Live Review + Gallery: Smashing Pumpkins, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and AFI at BB&T Pavilion in Camden, NJ (08.08.19)

Mark Smitty Neal August 12, 2019 Headline News, Show Reviews Leave a comment

The Smashing Pumpkins kicked off their Summer Tour on Thursday night at BB&T Pavilion in Camden, NJ with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Special Guest AFI.

The show got started with the alternative hard rocking outfit AFI taking the stage first opening their set with “Girl’s Not Grey”. Unfortunately for the band it had seemed that the majority of the crowd was there for the Smashing Pumpkins and this showed by the lack of attendance for the shows opener. It did seem to be an odd pairing for the tour’s lineup but none the less this did not hinder the bands performance in any way at all, as the bands frontman Davey Havok lead the charge as the band ripped through their set with maximum intensity. During the second song, Havok climbed off stage and into the front row to help hype up the somewhat relaxed crowd which seemed to definitely help as the crowds interest seemed to rise. The band continued on through set knocking out material from their last two albums before closing out their set with the heavy fan favorite “Miss Murder” off their 2006 album Decemberunderground.

AFI:

As the crowd began to thicken around the intro of “Fort Know” Manchesters Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds took to the stage with cheers from the crowd as he grabbed his guitar and began to rock right into “Holy Moutain”. Without any words in between Gallagher ran through song after song of pure rock tunes including the live debut of “This Is The Place”.

The fans were also treated to the delight of a little Oasis nostalgia as Gallagher played some of Oasis biggest hits to date “Wonderwall”, “Stop Crying Your Heart Out”, and “Don’t Look Back in Anger”. As fans cheered in overjoy over the Oasis cover it was then that Gallagher would close out the set surprising the crowd with an incredible cover a The Beatles “All You Need Is Love” that had a well played rock twist to it.

Gallagher delivered an incredibly well played set of that was filled with an adult like edgy rock and roll vibe.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds:

With the sun now down it was now the time that everyone had been waiting for, as house the house lights went black the Smashing Pumpkins would make their way onto the stage that displayed three 30 foot space like wooden dolls that resembled something from a Tim Burton movie set in the 50’s. As the intro played “Sarabande” over the house PA, the crowd erupted into a loud roar it and without any introduction needed Corgan and the rest of the band would kick off the tour and dive right into one of their most well known singles to date “Today”. The much relaxed band turned it up a notch with another classic “Zero” before diving into the new material with “Solara”.

After original members guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin reunited with frontman Billy Corgan in 2018 to record Shiny and Oh So bright, Vol. 1 / No Past. No Future. NoSun along with guitarist Jeff Schroeder who joined the band in 2007, the band appeared to be relaxed on stage and reading for a fun night as they were joined by bassist Jack Bates (The Light) and keyboardist Katie Cole, who once opened and filled in on bass for the Pumpkins on tour in both 2015 and 2016.

The bands eclectic 17 song setlist with two exceptions of both “Solara” and “Knights of Malta” which appear on their newest LP, was filled with nothing but the classic works of 2000 and past that included “Eye”, “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”, “Disarm”, “1979”, “Tonight, Tonight”, and “Cherub Rock”. Along with all classics Pumpkins fans were also treated to a live debut of the James Taylor cover “Fire and Rain” as well as “Blue Skys Bring Tears” which the band hasn’t performed live since 2007 that was followed by an outro jam of Pink Floyd‘s “Comfortably Numb”.

The Smashing Pumpkins ended their amazing kick off show with “The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)”. With giant smiles on their faces the band took their bows, applauded the fans, thanked everyone for coming out and joining them waved good night and made their way off the stage leaving fans of both old and young with an amazing memorable night.

Smashing Pumpkins: