It's now official: three of the four members of the classic Smashing Pumpkins will reunite for a North American tour in the coming months. This marks the first time Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin have performed together in 17 years.
The band's original bassist, D'Arcy Wretzky, will not be joining the trio due to disagreements with Corgan. In an interview with Blast Echo, she blamed him for excluding her from the reunion (the classic lineup hasn't performed together since 1999). The feud continued with the release of a statement from the Smashing Pumpkins, saying that D'Arcy was the one who had refused to participate in the tour.
The discussion ended with another controversial interview with the bassist, this time for Alternative Nation, stating that Corgan never intended to hire her for the shows and that, instead, he had chosen Jack Bates, son of Peter Hook of New Order, to replace her. But, despite the dramatic situation, the reunion marking the 30th anniversary of the Smashing Pumpkins is still a cause for celebration for many alternative rock fans.
During the tour titled The Shiny and Oh So Bright , which begins on July 12th in Arizona and ends on September 7th in Idaho, the band will play only Smashing Pumpkins classics, that is, songs from their first five albums: Gish (1991), Siamese Dream (1993), Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995), Adore (1998) and Machina (2000).
Even without information that the tour will leave North America, we let ourselves be carried away by the nostalgic wave of the 1990s and chose 11 songs that celebrate every corner of the melancholic and poetic universe sung by Billy Corgan (when he was still formed by D'Arcy, Iha and Chamberlin). Listen to our selection below.
- “To Sheila”, from the album Adore (1998)
- “I Am One”, from the debut album Gish (1991)
- “Perfect”, from the album Adore (1998)
- “Siva”, from the debut album Gish (1991)
- “Zero”, from the album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
- “The Everlasting Gaze”, from the album Machina/The Machines of God (2000)
- “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”, from the album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
- “Today”, from the album Siamese Dream (1993)
- “Cherub Rock”, from the album Siamese Dream (1993)
- “1979”, from the album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
- “Mayonaise”, from the album Siamese Dream (1993)
