maybe next time stay home. i was more than pleased with everything. i thought the sound was great but then again i was up front next to a speaker tower. siva rocked, i was so happy to hear it. eye was great, one of my favorite songs. transformer, again great. yes set the controls went on a little long, but hey, if billy wants to play it i will listen. i didn't sit down at all, even though my legs wanted me to. i am glad the "hits" were to a minuimum.

two problems-- one was the girls from the OC in front of me, they were taking so many pictures of themselves i wanted to slap them. and when billy started on today they jumped up and down, not caring about any of the other songs. this made me want to slap them more. why come to a concert to only hear one song. that is dumb.

and two, the stupid ass guys waiting out back with the other real fans. all they could go on about was how they wanted to hear zero. so i said in a loud voice to go listen to thier cd's.

over all i loved the show, i thought the crowd around me and that i could see were really into the show (besides the oc girls) and that the band seemed really happy.

i can't wait to see them in november.

I've been a fan since '92 and know almost all of the songs. I think the set list was pretty cool, although I can understand why people would want a few more hits. Overall, the set list seemed to have 1-2 songs off of each major release and a few gems thrown in there for hard core fans.
I've seen the pumpkins and Zwan several times over the span of their career, and traveled all over to do so. With the exception of an early Zwan show, I have never seen Billy and Jimmy as energized and I agree that the entire band brought their "A" game to the show and did a good job of keeping it throughout.

The fans around me in the back of the theater (I agree with the post that it does seem the worst seats seemed to sell through Ticket Master before the good ones) were great. They cheered, clapped, stood and got into the show. Sure there were a few moments where the energy died. You can't keep that the entire show. It was a week night and most people worked hard all day and knew they had to get up the next day and do it again. That's not an excuse, but a fact of life.

I don't think the venue is the problem. I love the Palace. It is a great place to see a show and I have seen a diversity of shows there. Volume is fine in this theater if you have a really good sound engineer. The place is acoustically beautiful in design.

I don't like blaming people because everyone makes a mistake or is just calling it in. Or maybe they are inexperienced in acoustics or were under prepared. Maybe there wasn't an adequate or any sound check. I don't know, but the reason the show went downhill is because of the sound. The bass drum and bass were mixed too loud in relation to the other instruments. Billy's vocals weren't loud enough. The guitars were too loud given the size of the venue. This isn't an issue of if its too loud you are too old. This is an issue of an incorrect mix given the size and shape of the venue and also incorrect for the instrumentation of many of the songs. The sound man should have been working overtime changing his settings for each song. I think he hit it dead on with Tarantula, Mayonnaise, Eye and a few others. The acoustic section sounded pretty good as well, but most of the songs ended up as mud. I know the majority of songs and have played them myself, but there were many I couldn't figure out what they were until the second verse. I didn't even know they played a Pink Floyd song and I'm familiar with most of their albums.

So you get a bad mix and people can't tell what it is you're playing. The guitars are bouncing off the walls like popcorn popping. Like dominoes, the enthusiasm is going to fall as people look at each other with question marks as to what they are playing and eardrums that are being pummeled with music that translates into noise for the listener. Once many people around me figured out what was playing, the enthusiasm picked right back up. During United States, my section was way into it.

But if enthusiasm goes down, then the band will logically lose their momentum and wonder what is wrong. Billy is a genius, but he does seem to like to bait the crowd, good or bad. I've seen him do this enough to feel safe in saying he wasn't trying to insult or joke with this crowd anymore than any other.

They played well, but there was too much intentional feedback. I love them, but even I got bored.

It was cool to see Billy Gibbons at the end. I hate to be greedy but it would have been so cool if he and the band played together some ZZ Top.

Overall, I don't feel I wasted my money, but it was far from the best show I've seen. As far as T-Shirt prices, it has gotten ridiculously expensive at all shows nowadays. The band gets a cut of it and they probably need it since the way the music business is structured they really don't make much on the sales of recordings by the time they get done paying all the costs to actually make their albums. They make the money from ticket sales and merchandise. I don't mind helping them by buying a shirt for myself and my wife. We had a good time, but the sound kept it from being a good show. I'll still go see the Pumpkins again without any reluctance the next time they come to town.

Right on, man.

Also, thinking back, I don't really thing Louisville is the problem. I've seen some great shows in Louisville (Dragonforce, Enslaved) with EXCELLENT crowds. That Enslaved show at Uncle Pleasant's is still the best concert I've ever been to. Why? Because there were only like 20-30 people there, and it was apparent they were all die-hard fans.

I don't think we can really say the same about this show. I know the Louisville/Lexington area has a lot of die-hard TSP fans, I just want to know where they were.

