The point of this trip was because the husband wanted to catch The Smashing Pumpkins in concert at Union Hall on Wednesday 1 October, 2025. Okaaaaay. I had things to do, but I could do this one gig with him.
It's still rainy season. Considering the sinkholes, traffic jams and minor floods on the streets last two weeks, I opted to stay near the gig venue in Ladprao. It was so easy to walk across the sheltered bridges from our hotel to Union Hall. This venue is in the middle of MRT stations Phahon Yothin or Lat Phrao, and BTS Ha Yeak Lat Phrao. You could walk across the skybridges to the entrances. There's plenty of food choices at the giant mall across Union Mall, that is Central Plaza Ladprao.
We ran into the whole world at Union Hall. Okaayyy, by that, we meant our friends, Dan's old acquaintances from Thai bands, et cetera. Many bothered to get tickets to come for The Smashing Pumpkins show. This was the second time the band played in Bangkok. They first played in Thailand, Bangkok in February 1996. Wow.
Gigs at Union Hall end early, before 9.45pm. The gig space is on Level 6 of Union Mall. The whole venue of Union Mall closes at 10pm, and they want everyone out by then. Tonight's gig started at 8pm and ended at 9.30pm. We got a shorter set than the Japan shows, but longer than Busan. We expected the set in Singapore to be way shorter since it's an F1 showcase.
Union Hall's gig space was standing-only. The audience was mild. Nobody pushed or was rude. Everyone around me was fairly polite. The band played all the fun songs and more. They even tickled us with a rendition of Berlin's 'Take My Breath Away'. It was a great night. I'm not the greatest fan, but the husband is. He was stoked to hear The Smashing Pumpkins live again decades later.
The band played twice in Singapore. The friends said that their 1996 show sucked because Billy Corgan wasn't feeling well and cut short that gig, and that sound system at the dumb venue was terrible. Then they played a great show in 2010 at Fort Canning Park. They would be playing on Sunday October 5, 2025 at the Wharf Stage at the F1 Singapore Grand Prix. The husband and the friends are all going.
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