Ben Kweller Covers Smashing Pumpkins Down By The Water

Aside from consisting of nearly a dozen bands you don't give a shit about, the mall-punk tribute to the Pumpkins curiously contained one guyliner-free anomaly in cuddly indie troubadour Ben Kweller, who took his turn to tribute Siamese Dream hit "Today." You've heard him do the track by now, sure ... but not in front of the Statue Of Liberty down on the BK waterfront. Polished by no means, but it's got sun and waves and Lady Liberty and we're still hunched over this laptop, so yeah that at least is refreshing. Have a gander over at SPIN.

And there's cool news for Kweller fans: During his upcoming summer tour, Ben's doing a special three-night run of shows at Brooklyn's Southpaw, at which he'll play one of his records in its entirety (Sha Sha on July 30, On My Way on 7/31 and Ben Kweller on 8/1). For those that can't make these LP-entirety specials, take the jump for the rest of his dates (including a stop off at Austin City Limits fest).

07/20 - Detroit, MI @ State Theatre
07/21 - Indianapolis, IN @ White River State Park Amphitheatre
07/22 - Apple Valley, MN @ Music In The Zoo
07/23 - Apple Valley, MN @Music In The Zoo
07/25 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas
07/27 - Philadelphia, PA Festival Pier @ Penn's Landing
07/28 - Northampton, MA @ Pines Theatre
07/29 - Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom
07/30 - Brooklyn, NY @ Southpaw (Sha Sha show)
07/31 - Brooklyn, NY @ Southpaw (On My Way show)
08/01 - Brooklyn, NY @ Southpaw (Ben Kweller show)
08/07 - Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
08/08 - Orlando, FL @ The Social
08/09 - Jacksonville, FL @ Jack Rabbits
08/10 - Ybor City, FL @ Crowbar
08/11 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Culture Room
08/13 - Birmingham, AL @ WorkPlay Theatre
08/15 - New Orleans, LA @ The Parish
08/17 - Houston, TX @ Walter's On Washington
08/18 - Denton, TX @ Hailey's
08/20 - Oklahoma City, OK @ Bricktown Ballroom
08/21 - Tulsa, OK @ Bob's At Cain's Ballroom
08/22 - Little Rock, AR @ Juanita's
08/23 - Memphis, TN @ Newby's
08/24 - Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
08/25 - Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
08/26 - Charlottesville, VA @ Starr Hill Music Hall
09/15 - Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits

Posted at 5:40 PM in Tour Dates, Video
Tags: Ben Kweller | The Smashing Pumpkins

5 Comments

Wow, that was seriously abysmal.

Posted by: The Playlist at 06/26/07 5:53 PM | Reply
Score = 0

some musicians can do the one-guy-and-his-guitar bit and still sound worthwhile. others just sound like your average busker. like ben does.

Posted by: seth at 06/26/07 6:53 PM | Reply
Score = 0

Meh. Not great.
My favorite Ben Kweller cover:
Kokomo w/Adam Green. Awesome summer tune.
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/2/18/789648/kokomo.adam.green.ben.kweller.mp3

Posted by: Christopher at 06/26/07 7:11 PM | Reply
Score = 0

Please, for the love of god, do NOT EVER reference a Neil Young song (arguably one of the best songs of all time) while writing about Ben Kweller covering the Smashing Pumpkins. That is all. Thank you. In fact, just don't write about Ben Kweller covering the Smashing Pumpkins and the world would just be a better place. Or at least this site. Haha.

Posted by: Josh H. at 06/26/07 10:22 PM | Reply
Score = 0

Never mind. I thought I originally saw the headline as "Down By the River" but either I am delusional or you guys changed it. Probably the former.

Posted by: Josh H. at 06/26/07 10:25 PM | Reply
Score = 0