I feel like you hit it right on the head. I don't care about what set list they choose ... it was the pumpkins, they can play whatever they want as far as I'm concerned.

At the end of the show it was a waste of time and money ... it doesn't really matter who's fault it was.

I've been amazed at the "The Smashing Pumpkins can do no wrong!" attitude some of the fans that have posted here have. Comments like "You should just be thankful they came here!". As if it would be alright if Billy Corgan comes up to you and pisses on your leg ... and not only is it alright but you should be psyched about it because it was Billy Corgan. If that's what being a "fan" is all about ... I guess I'm not a big of a fan as I thought.

People seem to have very strong feelings on this show one way or the other. I saw the Hammond show a few nights before this one, and it was nothing short of amazing. They played the exact same songs. Not one was different. So what changed? The venue, and the fans. The venue didn't hold up to the sound, as many people will vouch for. The fans were upset. It doesn't matter if you agree with them or not. If you think that Billy didn't call in sick on this show, you weren't watching the same one I did. He nodded to Ginger and shrugged at the start of almost every single song that wasn't a "radio hit". If you didn't notice it, you weren't watching the show. He was obviously pretty insulted by the crowd's apparent lack of energy pretty much the whole show. He handed the mic to fan in boredom and then basically called him a f*g. Belched in the mic. Rolled his eyes any time he tried to get the crowd involved. I've seen the Pumpkins quite a few times now, and he tends to try to get a negative reaction just for some kind of reaction from a dead crowd. This was the deadest crowd I have ever seen at any show. Not just a Pumpkins show. Any show. The guy from the "media militia" who covered this show is a liar. Media types tend to do that. This has degenerated in to the hardcore vs. softcore fans of the band. It doesn't matter which side of the fence you were on: This was a bad show. Does it really matter why or whoose fault it was? The money is spent, the moment has passed, and the ball was dropped. I laughed with Billy as he made fun of the crowd. But, like it or not, I was a part of that crowd.

I love all the shitty reviews from idiots who don't know anymore than what MTV played from Siamese Dream and MCIS in the 90's. This was by far the best I have seen of them yet (since the Arragon Ballroom in Chicago '91)! You'll never see most of these songs played again and I am grateful I was able to see this set list.
So please, all you iTunes playlisters who only know the over-played radio hits, do the true fans a favor and stay home and watch TRL or the Flavor of Love and keep your negative energy away from the shows. We don't want you here and I'm sure the band could give two shits if your there or not. Its disgusting to think of the amount of money I spend to share the experience with these pop music wannabes. Next time you think about going to a SP show, DON'T!

There was definitely something wrong with the sound system at this show. You can't blame the Palace saying its too small for so much sound because last year i saw Godsmack play there. They were MUCH louder than the Pumpkins and it still sounded fine, the vocals and guitars cut right through. Of course Godsmacks sound system was about twice the size of the Pumpkins system at the show.

I think CoolSP22 and pauleky hit the nail on the head. Everyone at that show should be thankful that they even came here. Lord willing, the band doesn't come on and read half of this stuff...they'll NEVER come back to Louisville.

I love the SP, but their performance in this tour seems to be practice for a bigger tour. BC looked bored up there except for one song? It sounded like a band practice. I like when bands jam out, but this was not the best. How could any one think this was a good show. A good fan knows when they play bad, but a better fan can know when they play horrible. That night they played like it dident mater. Just because they play some random ass song at the end ,with kazoos,dosent erase that fact that they didn't perform like the SP I know.

I agree that paying these prices allows you to bitch and moan all you want. However, if you wanted the Top 40 hits, MAN did you pick the wrong show! This was an in-your-face rock show and it was pretty damn great. It's funny - I was in the back under the balcony and when the band left the stage before the encore, I turned to one of my friends and said, "Wow, the crowd is really bad - they're not cheering!" She said, "Maybe it's just where we are - maybe the balcony is muffling the sound." Sad to hear that what I said was correct. But, I don't care - the band was kick-ass and, as someone else says, if SP ever returns to Lou., just do us all a favor and stay home! I guess the Jonas Brothers will be in town, eventually...

