Jane's Addiction and Smashing Pumpkins returned to Vancouver to grace the stage at Rogers Arena to regale us with tales of darkness and poetic fortitude.

Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins. Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction. CREDIT: Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images

Review by Keir Nicoll

A blast from the past in what is now considered to be of the classic grunge and alternative rock eras, the crowd at Rogers Arena were welcomed to listen to two of the major acts of the time, this Friday, Remembrance Day – November 11. Jane's Addiction and Smashing Pumpkins returned to Vancouver to grace the stage at Rogers' Arena to regale us with tales of darkness and poetic fortitude. 

First up, though, was Poppy, who raged and lilted us with her emotive quandaries of existence. Either soothingly sweet or shockingly Screamo, Poppy was bathed in deep crimson light for the duration of her set and was backed by a solidly rocking guitarist and drummer backline. This doll bounced up and down and twirled around as the songs took us through shades of the interiority of what it is to be a girl like her. She wore a simple, long grey dress and swirled like a ghost throughout the set, across the expanse of the stage. 

After the finish of the first act, there was a single screen above centre stage. Soon an image of the siamese-twins girls from the cover of Nothing's Shocking appeared onscreen, with various, psychedelic influenced colours flashing across it. When Jane's did mount the stage, it was with aplomb and to uproarious reception of the iconic band. Perry Farrell was like a little gangster, with his tank-top and leather hat, dancing and posing around the stage, as the spotlight followed his movements. He danced and sang all of the songs with his inimitably perfect cry. Between songs, he talked to the crowd about his family, being a dad, raising kids that turned-out fine, even if they had him as a dad and maybe didn't like it. From their original release of Jane's Addiction, to Nothing's Shocking and Ritual de lo Habitual, they played some of their greatest and most famous songs, as no-doubt most of the die-hard, old-school fans must have wished for. Starting with “Three Days,” they commenced to play their experimentally-veined rock and roll of the most sensually whimsical way.

There is always a great heart to their songs and they built and incredible crescendo throughout this 11-minute number. The guitar-lines are incredibly feeling and memorable. They played “Stop,” with its guitar-line intro that played on the opening to the MuchMusic show the Wedge in the nineties, it was such a hallmark song. Their ability to stand a wall of envisioned sound was apparently shining in this song. Of course, they played “Jane Says,” which everyone was singing along to. There is still the beautiful emotion of the first time I remember hearing that song there. They played “Nothing's Shocking” and then, for their last song, they played, as Farrell said, “Their big hit song,” “Been Caught Stealing.” It's funny to think of them being so well-known for this one song, when they've done so much else besides it. As they played, there were a series of scantily-clad women who did pole and chair-dancing, of various degrees of difficulty and complexity, including one whom, who rode a carousel horse, who was Farrell's wife. A very highly-titillating performance, with the kind of luridly-classy cultural-tension that only Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction can provide. A great show that included the renditions of all of their best songs. The only possible downside was the rumoured absence of Dave Navarro, the equally important guitarist of Jane's Addiction. Apparently a spare guitarist was flown in, who nailed all the guitar-lines, it's true.

The headliners for the night, the Smashing Pumpkins, showed that they could not only bring their tried-and-true sound from the nineties but introduce newer themes and zones of experimentation and evolution into a new creation. They have intelligibly continued to move forward with their sound. They carry an authentic sound from the past, as well as perform electronic and synthesizer sounds for a new era. They have continued to be darker and propelling to more poetic and lofty yet heavy directions. Now, they are working also on some longer jam-out and solo segments, too. Billy Corgan appeared, with his bald head and dress-like black smock, in his darkly doomy and gloomy presence. The arch-guitarist-performing-poet-typist. James Iha was back on guitar and Jimmy Chamberlain on drums. Jeff Bates played bass and there was an additional guitarist and backup-singer onstage. They played “Bullet with Butterfly Wings,” that had everyone screaming, “Despite all my rage/I am still just a rat in a cage,” over and over again. “Today” of course had everyone screaming and swooning and singing along, as this mega-hit from the nineties still carries for the fans of the time today. “We Only Come Out At Night” was sung very prettily. “Ava Adore” was present as one of their hit, mark-making songs. “Tonight, Tonight” was played incredibly beautifully, acoustically, by Corgan and Iha. The presence of the reason for being there was reaffirmed by this inimitable song about the adventure into the evening. “Cherub Rock” featured the iconic energy and fervour of this original 90s hit, off of Siamese Dream, Smashing Pumpkin's ground-breaking album and also Corgan's searing guitar-solo, which is possibly one of the most memorable of the Grunge era. At one point, Corgan starting intoning the beginning of the lyrics to David Byrne and Talking Head's “Once In A Lifetime,” a cappella and then the band kicked-in for a heavy as hell version of this song. As this was played, there was an iconography of images of the singer on the video-screens, which also showed various lyrics and paintings and psychedelic film-footage throughout the show. There was also a giant steel with light-fixtures star above the stage, which kept in time with the very well-timed light-show that followed very close to the rhythms of the music. Jimmy Chamberlain also carried the weight of the band on the drums throughout the night, with also some great solos. Jeff Bates was holding it down on bass. In general, the show had a festival vibe, as it was over four hours long and there was a generally convivial air in the house, as people celebrated the return of these two great bands to play our fair city. Overall, an array of talents from the Alternative and Grunge genres, over the past thirty or so years. The crowd was singing along and cheering like crazy. It was a time to keep or to return the faith, depending on who you asked.