Pumpkins smash PSU

Punk rock and arena rock experienced a meeting of the minds last night at the Bryce Jordan Center. The Smashing Pumpkins, the offspring of those two musical poles, performed an extensive set of what has come to be known as alternative rock.

Opening act Fountains of Wayne performed a 45-minute set of mildly amusing pop tunes to a relatively indifferent audience. Some songs, such as radio hit "Radiation Vibe," met with a good deal of applause, but it wasn't enough for the band.

"You wanna see my impression of the audience for the opening band?" one of the members asked between songs, after which he slouched and hung his arms loosely by his side.

But the audience that band mocked for lack of energy was actually reciprocating what emanated from the stage. The problem with Fountains of Wayne is that there are good fast pop songs and there are good slow pop songs, but this group needs to decide which is which. Most of its songs sounded like 45 rpm records being played at 33.

Another factor that made Fountains of Wayne less than brilliant was generic alternative rock lyrics such as "I just wanna sink to the bottom with you."

"I bought tickets for Garbage," Michael Stickler (senior-biology) said. "Half the reason I came here was to see Garbage. I was unpleasantly surprised to see some random band," he said. "I think it was just quick filler."

The Smashing Pumpkins, however, had almost a full house of fans in the center.

"Their whole sound is so different from a lot of bands," Chris Sprague (junior-forest science) said. "I definitely relate to the lyrics. Some of the sadness and some of the pure anger, sometimes you just feel like everything's going wrong, and you can relate to their music. They know how to express their anger."

At about 9 p.m., the lights went dim, and "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness," the opening theme to the album of the same name, played over the speaker system. The band came out and exploded into the pop ballad "Tonight, Tonight." The song sounded almost exactly as it does on the album, maintaining its full, powerful sound and drawing all audience members from their seats.

The euphony ended there, however, as the group imploded into a guitar-drowned version of "Cherub Rock," from the album Siamese Dream.

"Hi, good evening," singer/guitarist Billy Corgan said after the song was over. "Thank you very much for coming tonight, we're very happy to see you."

After he apologized for canceling the show last year due to illness, Corgan and company catered to older fans with a beautiful version of "Rhinoceros," from the debut album, Gish, followed by the more recent hit, "Zero."

The latter song conveyed a passion radio listeners may not have been aware of, and if the Pumpkins hadn't been playing it in a 16,000 seat arena, they might have passed themselves off as punk rockers.

Somewhere in the middle of the set, the band went off into a murky, ethereal instrumental jam, which was translated onto stage screens in images of flowing water. The semi-pleasant experience, however, went sour when Corgan displayed the less punk-ethic side of his superstardom by waving his guitar around and while trying to play it doing various tricks. He held it in so many positions that it seemed like he wanted an inflatable doll, and the display gave the audience a rude awakening. Does this guy want to be Iggy Pop or does he wish he was Ozzy Osbourne? One thing was certain: he could hold the guitar however he wanted, but he was still no Jimi Hendrix.

After that part of the show was over, a big guy dressed in a green, winged costume, whom the band referred to as Jimmy, jumped out and pulled four young girls from the audience onto the stage.

"What we're about to have here is a classic moment, James," Corgan said. "We're returning to the old school." Corgan explained that, in an attempt to return to the early frontiers of punk rock, the band was going to "allow" four -- he explicitly had his lackey gather no more than that -- audience members to dance onstage. The four girls ran up to the microphone and shrieked, "I love Billy!"

The group then played the popular single "1979" while its groupies danced onstage, and Jimmy, the winged-wonder, jumped around.

After the song was over and the girls were removed from the stage, Corgan responded to audience jeers, "You didn't like the dancers. You're booing your own children. They tried."

Well, Billy, somebody tried. Corgan made a feeble effort to unite the audience with the band. But it wasn't a punk rock show. It was an arena rock show by a band that wanted to play punk rock shows and still sell 16,000 tickets. The groupies Corgan brought onstage were in no way a part of what Corgan wanted them to be a part of -- teeny-boppers just don't go to punk shows.