BY PAM WHISENHUNT | Go Venue Magazine
Smashing Pumpkins, with direct support from Jane’s Addiction, brought their Spirits On Fire tour to the Excel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota November 4th, 2022. The two bands played to an arena full of Gen Xers feeling a whole lot of 90s alt-rock nostalgia.
Jane’s Addiction, minus original member Dave Navarro, got the crowd warmed up. Frontman Perry Farrell entertained the crowd with his Urban Cowboy outfit, burlesque dancers and interesting conversions about his love for snowboarding, becoming a mountain man in Alaska and the chicks. Ferrell loves the ladies. He let us know he’s sure they will “save the world”. I enjoyed the conversations with the crowd just as much as the music.
Smashing Pumpkins frontman, Billy Corgan dawned a long black meditation robe with masonic symbol, white face paint and welcomed us to the “rock show”. Smashing Pumpkins are not touring with original bassist D’arcy Wretzky, but have added a female back up singer. Regardless of the line-up changes, they sounded just as I remembered. The overall feel for the show was soft and moody, but had the occasional burner like “1979”.
Smashing Pumpkins enchanted the arena with a full hour and a half, seventeen song set list. They played a fairly even mix of old hits, deep cuts and newer more obscure songs. They added a Talking Heads cover “Once in a Lifetime” and their newest single “Beguiled” to the set list.
There are a few shows left on the tour. If you want a shot of 90s nostalgia, you can still catch it:
- November 7 – Denver, CO
- November 9 – Spokane, WA
- November 11 – Vancouver, BC
- November 12 – Seattle, WA
- November 13 – Portland, OR
- November 15 – San Francisco, CA
- November 16 – Anaheim, CA
- November 18 – Phoenix, AZ
- November 19 – Los Angeles, CA
Smashing Pumpkins
Jane’s Addiction
All images © Pam Whisenhunt
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