According to stereogum.com, over 30 years ago rock band the Smashing Pumpkins released their album Siamese Dream and on the evening of the LP’s release, the band performed their famous midnight in-store acoustic set at Tower Records in Chicago.
Earlier this month, Smashing Pumpkins announced plans to re stage that show at Madame Zuzu’s, which Billy Corgan’s tea house just outside of Chicago. For the event, the band had Madame Zuzu’s made over to look like Tower Records where the band re created that Siamese Dream set for two different acoustic performances.
Tower Records itself participated at the event stunt and in an Instagram video, Corgan said that this was the first physical version of a Tower Records store since 2006. Corgan and his band mostly played the same set, song for song, as they’d done in 1993 but there were several notable changes.
Smashing Pumpkins played “Luna” for the first time since 2006 , “Spaceboy” for the first time since 2016 and their “Cherub Rock” B-side “Purr Snickety” for the first time since 1991.
The band also performed “Spaced,” which is a song from the Siamese Dream session that ended up on the rarities album Pisces Iscariot for the first time ever.
The version of the Smashing Pumpkins did not look much like the one who played at the 1993 in store event and D’Arcy Wretzky was nowhere to be seen.
But from the stage, Corgan acknowledged her, as well as the other non-members who contributed to the album’s creation: “Not everyone’s here that should be here, but that’s just the way life goes.”
Photo Credit: Alyssa Fried
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