Smashing Pumpkins at Skansen, May 25th '98.

We (my friend and I) got there about 17:00 and they let us in at 18:30 so we had to wait for one and a half hour in the cold and rainy weather. And once we got in (there were about 6000 of us) we had to wait another one and a half hour until the concert started at 20:00. And at eight o'clock someone jumped in on the stage and it was James, then Billy and D'arcy joined him and opened the show with To Sheila. Kenny Aronoff was great and the two extra percussionists added extra spice to the concert (especially in the intro to BWBW).

The band seemed very happy about playing here at Skansen, they said it was very beautiful but cold :-). Actually D'arcy said "in all the concerts we have played in ten years, this has been the....... coldest one" :-). I was very close to the stage and had a perfect view of the band (d'arcy looked really swell :-). My hopes for the show was very high since I saw the Sheperds Bush show on MTV which I also taped. I hoped that this concert would be as good as the Sheperds Bush, but it actually was better!

After two and a half hour of pure sweetness, the concert ended at 22:30, the exact time of my train departing from the train station :-). Well, I had the time of my life this day so it didn't matter at all. We had to spend the night at Mc Donald's (the only place open 24h) together with homeless people. Well, after almost 10 hours of waiting, at 07:10 the next day we caught the train back to Gävle.

I just can't wait to get my hands on some bootlegs from this absolutely awesome Adore tour. It gives the album a whole new sound. For an example, Tear has got to be one of the most amazing songs live (the opening riff that continues through the whole song is a classic IMHO). But on the album, Tear is a little bit boring. Don't get me wrong, I love adore, it may be their best album yet.