this is me and my best friend wilco at the end of the smashing pumpkins oceania show last saturday night... f@#k we had a good time... is this why i had kids, so i could drag them away from their friends birthday parties and take them to see one of my idols in the flesh... heck yes... my mum and dad took me to many a 'that's country' show back when i was a kid and that music seeped under my skin... did i know at the time i was listening to brendan dugan and jodi vaughan sing a townes van zandt song, that i would oneday sing at my wedding with my mum? no, i didn't... but i do know when i saw grey bartlett play the theme from the deerhunter at the bowl of brooklands in new plymouth for the first time, on that red 335, i knew i wanted to play guitar in some shape or form... i'm not sure what wilco will take away from the smashing pumpkins show long term, he will choose his own path, and i will always be proud of him, but i sure am glad that the first rock gig we ever went to was the smashing pumpkins... say what you want about billy corgan, i don't give a f@#k, i'll stand by anything thing he ever does, he is one of my all time heroes and musical inspirations, and they blew the roof off the vector arena that night... i'll never forget the look wilco gave me when they kicked into XYU and the look he flashed me when he heard billys first full throated scream of the night... it was a real moment for me and him to hang out and go to something special together... so thank you, the smashing pumpkins... amazing show, amazing music, amazing visuals... may this oceania tour indeed ride on...