Smashing Pumpkins + Mark Lanegan Band

Sunday 14 July's show at Rock In Roma wasn't really a night for nostalgics, whether because of the many young faces in the crowd - the kind who, too young to have lived through the last true golden age of rock music, are in some way trying to make up for lost time - or because the night's headliners are doing everything they can to prove to the world they still have some sharp arrows left in their quiver. Both Smashing Pumpkins and Mark Lanegan keep putting out records that sometimes split critics and audiences, but that still manage to win over plenty of fans, reaping the rewards of the wonderful seeds they sowed a couple of decades ago.

The long evening hosted, as usual, at the Ippodromo delle Capannelle almost feels like a mini-festival, opening with California's Beware Of Darkness, a solid alt-rock trio picked by Billy Corgan as the opening act for the 2013 European tour. Led by guitarist/singer Kyle Nicolaides, a sort of much-less-charismatic Brian Molko, they spend a good half hour catching the attention of a crowd still trickling in. But by the time they warm things up with a solid cover of the Beatles' “Yer Blues” and close with “Howl” (the opening track of their recent debut album “Orthodox”, released in early May), it's already time to make way for Mark Lanegan.

The former leader of Screaming Trees, a regular presence on Queens Of The Stone Age records as well as the owner of a highly acclaimed solo career, takes the stage with a full band, all dressed strictly in black. Great voice and superb musicians, but the barely forty-five minutes of set leave fans with a slightly bitter aftertaste - not so much because of the short length (predictable enough, given it's an opening slot) but because of the song choices, more suited to an intimate club show than a big open-air space, and because of the general lack of dynamism that has, after all, always been a constant in Lanegan's performances.

The impact of songs like “The Gravedigger's Song” or “One Way Street” is considerable, but from a sacred monster like him, one might have expected a few more winning moves. The only concession to the distant past is “Black Rose Way”, followed midway through the set by two carefully chosen covers: “Devil In My Mind” by Smoke Fairies and “Creeping Coastline Of Lights” by Leaving Trains.

At 9:35pm the new incarnation of the Pumpkins takes the stage: alongside Billy Corgan are guitarist Jeff Schroeder, the striking Nicole Fiorentino on bass (keeping up the tradition of women on four strings) and Mike Byrne on drums. Some may miss the classic line-up, but these players prove to be anything but sidemen, and more than capable of recreating the exact same sounds that have always been the band's trademark. Proof of this comes with the opening one-two of "Quasar" / "Panopticon", the same pair that opens the recent "Oceania": the sound and explosive energy are straight out of the '90s. After the rather forgettable "Starz", "Rocket" marks the first proper dive into the past, and while the cover of Bowie's "Space Oddity" feels tacked-on and honestly unnecessary, the incendiary "X.Y.U." finally lights the fuse.

From there the show takes off, swinging between essential deep cuts ("Disarm", "Tonight", "Today", "Stand Inside Your Love") and a few slightly more tedious concessions to tracks from "Oceania", before spilling into a wild pogo pit for "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" and "Zero". The renditions all stay pretty faithful to the originals, with the exception of the wildly acclaimed "Ava Adore", made even more powerful by the addition of a second guitar.

The lengthy "United States" wraps things up before the eagerly awaited encore: a dive into the first three tracks of "Gish", the band's debut, and for a few minutes it's as if time had stopped dead in 1991. It's a triumph, but it's not over yet: the band returns to the stage for a second encore, perhaps unplanned, opening with a devastating cover of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", delivered with unexpected ease.

It all closes with "Cherub Rock", one last glimpse of young Billy's dreams, which were also the dreams of Generation X kids.

Smashing Pumpkins pour their heart out and win the crowd over completely, but it's impossible not to notice how much better the old warhorses work compared to the more recent material. The only disappointment was the absence of a guest appearance by Lanegan, a twist that would have made the show truly one of a kind. Even so, it was a great night not just for nostalgics of '90s alt-rock, put on by two bands who are doing everything they can not to seem nostalgic. Whether they succeeded or not is something everyone will have made up their own mind about by the end of the show.

This show marks another stop on the Rock In Roma 2013 bill, which has already seen My Bloody Valentine, Green Day, Killers, Stereophonics, Toto, Korn, Stooges, Max Gazzé, Rammstein, Arctic Monkeys, Vaccines, Miles Kane, Bruce Springsteen and Mark Knopfler pass through. Running until July 31st, the festival will feature shows by Atoms For Peace, Ska-P, Casino Royale, Deep Purple, Zucchero, Daniele Silvestri, Neil Young, Devendra Banhart, Sigur Ros, Blur and Negrita. Rome has finally, over the years, established a festival on par with Europe's biggest events.

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