It was the first show of Smashing Pumpkins much-ballyhooed reunion tour, and the band was determined to make it a memorable one. During a concert that lasted somewhere around three-hours long, Billy Corgan, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlain and company played nearly every one of their major hits and fan-favorite deep cuts, as well as a number of iconic classic rock covers like David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide,” and most impressive of all, Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven.”
Smashing Pumpkins tucked their Zeppelin tribute in between performances of their own songs “Tonight, Tonight” and “Cherub Rock,” making for a damn impressive triptych of rock and roll excellence. But for all the material they played from other group’s catalogs, they decided to spurn performing any cuts from the post-2000 lineup of the band, which surely must have pleased more casual fans in the crowd who checked out before the release of Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, for example.
Smashing Pumpkins Oh So Bright reunion tour is expected to keep the band on the road until at least October, with a pair of homecoming shows in Chicago’s United Center posited at the very middle of the run. You can cop your ticket to see the band here, and watch their impressive cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” in the video above.
