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First half of Almost Acoustic Christmas rocks

although given how many people trickled away by the end of Billy Corgan & Co.’s 11-song closing turn, I suspect the jury may still be out regarding the Pumpkin King soldiering on with new, considerably less powerful players.

You can understand the reluctance two decades after the real Chicago thing debuted. At least when he closed up shop the last time, with a pair of shows two years ago at this same venue, his attempt to pull a Pretenders still had Jimmy Chamberlin on drums, plus all of No Doubt’s auxiliary filling in the blanks. Now Corgan is backed by Mike Byrne, a ham-fisted drummer of little finesse, and flanked by what seem like junior apprentices: guitarist Jeff Schroeder, merely a pale imitation of his boss, and bassist Nicole Fiorentino, functioning as eye candy more than anchor (yet she doesn’t have half as much mystique as woebegone D’Arcy Wretzky.)

It left me perplexed, though their chunky stew can still coalesce into some hearty rocking when Corgan bothers to light a fire under it. Yet, apart from his indelible melodies and occasional Fender flourishes, this doesn’t even sound like the Pumpkins anymore, which I bet is his point; he’s rarely seemed in a better mood on stage, so maybe he’s finally achieving some Zen autonomy at last with this lineup.

I’m trying to reserve judgment, see where this Pumpkins 3.0 (4.0? higher?) might lead. But so far it feels too much like a cheat: “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” was recklessly rushed (and thus less impactful), “Tonight, Tonight” had no sense of whirlwind romantic urgency, and “Today” was borderline amateurish. And still I wish they’d selected more songs like those.

That’s my other beef: when initially presenting a newly carved Pumpkins, stuff its guts with as many Big Ones as possible. I know Corgan insists on chasing his idiosyncratic muse — it isn’t his style to leave off “Tarantula” and “Stand Inside Your Love” to make room for more popular fare like “Disarm” and “Cherub Rock” and “Zero,” all missing here. But this time that move was a mistake, and he failed to maintain audience interest. I wanted to leave after his rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide,” too; it’s the only thing I’ll remember from this set this time next year.

http://soundcheck.ocregister.com/2010/12/12/first-half-of-almost-acoustic-christmas-rocks/40774/<\/u><\/a>