A NOT-SO-SMASHING TIME PUMPKINS MEDIOCRE, BUT FANS DON'T SEEM TO MIND.

Byline: Fred Shuster Music Critic 

Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan seemed stretched to his musical limit at the band's packed-to-the-rafters Universal Amphitheatre show Tuesday.

On a day when Corgan announced on KROQ-FM (106.7) that the current ``Sacred and Profane'' tour would be the Pumpkins' last, the bald, 6-foot- tall, leather-skirted singer, looking like a grinning Uncle Fester by way of ``The Matrix,'' saw his music reduced to deafening mush for an audience that didn't seem to mind either way.

Smashing Pumpkins, it seems, is a studio band able to make clean, well- produced records. On stage during a frustrating two-hour set, however, Corgan's musicians simply aren't very convincing. New bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur, formerly of Hole, and rhythm guitarist James Iha consistently offered unimaginative, rudimentary parts.

Nevertheless, the sweat-soaked audience at Universal danced, screamed and waved their arms in the air regardless of what was presented. A messy, noisy cover of the 1974 David Essex hit ``Rock On'' drew the same roar as Corgan's many touching and tuneful numbers, such as ``1979,'' ``Tonight, Tonight'' and ``Today.''

The monkish Corgan clearly speaks to his enormous audience, but the band's look and sound are increasingly hard to swallow. The leader's singing voice, tolerable on tape, frequently amounted to little more than an abrasive, strangled wail. On the acoustic numbers, he seemed to be over-emoting for comic effect.

Two of the Pumpkins' best-known hard-rock numbers, ``Bullet With Butterfly Wings'' and ``Cherub Rock,'' were difficult to distinguish as the guitars were turned up so loud that the only thing to be heard was a painful white-noise buzz.

On KROQ, Corgan said the Pumpkins, who recently fulfilled their contract with EMI's Virgin Records, would finish the current U.S. tour, head to Europe, Japan, Canada and maybe South America before the end of the year, and then call it quits. The Chicago-based band, with worldwide sales of 23 million, will tape VH-1's ``Storytellers'' in August with an appearance on ``The Tonight Show With Jay Leno'' also scheduled.

But Corgan said fans can expect more releases from the Pumpkins, including another album's worth of songs and a live disc.

On stage, the singer-guitarist seemed to make reference to the forthcoming breakup when he grabbed the microphone: ``Are you ready for the revolution? Does anyone want to testify? Whether you're a name, or a number, things are changing.''

Judging by this gig, the change is probably for the better. Corgan can write wonderful songs. Maybe it's time for someone else to perform them.

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Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins performed shabbily at the Universal Amphitheatre on Tuesday night, but fans enjoyed his brooding voice and the band's second-rate music.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer