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The last few weeks/months I’m spending an awful lot of time in researching the first gigs of Smashing Pumpkins outside the USA, specifically the Dutch concerts. I’m writing to radio DJs, tour promotors, visitors of those gigs, even the directors of venues to get my info. My results are so-so, typically the hotshots working for the venues are not very cooperative. But here is an update already, nevertheless.
I found a possible new date/venue for the January 1992 Dutch tour. Doornroosje Nijmegen claims to have hosted a show for the Smashing Pumpkins in that period… They say it was scheduled last minute so it was not on the official tour scheme, and not even in their programme books. But there was an advertorial poster for it, and further proof might follow, but they are very busy now with the 40th anniversary of the venue. Another source tells me it might have been announced on Dutch radio too. I found that DJ, and asked what she remembers, and if I’m allowed to go to the archives of her radio station. Waiting for an answer on that too…
Effenaar Eindhoven (1992/01/18 gig) is helping to find extra material, like posters and tickets. A fan that attended that show might still have a programme, and will provide that to me if he finds it back. (On a sidenote, this same guy might have an unsurfaced audience recording also for the 1996/04/03 Ahoy Rotterdam gig, but I will look into that later. I need to compare it to the \"Thank You For Participating\" bootleg, the only recording we know of so far.)
Paard Rotterdam (about 1992/01/19) is not answering any email so far. Boo!!!
De Doelen Rotterdam (about 1991/09/01), same story. Another boo!!!
Metropolis Festival, Zuiderpark, Rotterdam (1992/09/06), I found the music programmer and asked her friendly for extra info. She happens to also arrange bands for Doornroosje Nijmegen, so hopefully it is a lead to more info. Also for info about the secret gig that Smashing Pumpkins played on the Metropolis afterparty, in Nighttown Rotterdam.
Will start working on the Paradiso Amsterdam gig of 1992/09/05.
That’s about it for now. Will update this every few weeks, I hope. It’s fun!
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First update since a lot happened this week.
Managed to talk to a radio DJ that interviewed the band/Billy Corgan several times:
1991 Ein Abend In Wien Festival, in the hotel where the band stayed
1993 At the VPRO sessions in June, when they played Dancing In The Moonlight (D’Arcy asked if she could change clothes with her, which she refused! )
1998 backstage Pinkpop Festival, when Billy was acting very childish and stupid, which she blamed him for…Also spoke with 1 of the initiators of the Ein Abend In Wien Festival (the first gig SP played outside US/Canada). He provided me with tons of scans of Festival material, that indicates in which hotel + room numbers the band stayed with their manager Andy Gershon and engineer Tom Fabjance, which bus they took to the airport etc. Also a lot of newspaper articles about the Festival where SP is mentioned. Next to that, I managed to find the promotional CD \"Ein Abend In Wien\" that was released just before the Festival, but SP is not on it.
The Doornroosje Nijmegen gig turned out to be a myth, created by some people of the venue. There is mentioned on several places that SP played in Doornroosje \"before they were a wellknown band\", but I talked to 3 different people (2 ex-employees, 1 current employee, amongst them the music programmer of the 1980-1990 era) and ALL of them admit that it is a mistake, or mixup with another SP gig in another venue (most probably Effenaar Eindhoven), that was promoted in the Doornroosje programme book. Luckily, the SP-gig-that-never-happened-after-all was not mentioned in the Doornroosje 40 Years Anniversary Book that was released last year. But the Dutch Wikipedia ( http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doornroosje_(Nijmegen) ) and several news pages ( http://www.podiuminfo.nl/news/10057/Doo … Jaar_2010/ ), still mention it. Myth busted!
On a sidenote, Billy did not make many friends in Holland in the early days. I talked to many people so far, and quite a few of them remember him as a \"nasty and ego\" guy, so to say.
Keep you posted.
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1998 backstage Pinkpop Festival, when Billy was acting very childish and stupid, which she blamed him for…[/quote:1wxc6k3u]
if this was shown on tv, i believe i’ve seen it. i might even have it on a vhs cassette somewhere.
it was an interview with billy and james and at the end, they run away to say hi to the people from garbage who apparently just arrived. -
this is what i remember from the interview – probably not entirely correct, and only a part of it:
– this [adore] is a very personal record
– nah, people think it is, but it’s more like a record for the world
– but some songs are about the death of your mother, that’s very personal
– i don’t know what to say to that– how do you write a song?
– well, i go over to james’ and first we have a coffee and a tea, and then i give him a massage and then we start talking. about anything. …
– but i mean, was it different for this album than for the previous ones?
– oh, i see. yeah. (+ typical answer about writing and recording a song on the same day)– i don’t believe you
– that’s ok, i don’t believe you.
– ok, what do you wanna talk about?
– jet airplanes, … (more random stuff)so yeah, he was being a bit of an ass that day.
james also said a couple of words, but not much. he tried to be funny, but i think he failed. -
Managed to talk to a radio DJ that interviewed the band/Billy Corgan several times:
1998 backstage Pinkpop Festival, when Billy was acting very childish and stupid, which she blamed him for…[/quote:v79zapxn]
i found the backstage interview on youtube.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VuyWvj9e0M[/youtube]
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