Next time the Pumpkins roll into town you unhappy folks just stay home, that'll be more Billy and the gang for me. I thought this was the best setlist I've heard in my five times seeing SP live. I mean who ever thought that they would be hearing a song from a movie trailer before the greatest movie ever, "The Dark Knight". I'm speaking of course about "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning". I never thought I would hear the likes of "Eye" or "We Only Come Out at Night" sang live. Pumpkins could sing Sesame Street songs or dare I say even Country and I would be lined up ready to jam.
So the band wanted to express themselves through music and make a little noise so what! You have to admit when Billy layed the guitar down and ran his fingers down the strings and walked away while the guitar roared on was totally bad ass!
Ok my wife was all fired up because she was thinking some of the people were just not into it. I told her, "well the band has been around for twenty years so maybe we have an older crowd here tonight." I'm 32 years old and saying this to her, funny huh? I tell you now, my wife was enjoying the concert, heck she was getting on my nerves bumping into me. I'm standing there listening to the songs and here she comes with her hips swaying to the music catching me off gaurd knocking me off balance and killing the poor girls feet i'm stepping on. There were two young fellas sitting next to us that looked like they were from the farm and should have been getting thier prized cow ready for the fair. This was their first time seeing SP perform, I'm thinking they were new fans spawned from the new album. They did not mind the songs they did not know, when a such song came on I caught them looking at each other with a confused look and then proceed with the head banging. I do believe they thought highly of their first live SP experience.
I told the wife about how sometimes Billy stops and talks a little when he exits the building..."Ladies and gentlemen, Billy has left the building." ...sorry had to do that, before he jumps on the bus. Well she got super stoked and darted out of The Palace and zoomed to the back of the venue. Billy come out wearing his knickers with his ziplock bag of goodies and stood there for a moment while munching. I figured he was waiting for a question from a fan that caught his attention and was worthwhile to comment on. Of all things someone got him talking about Pride and UFC fighting. One of the greatest musical talents of our generation and you want to ask him about mixed martial arts?! We want to know answers to real questions like, can you and Jimmy just jam at Rock Band or what? or do you use Norelco or Braun? Well now, i know that Billy perfers Pride over UFC. Mr. Corgan would rather see a win by using tactic and skill than just two guys pummeling each other. He did mention that he doesn't pay too much attention to either one. Someone asked him about autographs and he stated," I don't do autographs anymore. Half the people get autographs and the other half are pissed at me, i haven't done that shit in a long time. This way everyone gets the same treatment."
The wife was very excited, she was calling people waking them from their slumber and bragging, "I can't believe it I'm standing just a few feet from Billy Corgan!" With the twenty or so people crowding Billy and Jimmy out back on our side I didn't bother to try and yell over everyone. I just sat back and enjoyed this little bit of personal time with my favorite band of all time.
Since I rambled on this long i might as well say this:
Billy, Jimmy, if you ever get on and read any of these comments I would like to say, Thank you Billy for not sitting idle by the wayside and getting a band known as Smashing Pumpkins back together again. Jimmy, thank you for returning to the band. Your percussion skills are incredible and help make this band what it is. D'Arcy and James did not accept the invite given in the paper. I don't what all went down with the break up, shoot maybe no one but you four really knows, but i do think that Ginger and Jeff are great additions to the team. And what about Lisa? That Batman song could not have as good as it was without her. I hope the five of you get to perform as a whole on any futures recordings. I feel it makes for stronger music when all members are playing their respected instruments. Once again to you Smashing Pumpkins, Thank you from me and I'm sure many true to core fans for music we listen to and never be tired of.

P.S. If people want to complain then make fuss over merchandise prices, $40 bucks for a T-shirt anybody?! Can't say too much over here, I bought two...and some flair.

So this was my first time seeing the band live (mind you I've been a fan for some years), and I think MOST of you should be ashamed of yourselves. They didn't have to come here at all, but they did. Who cares what they played...they did it HERE! They played a few "hits" to get everybody singing along, which, by the way, was awesome. I don't know what show some of you guys were at, but the crowd around me (including myself) was loud and very into the show. And the kazoos??!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!! BAD-ASS!!!

My whole point is that I left the show feeling great. The band had a choice and they chose to stop in Louisville, a place that I think has some of the best music fans in the whole country, and for anyone to say that the crowd was not into it is absolutely ludicrous. Maybe they could've done without the Floyd cover and all the noise at the very end of the show, but so what. We were all privileged to have them stop in our city and think a lot of people need to realize that.

...are scaring me. Now I'm starting to think there really is sound issues. The theatre in Louisville looks like a great venue with good acoustics - like a mini-Fox in ATL. I'm gearing up for Clearwater and here in Orlando. The Hard Rock show is free and promoted through a local meathead radio station. I'm dreading to see what the crowd will be like.

Relentless drums and psychedelic guitar freak outs ARE the Pumpkins live. Where have you people been for 20 years? Watching Jimmy destroy is worth the price of admission and BC is the last of the guitar gods (that's not thrash metal or in a god damn jam band). People are just not use to seeing a rock band that can expand so much in the live setting these days.