Concert review: KFMA Fall Ball (Against Me!, Cypress Hill, and Smashing Pumpkins)

Even though I was initially bummed that the Smashing Pumpkins "reunion" meant only half of the original members returning, I was still pretty excited about the possibility of finally seeing them live. But when they were announced for the KFMA Fall Ball festival, I was a little hesitant, because radio shows and the people that attend them usually SUCK. However, once I found out that Against Me! was on the bill as well, I was sold.

Seeing as the first few bands were unspeakably dreadful (Silverstein? Paramore?? I'd rather shove nails in my ears), my friend James and I didn't get there till around 4:30, which gave us plenty of time to mill around and for me to find a good spot up front for Against Me!. I managed to score a spot in the front row, which was cool, but a band like Against Me! is not meant to be experienced from 15 feet away behind a fence and tons of security guards. I knew that this was the worst possible environment to see them in (short set, no intimacy, a crowd full of assholes who had never heard of them, etc.), but I'd already seen them twice before in more favorable circumstances, so it wasn't that big a deal.



As I expected, they kicked ass, and even had a sense of humor about the many projectiles being hurled at the stage. "Oh please," Tom said with a grin as plastic beer bottles sailed past him, "we've had much worse than this." Here's their set list; it's out of order but complete:

Up the Cuts
New Wave
Thrash Unreal
Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart
White People For Peace
Americans Abroad
Ocean
Stop
Pints of Guinness
Reinventing Axl Rose
Cliche Guevara
Rice and Bread
Sink Florida Sink
Unprotected Sex With Multiple Partners
From Her Lips to God's Ears
Problems

They played 8 of the 10 songs on their new album, which was what I expected, but I still wished they would have thrown a few more bones to us die hard fans, like "Those Anarcho Punks Are Mysterious" or "Walking Is Still Honest." Oh well.

Next up was Cypress Hill. My knowledge of their music doesn't extend much beyond Rage Against the Machine covers and that one episode of the Simpsons that they were in, but they were still pretty entertaining. Obviously, I'm not familiar with their catalogue at all, but I know that they played "How I Could Just Kill a Man" and "Insane in the Membrane."

Finally, the moment everyone had been waiting for: the Smashing Pumpkins. It took forever for them to get set up, but that just got the crowd more excited. They opened with "United States" off of their new album, Zeitgeist, which I thought was a weird choice for an opener, but it was still pretty awesome. They also played "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" early on, which made the crowd go apeshit, and also "Hummer," which I wasn't really expecting. As they launched into "Tonight Tonight," it started to rain, but that just made that song all the more intense and amazing, especially when the downpour seemed to intensify as the song built to the climax. It was honestly one of the most dramatic and emotional concert moments I've ever experienced.



Unfortunately, it started raining TOO hard, and after that song they had to take a break while the technicians attempted to restore the power on the stage. That's when things started going downhill. Despite the calm explanation from a concert organizer that the band would be back on shortly as soon as the rain stopped (and we know that downpours never last more than 5 minutes in Tucson), the crowd got increasingly restless and irritable, chanting "Bullshit!" and "Rain or shine!" when the delay began to drag on. Finally, Billy Corgan walked out, noticeably irritated, and said "Hey! We're right back there, and we'll be back on in just a minute, so chill the fuck out and stop throwing shit at us!!" Sure enough, they came back out, but their set from then on was dismal. Even James, a much bigger Pumpkins fan that I, didn't recognize any of the songs they played after the delay, except for "Tarantula."

After playing these obscure tunes to a very confused and wet crowd, they left the stage after less than an hour of actually playing. No "Zero," no "Today," no "1979." It was extremely disappointing from that viewpoint, but they still put on a great show, and really showed their talent as musicians. After some research, I was able to find the entire set (in order):

United States
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
That's the Way (My Love Is)
Hummer
Stand Inside Your Love
Tonight Tonight
Glass and the Ghost Children
Superchrist
Heavy Metal Machine