TORONTO - On night one of the Smashing Pumpkins two-night stint at Toronto's Massey Hall, the band went about slowly but surely delivering a loud, winding and heavy set that rarely had Billy Corgan taking his foot off the gas pedal.

But last night, with this show entitled White Crosses, Corgan and his band generally took a far more subdued approach which seemed better in terms of pacing but lacking some the spine-tingling oomph.

Sure, the band performed roughly the exact same length both nights, yet it definitely took a while for them to find their groove Tuesday evening.

Kicking things off with Ava Adore, Corgan, dressed this evening in a black dress and tossing glitter onto some fans, paced the stage prior to drummer Jimmy Chamberlin looking like a little drummer man for Cupid De Locke, the first of what would be a handful of hardcore rarities performed.

Saying very little aside from mentioning how proud he was of the U.S. for electing Barack Obama as President in the encore, Corgan appeared content to slowly build through a string of crisp, tight offerings such as the crowd-pleasing 1979 and the equally sweet, melodic Sunkissed. He may have surprised a few though when he delivered an almost Dylan-esque 99 Floors and Owata.

"Thank you very much ladies and gentleman. Are you ready?" Corgan asked following Soma and prior to the robust, rollicking Cherub Rock which was drenched in riffs from Corgan and fellow guitarist Jeff Schroeder.

This intensity though was often the exception to what was normally a calmer, more focused Smashing Pumpkins on this night. The extremely rare Bodies led into the somber, melancholic Crestfallen which again settle things down.

Roughly halfway through the set, Corgan responded to a few fans shouting requests, including one nearby continually yelling for X.Y.U. from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. "This is not an open forum, this is a rock concert," the lanky singer said before performing a cover of Stevie Nicks' Landslide which had the crowd singing along as if seated around a giant campfire.

Another highlight was the haunting, rich Disarm but even this paled to Gossamer which began with much promise and never faltered as Corgan and Chamberlin fleshed out the lengthy, jam-tinged conclusion.

It was the beginning of a homestretch which was interesting to say the least. Making Simon and Garfunkel's Sounds Of Silence virtually unrecognizable, Corgan fell backwards during the tune, pushed the guitar tech away and carried on with a speed metal finale which was rather bizarre or highly eclectic depending on one's taste.

After dancing around the stage with a tambourine and looking like the too cool for school Hare Krishna, Smashing Pumpkins finished the main set with Age Of Innocence as they left the stage one by one.

While they certainly deserve full marks for five hours and roughly 50 different songs over two nights, the Smashing Pumpkins could've enhanced the overall effect by opening their stay the White Crosses show and closing with Black Sunshine.

After all, although all would probably state they got bang for their buck, sometimes ending with a bang is better than opening with one.