Here in the nice part of West London, it’s all very civilised. The retro eighties chimes of White Lies fill the sky, transporting us between Tokyo and the tender meadows of Is My Love Enough with churning optimism to guide us. The scenic ring of trees and lakes surrounding the field offer no shelter from the sun, but for a rare London appearance from the Smashing Pumpkins? Camping on the dried grass is worth it. As White lies close out with Bigger Than Us, its chords rippling out across the sea of picnickers, we’re in absolutely the right place for an awe inspiring evening of music.
Skunk Anansie open with a powerful and almost operatic wail from Skin, flinging her mic stand in defiance through Charlie Big Potato, her voice dropping to a whisper blending with a waterfall of rocky clapping for Because Of You. They’ve always been outsiders, too artistic for the mainstream, but here they’ve found their tribe, their punk statement rant of An Artist Is An Artist translated to bounce along affirmation before Weak takes on a life of its own, ploughing a deeper groove to unearth a personal connection as the vocalist walks into the crowd to dispense personal serenades. We’re hypnotised by new song Lost and Found’s building piano and colossal riffs that tangle and stalk before Twisted (Everyday Hurts) processes pain into celebration. Shame (dedicated to ‘all the black sheep to there’) displays the kind of musical strength that can only be earned through years of survival, and Skunk Anansie know how to inspire the best in us.
Huge black and white abstract figures dominate the stage as we cram to the front, and just in time : The Smashing Pumpkins arrive ten minutes early. Glass’ Theme makes for a punk opening that owes a heavy debt to the Ramones, the rawness of Heavy Metal Machine’s squealing open at odds with the daylight. Frontman Billy Corgan appears severe and uncompromising, clad in a long black robe, his solo riffs rise like smoke, as Pentagrams appears, mountainous and lonely in its drops. Phones rise to hold the moment they throw out Today so casually as Corgan almost cracks a smile before he almost growls his way through the dance boost that is Bullet With Butterfly Wings. Fairground lights burst from the abstract figures as we sing back the chorus, the cheese wire guitar and screamed verses dragging us back in.
Euphoric disco beats signal 1979: dreamlike and sweet like freedom in nostalgia replayed, the song clears the clouds and it’s like something crystal shining through before Porcelina of the Vast Oceans’ instrumental like whale song crests into contemplation then bold flair. From a punk opening, they reach into their softer, more sophisticated side with Sighommi, always with a roar to their wall of fuzz and a complexity to their vast sound, a flyaway tone to Corgan’s vocals and a rock solid centre.
No one expected a cover of Berlin’s Take My Breath Away but there’s something so endearing and surreal in the way it’s sincerely presented that it somehow works as a burst of cheese that reminds us that the Smashing Pumpkins sound can never neatly be put into a box. Edin feels even grittier afterwards, with its experimental edges to the drums and a loose, wild tone, and doesn’t prepare us for Disarm. It’s five minutes of postmodern theatre and tragedy which sends phones up, a moment of astonishment a song you can almost see engraving itself into memories in real time. Tonight, Tonight feels tighter and more focused than we remember, a victory lap from a stage lit up like a theme park with a new tone of homecoming added that rushes into Cherub Rock’s magnetic buildup. Explosive and meditative, each line of the chorus is a punch.
Every turn that The Smashing Pumpkins swerve through is a surprise and a delight, even some three decades after the career-defining Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness was released. Of course, the older numbers get the most love, rendered iconic through years of re-listens, but with a setlist that dips into their entire body of work, we’re left stunned by the musical prowess of the Smashing Pumpkins.
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Smashing Pumpkins @ Gunnersbury Park (Paul Lyme)
Live review of the Smashing Pumpkins at Gunnersbury Park, 10th August 2025 by Kate Allvey. Photography by Paul Lyme.
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