The World Is A Vampire festival brought guitar wizardry and the magic of Smashing Pumpkins to Ballarat
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26.04.2023

The World Is A Vampire festival brought guitar wizardry and the magic of Smashing Pumpkins to Ballarat

The Smashing Pumpkins. Credit: Joshua Braybrook
The Smashing Pumpkins. Credit: Joshua Braybrook
The Smashing Pumpkins. Credit: Joshua Braybrook
The Smashing Pumpkins. Credit: Joshua Braybrook
The Smashing Pumpkins. Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Redhook. Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Janes Addiction. Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Jane's Addiction. Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Jane's Addiction. Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Jane's Addiction. Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Jane's Addiction. Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Jane's Addiction. Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Battlesnake. Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Battlesnake. Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Battlesnake. Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Battlesnake. Credit: Joshua Braybrook
Amyl and the Sniffers. Credit: Joshua Braybrook
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Words by Tammy Walters
Photography by Joshua Braybrook

The Smashing Pumpkins brought their The World is A Vampire Tour to Kryal Castle, Ballarat on Sunday 23 April 2023.

By day Kryal Castle is a family amusement park; a time machine transporting visitors to medieval times to witness thrilling jousting tournaments and daring sword fights from knights in shining armor, to get lost in the hedged maze labyrinth and to watch Princess Merida-level archery. 

Sitting atop of Leigh Creek overlooking the gold-mining town of Ballarat, Kryal Castle’s magic by day becomes a haunting setting of Dracula proportions by night; fit for the synonymous offering of The World is a Vampire Tour, led by Count Corgan.   

Keep up with the latest music news, festivals, interviews and reviews here.

As we ascended the winding road to the castle gates, we were slightly disappointed that the lair was not open, but instead, the castle foreground was transformed into the festival site. Alas, a striking setting for a rockshow.

Very on-brand to the festival setting, Sydney septet Battlesnake serpentined their way through a piercing-prog set as the first command. Fellow Sydney-siders, RedHook as led by the ferocious Emmy Mack, joined the frontline merely days after the release of debut album Postcard From A Living Hell. They slaughtered the crowd with tracks ‘Bad Decisions’ ‘Cure 4 Psycho’ and ‘Imposter’, donning nurse outfits and straitjackets. Females continued to the front with the animalistic energy of Amyl and the Sniffers, delivering all of their hard-hitting tracks including ‘Security’, ‘Guided By Angels’,  ‘Knifey’ and ‘Hertz’.

Three stellar sets from local musicians all waving the flag for rock and metal in our country with two veteran international bands to come; what more could you want? Definitely not pro-wrestling. With Billy Corgan shifting his gaze to the pro-wrestling promotion game, The World Is A Vampire show became a hybrid music platform and pro-wrestling ring. Let’s not sugar-coat; it was weird, awkwardly received and off-putting. 

Credit: Joshua Braybrook

Ignore the tumbling, back to the tunes for alt-rock relics, Jane’s Addiction. Leading in with ‘Trip Away’, they delivered eleven high-octane hits, backed by three dancers in red body-suits and 12 inch heels. This felt like a nod to the hair-metal era, where seduction was key and not cringe.

The LA rockers sans Dave Navarro (who is still recovering from the effects of long COVID with fellow ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer subbing in) were living the rock n roll life, as lead Perry Farrell clutched a bottle of red in his motor-cycle gloved hand. His charisma is unparalleled and his commentary quick; “They told us we would be playing in a castle. I was looking forward to the crocodiles and moat and I get here and there’s a fucking inflatable chicken. It’s okay we don’t need fucking castles,” he quipped before playing ‘Jane Says’.  

Credit: Joshua Braybrook

The castle was a constant cause of commentary, continued by Corgan and co during their epic set; “Who lives at Castle Kryal? Does anyone live there?”. Not quite but the audience there to witness their coronation were living their best life. Loading with ‘Empires’ and set with tour namesake ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings’, the 90’s heroes held their throne as grunge champions. Momentarily pivoting from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness to Siamese Dream, for the euphonious singalong ‘Today’, they returned to the vampiric ‘We Only Come Out At Night’. Corgan, Iha, Chamberlin, Schroeder, along with touring bassist Jack Bates and vocalist Katie Coles sink into each other effortless on stage with their songs continually elevated, ringing out across the foreground.

“Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the rockshow,” Corgan announced amidst the swirls of ‘Eye’ before kicking into ‘Ava Adore’. The pièce de résistance came from the marrying of acoustic arrangements The Churches ‘Under The Milky Way’ and a choral offering to the Kryal court which held the following introduction, “To the lovers, to the stoners, to the knights in the crowd, to the queens, to the princesses, and to the non binary, we dedicate this song to you. It’s a song called ‘Tonight Tonight’”.

The Smashing Pumpkins. Credit: Joshua Braybrook

Staying at angelic heavenly height, ‘Cherub Rock’ soared, ‘Zero’ shattered and personal favourite, ‘1979’ surged as we harmonized, ‘Lamented and assured / To the lights and towns below / Faster than the speed of sound / Faster than we thought we’d go / Beneath the sound of hope,’ overlooking the sleepy Sunday town of Ballarat. 

The smoke haze of the forgotten WWE component lifted during the conveniently titled ‘Beguiled’ with the ring-routine returning to the stage, thankfully not too distracting given the explosion of sound. To wrap a monstrous event was the eight and a half minute Siamese Dream anthem, ‘Silverfuck’, Corgan, Iha and Schroeder reminding us of their guitar wizardry and the magic of Smashing Pumpkins.