Smashing Pumpkins are set to launch their “Rats in a Cage Tour” this week, with 28 dates currently packed into their itinerary through mid-November.
Set to commence this evening (September 30th), the North American arena run celebrates the 30th anniversary of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Each show will be divided into two distinct sets, with the first exclusively featuring songs from the landmark 1995 double album in a theatrical setting and the second reaching across the band’s entire catalog spanning nearly four decades.
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Following opening night in Columbus, Billy Corgan & Co. will make stops in Boston, Baltimore, Brooklyn, Pittsburgh, Montréal, Chicago, Charlotte, Austin, Denver, Las Vegas, Seattle, and more. The arena portion wraps at the Kia Forum in Inglewood on November 12th, following which they will head to Huntington Beach two days later to co-headline the Darker Waves festival alongside Morrissey.
The tour takes its name from the chorus of “Bullet with Butterfly Wings,” one of several enduring singles from Mellon Collie. When the trek was first announced, Corgan shared that the band had been discussing the idea of building a show around the album for more than a decade while leaving a portion of it open for songs to change each night.
The anniversary celebration has already taken several forms. Last year, the group teamed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago to reimagine Mellon Collie with an orchestra, chorus, and operatic vocalists, while the album also received an expanded 30th anniversary reissue featuring previously unreleased recordings from their 1996 tour.
Smashing Pumpkins recently returned to their hometown of Chicago for Lollapalooza, where they brought out Olivia Rodrigo and Yungblud to perform alongside them. Corgan has also revealed that the band reunited with producer Butch Vig, who played a key role in bringing Gish and Siamese Dream to fruition, to record a new song expected to arrive this year.
Check out the full itinerary below, and get tickets to sold-out shows here (fans can save $20 on their first order of $200 or more with promo code COS20 at checkout).
