Smashing Pumpkins Celebrate ‘Siamese Dream’ 30th Anniversary
The Smashing Pumpkins celebrated the Siamese Dream 30th anniversary by going back in time 30 years. Sort of.
If you’re keeping score at home, the actual 30th anniversary of the Pumpkins’ breakthrough sophomore album already happened earlier this year. It was released on July 27, 1993, so I went long in paying tribute to the album over the summer. It’s one of my all-time favorite albums. And I believe it to be the best alternative album of the ’90s. I hope you’ll take some time to read and find out why.
Billy & Co. have been celebrating the 30-year mark for the better part of the year, I guess. Their World Is A Vampire Tour kicked off the day after the album’s 30th anniversary in July, and wrapped up in early September. The band is on the road supporting their new album ATUM. They had a summer stop in NH because they already hit Boston last fall. Read my kid’s review of the show.
Smashing Pumpkins Celebrate ‘Siamese Dream’ 30th Anniversary
So with the summer tour in the books, the Pumpkins finally had time to pay a proper tribute to Siamese Dream. On September 17, the band decamped to Pumpkin-head Billy Corgan‘s Chicago teahouse, Madame Zuzu‘s. The performance space was decked out to recreate Tower Records in Chicago. Now why would the band do a peculiar thing like that?
Because thirty years earlier, the Pumpkins played the actual Tower Records in Chicago. It was the eve of the album’s release: July 26, 1993. The band played a stripped-down album release acoustic show. So to mark that occasion thirty years later, the band did it again. With a slightly-different lineup and a slightly-different setlist, including a few Pumpkins gems that haven’t been played live in years.
Watch the full “Siamese Dream 30th Anniversary Party” set below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMZWSYm137w&pp=ygUwc21hc2hpbmcgcHVtcGtpbnMgc2lhbWVzZSBkcmVhbSAzMHRoIGFubml2ZXJzYXJ5
Now, dig into the album release set from the summer of ’93.