Tsp1991-09-23

The Smashing Pumpkins
Date	1991-09-23
Venue	Axis
Location	Boston, MA, US
Venue Type	Club
Capacity	1100
Lineup	Corgan, Iha, Wretzky, Chamberlin
Order of Bands	Cliffs of Dooneen, The Smashing Pumpkins, Bullet La Volta, Nirvana
Surfaced Recordings
AUD #1
Source	AUD
Format	ANA
Equipment	Unknown
Length	30m
Complete?	Yes
Lowest Circulating Generation	ANA-1 > FLAC
Live Music Archive	16-bit download
Notes	Given to a WFNX DJ by a listener some time after the show. Surfaced in late 2011.
Unsurfaced Recordings
-

Setlist

Set:

• Rocket
• Tristessa
• Window Paine
• Bury Me
• Kill Your Parents [1:56]
  • Siva [5:45]

Notes

• WFNX 8th Birthday Bash
• Pro video exists of Nirvana's set, it is possible that SP was also taped
• MTV Interview with the band in nearby Bill's Bar prior to the show, in which Billy mentioned their upcoming tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The band also stuck around to take part in a game of 'Crisco Twister' with Nirvana (also filmed by MTV) before heading back to the Axis to play.
• In a 2023 interview, former WFNX host (and one of event organisers) Henry Santoro said the following:

We had a birthday party back in 1991. It was our eighth birthday party and we had four bands on the bill, and one of them was Cliffs of Dooneen — a very popular local band.
The show was at Axis on Lansdowne Street, where House of Blues is now. Axis was one of those medium sized rock clubs that people flocked to. And the second band on the bill was this little unknown band called Smashing Pumpkins.
And, you know, we gave them all of a half hour to prove themselves on stage.

• In a 2011 interview, drummer Todd Philips from Bullet Lavolta recalled the following:

LaVolta did our check. All was sounding good. MTV approached all three bands about doing some kind of impromptu video interview at Bill's Bar. We walked over and were met by an MTV producer, armed with a bucket of Crisco and the game Twister. Her vision, "Naked greasy Twister with interview," seemed funny at the time, but the taping ended up being a bust. I sat out and tried to hit on D'arcy.
Smashing Pumpkins hit the stage at about 9. They were only allotted 35 minutes as they were considered the "warm up" band. After opening with "I Am One," Billy Corgan exclaimed to the crowd, "It's gonna be a quick fuck!" He was right. They cranked through 80 percent of Gish with machine gun precision and were done. The crowd smoked a collective post-coital cigarette as we set up our gear.

• When interviewed on Joe Rogan's podcast in 2017, Billy mentions the gig during a conversation about Nirvana:

Here's a crazy little Boston statistic for you. We once played... It was Nirvana, Pumpkins and Bullet Lavolta. We played at that little club, it was like an alt club across from Fenway. I can't remember what it's called... Axis or... We played there in like... 92? It wasn't even sold out. Like... 700 people kinda thing.

Banter

(Unknown stage announcer): ...it's out on Caroline Records, it's giving them international acclaim, would you please welcome to the WFNX 8th Birthday Bash, Smashing Pumpkins!
Rocket
Tristessa
Window Paine
Bury Me
Corgan: We don't have time to play any of the nice songs. Sorry. Only time for a quick fuck, then we must go.
Siva
(Unknown stage announcer): Once again let's hear it for Smashing Pumpkins! I just saw god. Don't forget, everybody playing at the birthday party tonight has new releases in the stores, if you can't buy 'em, fucking steal 'em, I don't think they'll care...

Photos And Memorabilia