Primus at Orpheum Theater, 11/12/06

Yep, it was a weekend of concert going. Trucked my ass out to Boston yesterday to catch Primus. Primus just barely has product to promote (a DVD and greatest hits CD), so it was going to be interesting to see exactly what songs they were going to sport.

Much like The Cult (with the exception of an inflatable astronaut on stage), it ended up being a greatest hits set. Les Claypool donned a couple of face masks (Cyrano de Bergerac: go figure) and got all extendo jam-y on a number of songs. Who knew you could lengthen "Sailing the Seas of Cheese" to five minutes? But towards the last quarter of the set they kept things fairly brief on tunes like "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver". Herb was tight on the drums and Ler was has usual noodly self on his stash of PRS guitars (the end solo to "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver" was especially well done).

The set clocked in at a mere 75 minutes or so, but that appears to be par for the course these days for them. Well played and the band was in decent spirits, but I was hoping for at least an hour and forty-five from these guys (and perhaps some songs from The Brown Album and Antipop). At least I got to hear "Mr. Krinkle", so c'est la vie, eh?

Set List:

To Defy the Laws of Tradition
Mr. Know It All
Those Damned Blue Collar Tweekers
Seas of Cheese
Mr. Krinkle
De Anza Jig
Nature Boy
Here Come the Bastards
Frizzle Fry
My Name Is Mud
Jerry Was a Race Car Driver

Encore:
Wynona's Big Brown Beaver

The Cult at Webster Theater, 11/11/06

Yes, even though The Cult have absolutely no product whatsoever to promote, they are touring, and I caught them on Saturday night.

Although there were definitely less people at the show than when I last saw them (on the Good and Evil tour), there was enough folk so the band didn't simply give up. Ian Astbury is still short haired (sorry to all you ladies who dug his long locks), and still doesn't sing as well as he does on the albums, but he did a decent job all the same. Sporting a purple hoodie with a white "The Cult" iron-on transfer (it looked like the letters were purchased from a cheap sewing store), he bantered with the audience, did his dance-y Ian shuffle, and threw a couple of tambourines out as souvenirs.

Billy Duffy was in good form, belting out the large guitar riffs through Gibson Les Pauls or his fancy Gretsch White Falcon through a wall of Marshall 4x12 stacks. Thankfully the guitar volume was damned loud (so loud that Billy kept complaining that he couldn't hear himself through his monitors), which isn't always the case at concerts these days. He was definitely on fire, with his soloing for Love's "The Phoenix" being a noodling high point. He threw out about a billion picks at the end of the show, so thankfully I was able to snag a few.

Seems that on their official web site people are complaining about the sound, but it's probably because they were too far away from the stage (losers). Up front things sounded good (even though Billy was definitely upset over the mix he was hearing on stage).

And unlike Iron Maiden, The Cult played the hits, so if you came for "Love Removal Machine" and "She Sells Sanctuary", you got it.

Set List:

Lil' Devil
Sweet Soul Sister
Electric Ocean
The Witch
Spiritwalker
Revolution
Rain
The Phoenix
Star (acoustic)
Edie (acoustic)
Fire Woman
Wonderland
Peace Dog
Rise
Wild Flower
Love Removal Machine

Encore:
Nirvana
She Sells Sanctuary

Spaceboy I've Missed You

It's been far too long since a pompous, whiney, bald guy named Billy Corgan has been out of the limelight. Thankfully Mr. Zero himself has resurrected Smashing Pumpkins (albeit no one knows exactly who's in the band at this point), and if we're all lucky, there will be a new album next year. And let's face it: the music scene sorely needs them and their blend of alterna-metal back.

I imagine a lot of the younger folk out there just don't get why people like me really dig Smashing Pumpkins. But there was something about 1991's Gish that was really special. Back then they were nobodys (hell, I figured from the album photo of the band that James Iha was the main guy) and the music itself spoke to me. There was nothing quite like it: thick guitars sounding like automobile motors (dig the cool tone on Siamese Dream's "Quiet" and the end riffage of "Geek U.S.A."), wailing solos (not to mention wailing singing), plus really groovin' rhythms. They just pushed all the "man this stuff is cool" buttons, and even had a chick bass player with a cool name (D'Arcy) before it was fashionable to have a chick bass player in your band. Damn, even the band name is cool.

I personally had no clue that they'd make it big, but in 1993 my friend Mark told me the buzz surrounding their soon to be released Simaese Dream was gargantuan, and he was right. "Cherub Rock" stomped its way onto regular pop radio, and alternative rock had a new hero to worship alongside Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. How could you not like a band who penned a song named "Silverfuck"?

From here things got a bit tough as Corgan's ego inflated (which is probably partly responsible for the similarly inflated run time of the Mellon Collie album). Drummer Chamberlain was fired (possibly due to the drug related death of a friend of the band) and replaced with a drum machine, which led to a good song with an even better name ("The End is the Beginning is the End"), but it also led to a lousy album (Adore). Chamberlain returned for their next album, but then they just died out.

Billy has surfaced from time to time to do solo and other band projects. His band Zwan was a pretty good effort, and his song with Tony Iommi, "Black Oblivion", is so awesome that I almost want Sabbath to reunite with Corgan at the helm. But nothing 100% clicked for the public.

Here's for hoping that something clicks in 2007 for Billy and the boys (and if we're lucky, a girl named D'Arcy).

Halford: A Little Thick On Digital Music

"We want to encourage everyone to see the great quality you can get from digital purchases." Bah.