Billy Corgan plays first solo gig

Billy Corgan played his first-ever solo show in his Chicago hometown last night at the Metro, the venue where he first cut his teeth with Smashing Pumpkins and has of late used as a rehearsal space.

Working on any number of projects, including a solo album, a poetry book and a new Web site/blog, Corgan chose to perform a series of songs he has written about Chicago. The evening was filmed for a DVD, but the songs might never be recorded in any other fashion.

Each of the 1,100 audience members -- some of whom waited as much as 13 hours outside the venue in order to be up front -- received a program/lyric book.

The focus of the 15-song show was a 12-song cycle with topics ranging from Chicago's baseball teams ("Black Sox") to a defunct theme park ("Riverview"), to the World's Fair ("The World's Fair" and "White City."). Several of the songs had surfaced in early shows by his band Zwan, but many were brand new, including a sprawling epic, "Columbus."

The show was performed in a living-room like setting with a red velvet seat, antique toys, an old stuffed panda bear and candelabra in front of a fiber-optic star background. Corgan held the audience's attention with a sometimes whisper-like voice and subtle guitar work that marked a clear departure from the Pumpkins' bombast and Zwan's melodic, hard-edged guitar pop.

Almost all smiles, with occasional self-deprecating comments, Corgan interacted with the audience in unprecedented ways -- even pausing between sets for some Q&A. He gave a shout-out to his former drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin, in the balcony. He promised that at some point the two would work together again, and noted that Chamberlin is working on his own solo debut.
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