Live Music Mondays #3: Billy Corgan & The Machines of God
The HIGHLY ANTICIPATED POST!
It’s the last Monday first Wednesday (oops) of the month and you know what that means: Live Music Mondays! I guess me doing this thing at this time of month has become a THING so, now I have some high standards to live up to, or something.
I will preface this by saying that I am a wee bit rusty in the world of “professional” music journalism, meaning I have been out of the game for a while. Meaning, I don’t know that to submit to a local music blog, you need prior PR approval from the artist you are covering. But to get prior PR approval, you need to have actual credentials from a publication. I *do* have contacts within professional blogs - but somehow I don’t think this particular review would fit the particular blog I have the contact with. You can get credentialed independently, but I found out a bit too late. Needless to say, who the hell needs a local music blog when Ye Olde Substack exists.
Because I didn’t have credentials, and thus a barricade pass - I couldn’t bring the big guns out to play. But no matter, I am used to working in tough situations and with limited constraints. I think it gives me “character”. Or I am a character, the jury is still out.
It was a balmy Monday evening in The Rocks; Pittsburgh was in the midst of a heatwave with temps in the high 90s. I’m quite thankful this was an indoor club show, because if this were to be performed outdoors - I am sure it would have been just as hot, and also extra sticky.
I have been waiting for years to catch Billy Corgan in an intimate venue like this; ever since I became a fan it’s been a dream. The smallest venue I have seen the Smashing Pumpkins in was at Patriot Center (now called EagleBank Arena) at George Mason University, 25 years ago, on the Sacred and Profane Tour. Ever since then, it’s been at large arenas or like last year - PNC Park. I did catch Zwan once - also at a smaller venue - at The Agora in Cleveland.
When I heard that the Billy Corgan and The Machines of God project was touring in June, and then was coming to MY CITY - I immediately said to myself “I’m going.” The Roxian Theater in McKee’s Rocks has been the “it” venue for more intimate club style shows in Pittsburgh, so it felt like all of the stars were finally aligning for me.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t spring for VIP access, so I upgraded to fast lane access tickets in hopes of getting to the barricade. I didn’t make it to the front rail, and in retrospect, I am glad I didn’t this time because I probably would have passed out from the heat (but would have it been worth it? Probably!) I settled for the rail next to the soundboard, which I have had a great view for other artists in the venue.
The opener, Return to Dust, was killer. I am not quite familiar with this young and upcoming band, but they have a lot of promise and passion. One of the members broke his foot at a previous show, and this was the first show with him standing again, in a boot. They hearken back to classic Alice in Chains with the harmonizing vocals, as well as a grittiness of Soundgarden.
After a brief set change up, I heard the first notes of the reimagined “Le Deux Machina”, which served as the background music to the BCMOG promos. It was a refined version of a track from the independently extremely limited release of “Machina II: The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music”. The band (consisting of Corgan, bassist Kid Tigrrr (Jenna Fournier), guitarist Kiki Wong and drummer Jake Hayden) took the stage and effortlessly slid into another track from “Machina II”, “Glass’ Theme”.
The first half of the show wowed us with some deeper cuts (ie. non-singles) from “Machina: The Machines of God”, “Machina II” and the titanic hit double album “Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness” [note: 2025 marks both the 30th anniversary of “Mellon Collie” and the 25th anniversary of “Machina”]. The whole premise of the tour was to focus on these tracks, which includes b-sides — so that will ALSO put into play tracks from “The Aeroplane Flies High” box set.
Additionally, the Pumpkins’ newest offering “Aghori Mhori Mei” feels spiritually like a return to classic (ie. the mid-90s) Pumpkins format, so it was fun to hear how the handful of tracks (“Edin”, “Pentagrams”, “Sighommi”, “999” - “Sicarus” was on the setlist, but was cut for time) complimenting the older titles.
Opinion: “Oceania” ABSOLUTELY fits into this narrative as well - but you can only have SO MANY songs in a setlist. It is fine.
I am not a gear nerd, either - but it was exciting to see a “Siamese Dream”-era guitar (albeit Frankensteined together) reworked and come out to play for some of the songs. You may recognize it from this video:
After about an hour of bangers that would make any Pumpkins’ hardcore Ghost Child salivate (“Porcelina of the Vast Oceans”, “Real Love”, “The Crying Tree of Mercury” and a rendition of “Glass and the Ghost Children” that would make one levitate, with guest bassist…Mr. William Patrick Corgan) and one very sweet rendition of Nancy Sinatra’s James Bond ode “You Only Live Twice” - sung by Fournier - a seismic shift seemed to occur with the audience when the all too familiar snarl of “The world is a vampire…” rang out. This is when the audience started to get extremely into the show - both super fans and the more casual listener alike.
I noticed that multiple fans brought their children to the show - something these days I feel very encouraged by - get them young! Corgan also had two of his three children on tour with him. PCC (lovingly referred to as Clementine) joined her proud papa on stage to dance along to “1979”. Her brother, AJC, was backstage.
When the frenetic and fast paced “Whyte Spyder” aka Aranea Alba (see what I did there?) was dished out - the room was a hot, sweaty yet spirited place to be. To cool down, the lights dimmed and Corgan took to acoustic guitar to perform “Tonight, Tonight”, again with guest vocals from Fournier (…and the embers never fade, in the city by the lake - the place where you were born).
The absolute peak of the evening would have to have been “Bodies”, from the second half of “Mellon Collie”, followed by the slow, sludgy jam of “The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)”. A short break commenced - Corgan was at that point sweating buckets - and then for the encore returned to the namesake of the tour - “Zero”.
As the final coda, and to bid us a good night - the band ended with “The Everlasting Gaze”. Clocking in at just around two hours of music, the evening seemed to fly by. The evening ended with the band mates bidding us all adieu and passing out picks and drumsticks to the audience, with PCC and AJC coming out to help their father say good evening to all.
Within the fan community, each report I am seeing about this particular tour is extremely positive - which is encouraging. This was primarily an East Coast/Rust Belt tour, and as a native of that region, I feel extremely honored that our cities were selected to perform in. I hope there are further tours with this line up, especially in the Southern states and West Coast - it is absolutely everything you’d want to experience as a Smashing Pumpkins/Billy Corgan fan.
I absolutely loved seeing the photos/videos across multiple modalities before this concert, because it only amped up my excitement and anticipation. For me, I have seen several of these songs performed before - but specifically the “Machina” titles - it’s been 25 years. I got to feel like that 17 year old girl once again seeing her favorite band for the first time.
I DO have a set of photos which I got with my Fuji x-100s, they are available in my Google Album: Billy Corgan & The Machines of God: Roxian Theater, 6/23/2025; please feel free to peruse and download them at your leisure. If you would like to share them, please tag my Instagram profile: @michelemakesphotos. I do request that the color not be corrected, or the photos modified in any way (aside if you want to crop them in). Let me know if you share them, and say hello!
Disclaimer: I did have a few folks ask to purchase photos from me. I have a long-standing code of personal ethics when I am photographing public figures - I do not wish to profit off of their image. These photos are taken at my leisure, to share and for all to enjoy. HOWEVER, I will not object if anyone sees fit to throw a couple coins at my Venmo (@michelejoann).
Camera Info: Fuji x-100s, 16MP fixed lens camera. Cokin Diffusion and Cokin 16x Star Filter. Shot at 1600 ISO.
Excellent read, well written and enjoyed by oneself. I am going to go through your photos, thank you, will add a credit to you as requested over at instagram.