Pumpkins in October: Corgan and co. to play Cosmopolitan

By Ken Miller (contact)

Friday, Aug. 12, 2011 | 11:45 a.m.

A colleague of mine who was picking up stakes to move to San Francisco last year wanted to travel light, so he sold off his entire CD collection for a buck or two apiece. Needless to say, I spent plenty of time in his garage scoping out possible gems. One I found was Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, an album I played the hell out of when it first emerged in 1995, but had sadly lost somewhere along the way. I snagged it. While said colleague was tallying my price tag for the large stack, he paused on Mellon Collie, holding it close to his heart for a second, then moving on.

That gesture said volumes—the Smashing Pumpkins haven’t always gotten along, but when they’re in sync, they play some pretty transcendent stuff.

The lineup—drummer Mike Byrne, bassist Nicole Fioentino, guitarist Jeff Schroeder and, of course, frontman Billy Corgan—will perform at the Cosmopolitan in October, part of the group’s “intimate U.S. tour” (according to its website). The tour is in support of the group’s 44-song work, Teargarden By Kaleidyscope, which has been released online one at a time for free. And, of course, some classic Pumpkins tunes will be mixed in as well.