This is one of the final shows the band did before transitioning fully into the Adore era. An interesting gig, with reworked versions of familiar songs, and some interesting rarities and new songs thrown in.

This gig was the first of three one-off shows that the band did in the fall of 1997 as an opening act for other bands. This gig in Fort Worth had the band opening for the Rolling Stones, on a bill that also included Matchbox 20 and the Dave Matthews Band. The next gig after this one was a short surprise opening set for Jane's Addiction in Chicago. The third gig took place a month later, again opening for the Rolling Stones, but with Third Eye Blind taking the spot of Matchbox 20 alongside the Dave Matthews Band.

Of the three performances, I would pick the final one, in Miami, as the best played. This show in Fort Worth does have the final performance of The End is the Beginning is the End, the final of only two known performances of Mouths of Babes, and the first full band electric versions of Blissed and Gone and Ava Adore. But while it's nice to have the rarities here, the performance overall is still a little rough around the edges, probably owing a good deal to the cautiousness the band had in playing so many new and reworked songs in the set after having been off the road for 4 months. Corgan's vocals in particular are a little weak throughout the performance, lyrics are sung deliberately lower as part of his newer singing style (check the versions of In the Arms of Sleep and 1979), and many of the loud/heavy parts are played in a cleaner and mellow manner. What's interesting is that at the next show, as the openers for Jane's Addiction, the set featured 5 songs from Mellon Collie, all performed close to their recorded versions. So, perhaps for the Stones gigs, the band were also attempting to tailor their sound to accommodate the tastes of the older/pop audience who had mainly come to see the classic rock veterans.

In any case, the reworked versions of Thru the Eyes of Ruby, XYU, 1979, Porcelina, and In the Arms of Sleep at Fort Worth suggest that Billy was making a deliberate effort to tone things down. The frantic energy of the old songs was replaced with a slower and more drawn out approach that would be a hallmark of the playing style of the Adore era. This change in style wasn't lost on the audience, who can be heard loudly cheering the band at the beginning of the set, only to then have to sit through a set filled mostly with rare, reworked, and unreleased songs. In fact, near the end of the set, just before a reworked Porcelina, an audience member near the taper can be heard pleading "Please play something I know!" This is where the advantage goes to the Miami show a month later, where the band were better able to mix the reworkings with newer songs by placing the hits of 1979 and Bullet near the end of the set, and adding back a little more of the loud guitars by beefing up the intro of Ava Adore and reworking Porcelina again, both of which were played in a tamer style at this Fort Worth show. On top of which, the Miami show has Marilyn Manson and Twiggy Ramirez on the set closers of Eye and XYU, both done to good effect. Whereas the version of Eye at Fort Worth is a fairly limp delivery, and XYU has had all of its guts removed in favor of yet another slow reworking. As for the version of Mouths of Babes played at Fort Worth, while great to hear, it's a shadow of the version debuted two years earlier at the Double Door, mostly owing to the missing swagger of Jimmy's drumming, and the absence of Corgan snarling through the verses.

All this aside, the Fort Worth show is still an interesting, worthwhile listen. Definitely give it a spin for the rarities, but if you're looking for a better performance overall, check out the recording from Miami a month later.

Download this show just for Mouth of Babes! Awesome!

love it

Rare to see mouthes of babes in a setlist. Thank you!

Sound quality is pretty decent.