Boston gets one of the earliest stops on the Smashing Pumpkins’ new arena tour: TD Garden on Friday, October 2 — the second date of the run. Public on-sale is tomorrow at 10 a.m. local at smashingpumpkins.com; Citi, Verizon, and VIZ CLUB presales are already underway.
The real news is the format. Every night will be two distinct sets — one playing material exclusively from 1995’s Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (RIAA Diamond-certified, marking its 30th anniversary) in what Billy Corgan calls “a highly theatrical setting,” and a second drawing from the rest of the catalog, from 1991’s Gish through 2024’s Aghori Mhori Mei. Corgan suggests the second set will vary city to city, which is more ambitious than the usual lock-in anniversary tour.
Before the run starts, the Pumpkins will headline Lollapalooza in Chicago on July 31 — their first time topping the festival since the original 1994 touring iteration.
The current lineup is anchored by three of the four original members: Corgan, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, and guitarist James Iha. The band has won two Grammys for Best Hard Rock Performance (1997 and 1998) and the press release’s 30-million-albums-worldwide figure is the band’s own count, but the U.S. certifications alone — Diamond Mellon Collie, 4x platinum Siamese Dream — are a serious record on their own.
TD Garden seats roughly 17,000, a step up from the Spirits on Fire co-headline with Jane’s Addiction a couple years back. If the Mellon Collie set delivers on the “theatrical” billing, it could be the most distinctive Pumpkins production Boston has seen in years.