CHICAGO URBAN DAILY
CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)— Thirty years after Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness changed alternative rock forever, the Smashing Pumpkins brought it home.
Billy Corgan and company played the United Center on October 14 as part of their “Rats in a Cage” tour, marking three decades since the 1995 double album dropped. And they didn’t do it halfway: the show ran two full sets — one devoted to Mellon Collie, one spanning the rest of the band’s career.
About 20,000 fans packed the building for a nearly three-hour night that opened with “1979” and “Bullet with Butterfly Wings.” The hometown touch nobody saw coming: the band hauled the Roscoe Village “Rat Hole” — the famous sidewalk imprint — onto the stage as a Chicago-only prop.
The second set dug into the band’s latest record, Aghori Mhori Mei, and closed with an extended drum solo on “Superchrist.”
Love them or argue about them, the Pumpkins are Chicago music royalty, and a 30th anniversary played in their own backyard — in front of 20,000 of their own — is the kind of night this city doesn’t forget.
Stay tuned to Chicago Urban Daily for more on the shows that move this city.
Reported by Chicago Urban Daily News. Visit chicagourbandailynews.com for updates.
