Bc2022-02-06

Billy Corgan
Date	2022-02-06a
Venue	Madame Zuzu's
Location	Highland Park, IL, US
Venue Type	Teahouse
Capacity	~40
Lineup	Corgan
Order of Bands	Corgan
Surfaced Recordings
AUD #1
Source	AUD
Format	PCM
Equipment	AT831s > SP-SPSB-11 > (@69khz) > Sony PCM-M10 @ 24/44.1
Length	87m
Complete?	Yes
Lowest Circulating Generation	PCM > FLAC
Live Music Archive	24-bit download
Notes	Taped from back, dead center. Originally uploaded to DIME the next day.
Unsurfaced Recordings
AUD #2
Source	AUD
Format	WAV
Equipment	Unknown
Length	Unknown
Complete?	Yes

Setlist

• El-A-Noy
• Burnt Orange Black
• Black Lung
• Cyr
• The Empty Sea
• Black Forest, Black Hills
• Antietam
• Widow Wake My Mind
• Anno Santana
• Winterlong
• Jesus Won't You Come on By
• W.P.
• Waiting For a Train That Never Comes
• By Starlight
• Ugly
• I Know My Time is Coming Round

Notes

• Wintersongs acoustic show
• Early show
• First performance of "W.P." since 2001-12-14 and first Corgan solo performance
• First performance of "I Know My Time Is Coming Round" since 2002-04-08 and first Corgan solo performance
• First performance of "Widow Wake My Mind" since 2010-08-11
• First performance of "By Starlight” since 2012-09-13
• First performance of "El-A-Noy" since 2015-06-19
• First performance of "Winterlong" since 2017-11-09
• First performances of "Burnt Orange Black" and "Antietam" since 2017-11-12

Banter

BC: [cuts in] Does everyone have the QR code, I think, yeah? So please use that. Um, we just had our manager quit the other day, heh, so things are a little complicated for us as a business and this is the largest crowd we’ve had in here since we opened over a year ago, so we ask for your patience today, but uh, we’re very happy and I know the staff is very happy to have you in here today, so thank you very much and we’ll get started in about ten minutes.

[10 min break]

BC: Alright.

El-A-Noy

BC: Thank you very much. You’re thinking about leaving Illinois, that’s a great song. But there’s so many reasons to stay, Zuzu’s just being one of them. And not much after that, heh. Heh heh heh heh heh.

Burnt Orange-Black

Black Lung

BC: Thank you. My grandfather on my father’s side was a coal miner and had black lung. I always thought that was like a mythological idea but he actually had black lung. Heh heh, it’s so descriptive when you’re a kid: “he had black lung.” Heh heh heh.

Cyr

BC: How is everybody today? (crowd clapping) Back in the day, I used to joke and say that the Smashing Pumpkins were the perfect band for the apocalypse and little did I know....

Guy in crowd: It’s all just a dream.

BC: Heh heh! Unbelievable. Well, if it is a dream...thanks for being in mine and I appreciate you letting me in yours.

The Empty Sea

BC: That was for all you five Zwan fans out there. (crowd cheers) Okay, seven –– seven Zwan fans.

Guy in crowd: Reissue!

BC: For you Zwan fans, I will say that I’m inking a deal with our label, Sumerian, to put out the Zwan box set finally. And as the guy right now is sliding in my DMs, (dumb guy voice) “What about the Machina box set?” (normal voice) That’s coming too. That box set’s actually been done for six months, but...it’s forces beyond my control. What does Trump always say? (Trump impression) “China. China.” (normal voice) That’s all I ever hear these days, like, “Why can’t we get vinyl?” (Trump impression) “China.” (long hissing noise in background) (normal voice) I see no one got the memo about turning off the cappuccino machine. (noise continues) Heh heh! (noise continues) Yep! That’s why you’re like, “There’s nothing I can do right.”

