"For years now, I have walked around with a secret, a secret I chose to keep. But now I want you to be among the first to know that I have made plans to renew and revive the Smashing Pumpkins. I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams."
It was just over three years ago when Billy Corgan took out full-page ads in a couple Chicago newspapers with that silly statement. What was most surprising wasn't that he wanted "his" band to reunite, it was that Corgan, a person who I considered intelligent, exhibited absolutely no tact, no common sense, no cool.
One album (Zeitgeist), one EP (American Gothic), and one song ("Superchrist") for a Guitar Center compilation later, The Smashing Pumpkins are still celebrating themselves with their newly confirmed 20th anniversary tour (minus James Iha and D'arcy). For five weeks, the band will play a bunch of new and old tracks, with several two-night dates in the bigger cities (first night is "Black Sunshine," second is "White Crosses" -- can't make this shit up). Pumpkins promise no overlap for those consecutive shows.
Meanwhile, The Smashing Pumpkins will play Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit October 26, a live DVD (If All Goes Wrong) comes out November 11, and a new song, "G.L.O.W.," will make its debut exclusively on Guitar Hero: World Tour.
Whatever happened to the "Gish tour" anyway?
