This was the Pumpkins' first proper electric set since the 3/15/93 Atlanta show, with that show having been played immediately after wrapping up recording of Siamese Dream. The recording is a good listen, but has a slight emphasis on the midrange, so lacks a bit of low and high end.

The band had done a handful of acoustic shows in Europe in June and July, and would follow up this gig in Milwaukee on 7/23 with an acoustic gig at Tower Records in Chicago on 7/26 to commemorate the release of Siamese Dream, followed by a "secret" show at the Metro billed as the Turnips on 7/28.

This gig at the Unicorn was a return to the venue a year after the band had played two consecutive nights there in June 1992. Those two gigs rank high in the live catalog of Pumpkins performances, as they featured the debut of several of the songs that would show up on both Siamese Dream as well as Pisces Iscariot. But, whereas the shows from 1992 featured the band enthusiastically trying out new songs that they hoped to feature on their next album, this performance in 1993 is more of a laid-back rehearsal showcase of the songs that they had already recorded, played at a venue which they had by this point clearly outgrown.

Without knowing the background of this gig from 1993, one could assume that the band returned to the Unicorn just before the release of the new album as both a return to a "safe" and familiar venue where they enjoyed playing (case in point, the band all make a point of saying thank you to the venue's owner, Gus, at the end of the show), as well as to take advantage of an out of the way spot where they could get the kinks out of their live set before their upcoming hometown shows in Chicago. With that in mind, the performance here is good overall, but it isn't particularly tight. Not having played a proper electric set of the new songs in over 4 months definitely shows. Billy messes up occasional lyrics, the guitar solos aren't quite nailed down, and many of the loud/quiet transitions in the new songs are not as slick as they soon would be.

In addition to this, there is also a little bit of resistance from the crowd, which is perhaps understandable, given that the band were playing a set mostly full of songs that nobody in the small crowd had ever heard before. Just before Mayonaise, one heckler can be heard asking for the band to "play something good", to which Billy responds with "Say something intelligent you fuck". Billy continues to go into a back and forth of comments with a few different people in the audience, while James starts playing the Mayo intro over and over, alternating the original melody with a dissonant variation, until Billy has finished his sparring with the crowd and they finally start the number. After the song, Billy criticizes the crowd by saying "You must be really bored", presumably because they were not showing that they were enjoying the new songs enough. A funny moment happens during the mellow outro segment to Hummer, as the crowd begins to engage in a back and forth chant of "Whoo!" in sync with the tempo of the song. James takes the cue and starts imitating the "Whoo-Whoo!" sound from the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" before jokingly chastizing the audience with "You motherfuckers!".

The setlist lacks songs like Disarm and Silverfuck, which would both feature at virtually every SD show after this one. On the flipside, this show features a rare electric performance of Thin Lizzy's "Dancing in the Moonlight" (acoustic versions had been played in June and July), as well as the "blues version" of "Window Paine", neither of which would receive many airings in the future (as far as we know). The show itself is a slightly shorter gig, as Billy mentions that they were almost out of time before they end with "Siva". That song features a brief quote from the Beatles "I'm So Tired" just before the "sprinkle all my kisses" line, and ends with an extended jam, which has Billy playing the Star Spangled Banner as well as a repetitive "grunge" riff which features a melody bearing resemblance to the Doors' "Waiting for the Sun". As the jam closes, Billy's message to the audience is "I hope grunge dies and falls off the face of the earth. Down with grunge." What's slightly eery about the comments is that even though Billy had said things like this before (such as mocking the drop-d "grunge" tuning, or making jokes about the movie Singles or the band being from Seattle), it was actually on this very same night that the reigning kings of grunge, Nirvana, were headlining their official "return" concert at the Roseland Ballroom in New York. Nirvana's gig that night has since become particularly infamous due to the fact that just minutes before the gig, Kurt Cobain overdosed on heroin, and Courtney Love had to revive him in time for the show. So, while the Pumpkins were preparing for their rise to stardom by playing new material to a small room of impatient fans in Milwaukee, Nirvana was in New York with MTV Cameras on hand to witness the beginning of Cobain's downward spiral, one which would ultimately take grunge with him. Fast forward a year, and Cobain would be dead, the Pumpkins would take Nirvana's vacant headlining spot at Lollapalooza 1994, and Billy would not only be seeing Courtney again, but he'd even show up to the rehearsals of the MTV Movie Awards wearing one of Kurt's old jackets. And what song did the band end up performing that night, to cap off their highly-successful year? An almost completely unrecognizable, angst-ridden, distortion-filled version of Disarm, complete with screamed vocals, broken strings, a guitar tossed to the ground, and Billy storming off the stage at the end. So much for "down with grunge".