My nightS with ZWAN. 
photos courtesy of rollingstone.com click here for their four-star review
Well, I was at the Zwan show (again) tonight (Wednesday 1/22/03) and I gotta say it was even better than Monday's (Even with the evil/nasty/ugly mother/daughter bitch duet physically and verbally assualting my sister and Me). The show started off with your typical "Jesus don't want no part time soldiers" and "God's gonna set the world on fire" heavy metal (can i still use that term) sermon... o.k... maybe not so typical. There was no rendition of Alice Cooper's "18" this time, though we did get a 2nd encore. It was a tune they wrote last week which, of course, I forgot the name of! Can someone that was there or will be there after tonight (assuming they're playing it again) clue me in?? And to the guy with the digital, hook this site UP with some pics, brother. Zwan seemed a little more at ease this time around with even more smiles. To quote my sister Nora after monday night: "If Billy's smile was any bigger it would have fallen off his beautiful bald head". A couple of the tunes didn't make it on the album to the shigrin of Billy and fans (If Billy Corgan doesn't know why a song he really likes can't make the album cut, that should remind you a little of what goes on in the 'industry' - even when you're Billy Fucking Corgan). I'll look for those on the b-sides.
The Zwan show last night (Monday 1/20/03)... {delightfully pleasent sigh}...
The lovely Paz Lenchantin of Perfect Circle fame (right there you KNOW she can play) was insan-o on the bass and sweet on the voilin, adding nice accompaniment on vocals. Matt Sweeney (Skunk,Chavez,Cat Power, Guided By Voices - a must see at Metro next week - and Bonny Prince Billy) May have been stoned (Billy Corgan: "Dude, you're so stoned") but came to play with his cool mesh John-Deer-esque hat. David Pajo (Slint,Stereolab, Royal Trux, King Kong, Palace, Will Oldham, Chicago's own Tortoise) who is also a member of Papa M (formerly known as Aerial M) Stepped away from his guitar for a few to make some music and some noise on the keyboard. Joliet Illinois native and Jazz drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, a founding machinist of the Pumpkins, Was stunning on a well-mic'ed set of drums. What can I say but just "Holy Crap" to "The man in the middle".
And Billy Corgan. That guy who co-founded The Smashing Pumpkins here in Chicago in 1988. The band featured Corgan on guitar, James Iha on guitar, D'Arcy Wretzsky on bass (Sorry D'Arcy - I'm leaving you for Paz), and Jimmy Chamberlin on drums. I almost forgot that Billy toured with New Order after the Pumkins split. Interesting. Who's got a bootleg of that?? Billy seemed like a kid in a candy store at moments not being able to contain his excitement and joy. I would imagine him talking to his late-eighties band mates on stage at the Thirsty Whale... yeah, that's right - I said it... The Thirsty Whale. 'anybody remember that place? That's a story for another time (Brian, can i hear the story about how your band opened up of the Pumkins and how you left early to get drunk in the band's garage or some shit like that??). A fellow concert-goer(sp?) standing to my right was telling me how he had just seen Zwan in Ohio (Iowa? same thing) a couple of months earlier and couldn't believe how different the show was. He said it best when he told me:
"I guess he's home now"---