Photo Gallery: The Smashing Pumpkins / Metric at Sprint Center

Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins. Photo by Aaron Rhodes.

Arrogance, in most settings, is an unattractive trait. It's up for debate how much worth its had for Billy Corgan. On one hand, he creates more amusing headlines than most rock musicians in the '10s. Corgan's arrogance also made The Smashing Pumpkins' cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" last August improbably impressive (Corgan was also wearing a very shiny hooded cloak; sick). On the other hand, these tendencies of self-indulgence also resulted in a 32-song performance.

When a concert stretches to nearly three hours, it starts to feel like a baseball game. There were home runs: "Space Oddity," "Cherub Rock," "Tonight, Tonight," a magical calm that swept over the room during "To Sheila." There were base hits: "Today" sounded just fine, but fans were more or less wiped out by song 28. Other times, small groups of fans would trudge away for concessions mid-song. And there were punchouts: one newer, synthier song featured Corgan trying to rile up the aged crowd with some "woah-oh's," receiving none. (A band can play in an arena and not be an arena band.) Overall, this rock concert was like a 2-0 win where your team scores in the first couple innings and you leave the ballpark two hours later with a small, but still tangible sense of satisfaction and a weird anecdote or two to talk about with your co-workers (like, the hot dog race was a tie or another lady jumped into the fountain).

Aughties alternative rock radio vets Metric offered a rigid 45-minute opening set. A portion of its material possessed ear-grabbing synth intros and outros, but there wasn't all that much to build to (or descend from) aside from a series of urgent yet ultimately interchangeable Rock Songs.

Full photo gallery here.