The show actually took place in the Buffalo State College Sports Complex, which had just been built, and it was impossible to get permission to fly any of the PA.

I don't recall there being any threats called in (the college would have shut the show down if there had been), but there was a lot of politicking that went on beforehand.

The Treasurer of the United Student Government refused to sign the contract, citing concerns that the event was not diverse. Specifically, some students had complained because the show did not include a rap act on the bill.

After a protest, some editorials were published in the school's paper. These were followed by a public debate, which was held before the assembled members of the United Student's Government.

The debate centered around the the issue of diversity in programming, and whether a student organization's commitment to diversity should be judged solely on a single event, or on that organization's programming over a period of time.

As it turned out, the organization responsible for the show had spent 83% of their programming budget over the prior three years on events, films, and speakers that were considered diverse (for the purposes of the debate, this meant events that were the product of a creator who was either African American, Latino, Carribean, Native, or Asian/Pacific Islander - I do not believe that issues of gender or sexual orientation were taken into account). In the end, the student government voted to allow the show to go on.

The controversy was mentioned from the stage by Billy Corgan:

BC: We sincerely thank you for coming and uh...that's all. [tape cut] ...uh, flap because uh, the African American Coalition or something didn't want us to play because we weren't considered -- we were considered white entertainment or something, I don’t know. All I have to say is - all I have to say is I like to think that music goes beyond black and white, obviously. I'm uh, I'm a Irish-Italian male, D'arcy is a Russian female, James obviously is a Japanese--
Iha: Eskimo.
BC: Eskimo.
Iha: Well, isn’t it hot now--
BC: And Jimmy's from another planet...

The band went on to play four encores, and mentioned the show and attendant controversy the next time they played Buffalo in 1996.

I was there. First year in college. Here's what i remember about this show.

I worked crew via being friends with some ppl at the Student Union Board. I was a huge pumpkins fan, so I begged to work the show.

Staging was a nightmare. Couldn't fly anything. We had to stand on top of wobbly road cases with casters placed at the end of the stage and 10 crew members holding them in place to put up the P.A. stacks. Nervewracking.

I made friends with Billy's tech, and was able to hold the ruby/star strat while he did a quick paint job. I still have the set of Ernie Ball strings he took off of it.

Billy did a 1 hour soundcheck by himself, then a half hour just him and Jimmy, and then another half hour with the whole band, where they went through Hello Kitty Kat a couple times. I figured I'd hear some of Billy's arpeggiated improv from soundcheck on the Mellon Collie album when it came out, but no, i never heard it again. But it was definitely not just jamming, he was working something out.

Billy and Jimmy kept blasting the Batman movie soundtrack through the P.A. and playing conductor when the symphony came on.

Darcy was bitchy, only contact i had with her was when she was looking for a bathroom.

James was cool.

After the show i mentioned to the crew "Do they play this many encores every night?" and the guy was like "No, this was definitely not a normal night for them. They were having a lot of fun playing tonight."

A week or two before the show, the student union board recieved numerous bomb and death threats from angry students who were unhappy they put their money into a "white" band, and not a more culturally significant act. Make of that what you will. Billy made reference to this incident during the show, to the cheers of the audience.

A Chicago band "Red Red Meat" opened the show.