The Smashing Pumpkins: Sunset Strip Music Festival Review

Closing out the 2010 version of the Sunset Strip Music Festival was none other than the Chicago group known as The Smashing Pumpkins. With all the hair and dirty rock that came out of the 80s and 90s strip, the Pumpkins was the perfect way to end this 3 day fest. Just like the faces of the strip changing, all the faces of the band (sans the bald headed front man) have been changed with younger, fresher players looking for their time in the lime light. Would the new members be able to replicate the sound many had fallen in love with some twenty years ago? Simply put, yes.

Mike Byrnes, the still-not-old-enough-to-drink drummer never missed a beat. When the instant the drum rolls started for “Cherub Rock,” it was easy to forget that Jimmy Chamberlin was not backing the beat. Everything was crisp with the grungy pops that made everyone join in on the air drums. This set was one that Billy obviously made for the casual fan. Nothing obscure or a set filled with only the new material, but a ton of full audience sing-along’s. From “1979” to “Today” to “Eye,” it seemed like every song that made its way onto the radio waves in the 90s was played this evening.

In avoid disappointing the fans who have been coming out to shows for the better part of 3 decades, Corgan also still had the time to slip into a messy jam of gothic noise midway through the Zeitgeist classic “United States.” Anytime you get the chance to watch a guitar legend slay away on the ax, you have to just watch with your jaw open – which is what everyone was doing through this epic journey through the catalog of music that was crafted by a Mr. Billy Corgan.

Photography by Carl Pocket