Photo Credit: Patrick Demarchelier

AN EVENING WITH THE SMASHING PUMPKINS

RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL, 8/2/98

NEW YORK, NY

They've done it again. From the beginning of their first song, "To Sheila," to the check donation to Hale House, you could almost feel the energy of the crowd. Since all money from ticket sales went to charity, every part of the show was paid for out of the Smashing Pumpkins' pocket. There were no amazing light effects. There wasn't an extravagant set. Just them. Up close, personal. The concert started off with a surprise: a phantom-like figure emerged from the darkness and began to play pieces of almost every song on Adore on an electric organ. Throughout the set, breif goth piano solos were played to guide people from song to song. Billy took us back in time with the lovely "1979," an even harder version of "Bullet With Butterfly Wings," a embryonic "Tonight, Tonight," and a barn burning version of "Thru The Eyes of Ruby." Obviously, we were taken through parts of "Adore," but we never felt as if the past was gone. The show came to a close with a check donation to Hale House, a New York-based charity dedicated to helping drug-addicted infants, and the smile on the Hale House representatives face when she took the check made my mere $42.50 seem like the best investment of my life.

-Chris Kelly