The Smashing Pumpkins brought Oceania to Montrealers of all generations at their Bell Centre show on Sunday night. The Pumpkins’ last Montreal appearance was at the Osheaga music festival in 2007.
The Pumpkins started their performance with “Quasar”, the first track off their newest album, Oceania. The first half of the concert was dedicated to performing Oceania in its entirety, playing songs like “The Chimera” and “Pinwheels”, which are reminiscent of the band’s earlier work. The band finished their performance of Oceania with the melancholic, yet beautiful “Wildflower”. Throughout the performance, surrealist images were projected on a large sphere behind the band and blue and red lights flickered on the stage.
The second part of the concert kicked off with The Pumpkin’s cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”. Lead singer Billy Corgan conversationally interacted with the crowd, confessing: “I’m known for my honesty”, telling the crowd that Montreal was the best crowd on their tour.
Songs like “Today” and “Disarm” charmed fans and had them hollering Corgan’s signature poetic lyrics at the top of their lungs. The Pumpkins merged their pre-2000 hits into a string of musical bliss, keeping fans in anticipation of which song was next.
The band initially finished their set with “Stand Inside Your Love” and “Muzzle”, but soon returned on stage due to the crowd’s loud insistence. Their encore featured “Ava Adore” and the signature rock songs “Cherub Rock”and “Zero”, which had the crowd jumping and singing.
Photos by Natasha Taggart.
