The “Spirits On Fire Tour”: The Smashing Pumpkins and Jane’s Addiction’s most remarkable tour yet 

BY HAYLEE WINEBERNER

Attending concerts that headline popular 90s bands are always a thrill to attend, as it can be considered a nostalgic experience for Gen X and for Gen Z to get a glimpse on how the now “older years” used to be.

Hitting off with their “Spirits On Fire Tour”, bands The Smashing Pumpkins and Jane’s Addiction with special guest Poppy, surely made a great and memorable experience for those generations. 

Starting off with the opening band, Poppy put on a relatively good show with her rather unique vocals being sung over heavy metal music in the background, making it easy to vibe along to during her limited stage time. However, not much crowd interaction was induced to hype up the crowd for the upcoming headliners. But that didn’t ruin what else was to come. 

Jane’s Addiction’s performance, on the other hand, created a room full of singing and dancing groups of people of all ages, but more specifically people that were older, as if it took them back to their teenage or early adulthood days. 

They didn’t have the best visuals, unfortunately, as they were seen on a very small projection screen and weren’t that eye-catching. 

What also added to their showing is that there were three female backup dancers that had outfit changes frequently when they came out for certain songs. Not to mention, lead singer Perry Farell had great crowd communication as after every song he would go into detail about how he grew up around Hollywood, and eventually moved to California to start the band that is known today.

Last but not least, The Smashing Pumpkins put on a show that made everyone rise from their seats. They played numerous classic songs in which everyone knew all the lyrics to, although they were placed more toward the beginning of the setlist. The visuals were displayed on a large screen that stretched around the whole stage and each song had its own unique theme. They fit relatively well with each song, and it was almost as if they popped out like in a 3D film. 

Also, the frontman of the band William “Billy” Patrick Corgan highly encouraged the crowd to sing along loudly and even stopped singing to give them brief moments of temporary spotlight. He also dedicated the song “Tonight, tonight” to everybody who attended, which had dreamy and colorful stars in the background visuals as the song progressed. 

The cherry on top to Corgan’s well-known corniness was that he would continuously make jokes about Florida stereotypes, specifically alligators and the Everglades which was humorous to everyone in the crowd. 

Aside from the show, both headliners had high-quality merchandise, one of them being the limited edition Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness-themed button-up shirt. Unfortunately, merch was not cheap but it’s reasonable for it being tour merch. 

Although there were large crowds of people along with lengthy, easily irritable lines to get merchandise, it didn’t ruin the experience due to the healthy environment of being able to talk with other fans and connect through the bands and their music. 

It truly is a recommended and unforgettable experience.