Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan is used to playing in front of large crowds full of fans.
But the singer may have received a big surprise when he took to the stage for the Brisbane leg of the Good Things touring festival.
A photo, taken by the online cultural portal. The black hoodiedirected by Luke Girgis, showed a nearly empty pavilion as the singer, accompanied by Australian band The Delta Riggs for his solo project, took the stage.
The image, captured from the back of the large venue, showed a nearly empty space, with only a few people scattered around the back and a relatively small crowd gathered near the front of the stage.
In the caption of the post, Luke claimed that the 1979 hitmaker played his solo set to approximately 300 people, a far cry from what his band The Smashing Pumpkins expected.
“Side projects rarely work,” he wrote in the post.
Billy Corgan may have received a big surprise when he took to the stage for the Brisbane leg of the Good Things touring festival.
‘This is Billy Corgan at the Good Things Festival. Maybe 300 people, if they were The Smashing Pumpkins, would have been 20,000.’
The post was met with an avalanche of comments from fans, with many suggesting that Biily’s lackluster crowd had more to do with the fact that his set clashed with nu-metal icons Korn.
Billy was on stage from 8:10 p.m. to 9:10 p.m., while Korn’s set began at 8:30 p.m.
“Was this at the same time as Korn?” one fan asked.
“I think it was bad planning on the part of the festivals, they should have been before against a band from another era or genre.”
Another agreed, adding: “No it’s because Korn was on the show, I wanted to see both but I had to choose, not sure why any act would perform at the same time as the main band.”
Some were quick to suggest that the photo offered a false perspective, claiming that there were many more people present than the photo would suggest.
One photo, taken by The Black Hoody, directed by Luke Girgis, showed a nearly empty pavilion as the singer took the stage.
“I was on his set and there were over 300 people there,” one commenter wrote.
“You did well to stand in the most inconvenient place to make this look as small as possible.”
Another fan who attended the Melbourne leg of the festival said it was pretty much the same story for Billy down south.
“I saw it in Melbourne. The crowd was small. 100-200 maximum,” they said.
Billy’s lackluster performance at the festival comes after he stunned fans in Melbourne with a surprise ahead of his turn at Good Things.
As a pre-show warm-up, the Tonight Tonight hitmaker delighted an intimate crowd of around 80 fans with a short acoustic set at Melbourne venue The Gem Bar last Thursday night.
Billy delivered a six-song set to a captivated crowd beginning with the song Dancehall from his 2019 solo album Collisions.
He also gave fans some Smashing Pumpkins songs, including two from the band’s seminal album, Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness: Stumbleine and the ever-popular 1979.
Billy’s lackluster performance at the festival comes after he surprised fans in Melbourne with a surprise set ahead of his turn at Good Things.
As a pre-show warm-up, the Tonight Tonight hitmaker delighted an intimate crowd of around 80 fans with a short acoustic set at Melbourne venue The Gem Bar last Thursday night.
As an added surprise for fans, Billy also included two covers: the first was a rendition of the Bee Gees classic To Love Somebody.
It also included a deep cut, a rendition of the early 1900s vaudeville tune Shine On, Harvest Moon.
The set also included a Q&A section, where Billy enthusiastically answered fans’ unfiltered questions. Strong magazine reported.
When a fan asked Billy to name his favorite thing about Australia, he was quick to talk about the carefree attitude of Australians, something he said was evident in our music.
‘I know it sounds overly simplistic, but you guys don’t give a damn. I think it’s great,’ he said, as reported by Blunt.
‘It shows in your rock’n’roll. Your great rock’n’roll bands, whether it’s AC/DC or Midnight Oil or even Amyl & The Sniffers.
‘That’s what makes it great. You are bringing Australia to the world. I respect that.’