#storytIme we kicked off November with Smashing Pumpkins
It’s officially the holiday season here in the states and we want nothing to do with it. We need more summer concerts and everything else for a good time (We will you fill in what else makes a great summer vibe). With that all said and done, we needed to make sure we start off November with a bit of chaos. What better way to start that off than by checking out Little Ceasar Arena to see Smashing Pumpkins, Jane’s Addiction, and Poppy?
Who we were most excited to see? Poppy and Smashing Pumpkins of course. Who were we not expecting to steal the show? Us finding a Dance Mom in the box office with us while we waited for will call. Call it our celebrity star moment but she wasn’t the only one we ran into before we talk about this one let’s talk about the Poppy. Wearing oversized trousers, a vest, and a ruffle collar blouse, Poppy kicked off the show with songs from her Am I a Girl? the album before letting us hear her new song Stagger. The crowd may not be the exact age demographic to know who Poppy is but they were blown away after her first belted scream. At one moment we noticed that there was a diehard fan front row. She was giving the exact energy Poppy was dishing out.
We ran into a friend of the podcast series, Tommy Mars at Smashing Pumpkins. You can hear about his collaboration with SP’s Jeff Schroeder here
After Poppy set, we walked around to calm down from our excitement which usually requires grabbing some popcorn a divert attention. Instead of diving deep into our salty buttery corn, we noticed a face that was not from a reality show but one that we interviewed. That’s right, we ran into a friend of the podcast Tommy Marz. If you haven’t checked out our interviews with him, you can jump over to our youtube channel. If you don’t know, Tommy and the guitarist of Smashing Pumpkins Jeff Schroeder are good friends and released a song together called 15. So it was no surprise that he would be here to see Jeff perform.
Unfortunately, we still had one more act to go before we got the chance to see Smashing Pumpkins take to the stage. Big EDM fan here, Taylor wasn’t keen on checking Jane’s Addiction set but for the sake of this storytime, she kept her cool. At this point of the show, the arena was almost packed out ready to dance and vibe to Perry’s gyrating and micro hip-thrusting music. Luckily, his backup dancers did all of the work. With variations of dancing on spinning ottomans, adult-size rocking horses, and each other.
There were several moments where he took the time to raise a drink for insert Detroit reference ( Being back in Detroit, St. Andrews, Lions) He mention at one point in the show that he would be down for a remix for one of his songs but only the likes of Techno Pioneer Derrick May or someone local, We are hoping for someone new and local. Long-time fans were excited to hear some classics that were never heard before live.
Before we get into the main act, we need to talk about the stage setup. It was over the top and filled with extra surprises. Let’s start off with the main attraction point, there was a large LED star angled above the stage. Right next to the stars were four sets of several lights on an automatic dolly system. They moved in several directions to match the emotion of each song. At the back of the drums set up which is up on a platform, had a light wall that showcase videos and light patterns. Halfway into the show, we were introduced to two giant inflatable sculptures. Which fans went crazy for. As someone who enjoys light work, this was one of our favorites for this year.
Smashing Pumpkins kicked off the show with favorites first like Empire, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Today, and We only come out at night before pulling out a Talking Head’s cover of Once in a Lifetime. A cover we were not ready for but defiantly needed. Later on, in the show, there was an acoustic performance of Tonight, Tonight before kicking it into overdrive with Zero. We were along for the entire ride singing and jamming out to the point that we didn’t even notice someone bumped their beer on us. It was an overall great night and cannot wait to hear what you thought of last night’s show. Who would you like to see do a remix on a Jane’s Addiction song?