Black Forest, Black Hills

Antietam

BC: Any Smashing Pumpkins fans are here? (crowd laughs) Heh heh. Anybody? (crowd cheers) Um...so yeah, I’m happy to report that outside of mixing, the Pumpkins album is done. And our good friend Linda Strawberry is certainly a partisan ‘cause she’s part of the family for 20 years.... She got to sing on a couple things, but she didn’t hear the whole record –- she was only where we were temporarily –- last night, she actually got to hear the whole record unmixed. And I think it was a lotta “What the fuck?” Heh. “You guys are insane. This is blowing my mind. This is so wild. Only you guys would pull this shit off.” So, if that strikes your fancy.... I certainly –– also partisan –– in this hyperbolic time, I guess it’s not a bad thing to be a partisan, but as partisan, I can certainly say it’s the best album we’ve made in over 20 years. And I don’t hesitate when I say that. I’m at least proud that we’ve reached back into that crazy space that we used to live in and managed to put together 33 songs that tell a story and continue the crazy legacy of our boy Zero. So, if that strikes your fancy, it won’t be long. It’ll be out before the Machina reissue. Does that sound right? (dumb guy voice) “Yeah, but you said the Machina reissue was gonna come out like two years ago.” (normal voice) It’s probably one guy with like seven accounts, always writing me the same thing. You might remember this one...if you were paying attention...which...if memory serves, a lot of people weren’t. Heh heh. That’s okay. Vengeance is mine and I shall get what I’m looking for.

Widow Wake My Mind

BC: Thank you. I always liked that song even though I thought it was stupid. Heh heh, which is a weird thing to think. I will say one thing in regards to the album –- the Pumpkins album. We left our last management –- not wholly, but partly –- because deep down, they didn’t really believe in the idea of us doing a 33 song album. The sort of vibe being –- and I’m saying this not about them but a lot about a lot of people [sic] –- why should a band in its 34th or 35th year bother? The audience doesn’t care anymore and dah dah dah dah dah and it’s like, those days and I just don’t believe it. I just don’t believe it. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. And I think that the point of it all is if we don’t believe, why should you, right? And so, I’m at least proud that we went back to that place. If we did it, great, you got more music to listen to; if you don’t, well, just more noise, right? There’s plenty of noise.

Anno Satana

Guy in crowd: Thank you!

BC: Thank you. Or as my daughter says, “Rock and roll.” She knows that one. The other day, uh, her teacher said to her after she did something good in an assignment (bumps mic) –- excuse me –- um, he just said, “Oh, you did that good, you’re a rock star.” And my daughter said, “No, I’m not a rock star, my dad is a rock star.”

Lady in crowd: [unintelligible] as you are.

BC: Heh heh heh heh. Unbelievable. Speaking of Machina....

Winterlong

BC: Thank you. (approx. 45 seconds of downtuning guitar) The other day in the studio when I was with Howard, I said to him, “When it’s all said and done, heh, all of it, the thing I will not miss is tuning.” I can’t decide what’s worse: making you listen to tuning or making you listen to an out of tune guitar. Maybe we should do a fan vote, yeah? (laughing) Right? Instagram vote.

Jesus Won’t You Come On By

BC: Heh heh heh. I know in the old days, we used to like to walk people through our particular nightmares on stage, heh heh heh. It brought flashbacks there for a second. ... Now this next song...only adding to the pressure of the moment...is one of my favorite songs that I’ve ever written. I hope you enjoy it too. And I will try not to desecrate it...best I can.

W.P.

Know My Time Is Coming Round (abandoned after 4 seconds)

BC: It’s still outta tune, it’s like, why? It’s so painful, I’m so sorry. And no, this is not performance art, this is bad showbiz right here.

Shay: As Billy says, there’s certain places on the stage you can go during the performance while you –- it’s called black boxes, I don’t know what he mean! –- I was here, I was there, I was everywhere!

BC: Oh jesus. What he’s referring to...(pause for crowd laughter)...is from our MTV days, if you remember those...we would play, you know, whatever, the MTV awards, and there’d always be the guy up under James’s nose, shooting that shot. And invariably somebody would fuck up what they were playing. So we started this thing called the box, like you’re not allowed to get in the box. The box does not have a color, it’s just a box.

I Know My Time Is Coming Round (abandoned immediately as Richard yells)

Shay: I couldn’t find the box, the memory was!

(pause for crowd laughter)

BC: Well, this guitar’s never gonna be in tune, so I’m just gonna go bye.

I Know My Time Is Coming Round

BC: Thank you very much.

Photos & Memorabilia