Concert review: Smashing Pumpkins revisit 1995’s ‘Mellon Collie’ in St. Paul

The Smashing Pumpkins arrived from Chicago in 1991 seemingly fully formed with “Gish,” their massive debut album, which carved out a space somewhere between goth, psychedelic rock and metal. (It’s worth noting it arrived four months before Nirvana’s “Nevermind.”)

Two years later, the band broke through to a mass audience with “Siamese Dream,” which brought an arena rock flair to the proceedings. But it’s the Pumpkins’ third album, “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness,” that was the focus when the group headlined St. Paul’s Grand Casino Arena Tuesday night in front of a crowd of about 8,500.

The double album “Mellon Collie” represents peak Smashing Pumpkins, with its two-hour running time, five hit singles, seven Grammy nominations and millions in sales. It’s also the moment band leader Billy Corgan started his transformation into a super villain, a role he seems to relish. (Also, “Mellon Collie” is full half hour longer than “The White Album,” which Corgan has said was a influence, and twice the length of “Exile on Main St.”)

While it would have been fun to hear the band rip through all 28 tracks, Corgan culled it down to just 16 selections, which the band played in the first of two sets of the evening. There was no opener and Corgan and company took the stage promptly at 8 p.m., with little fanfare. About a third of the crowd was still milling around when the music started, leaving them to scramble to find their seats in the darkness.

Somewhat surprisingly, they opened with one of their biggest hits, “1979,” and followed it up with another giant, “Bullet with Butterfly Wings.” The sound was murky, at best, but thankfully it improved dramatically by the third number, the rarely performed “Cupid de Locke.”

With that, the band locked into a groove together that kept going for the rest of the night. Founding members James Iha (guitar) and Jimmy Chamberlin (drums) joined Corgan and the group’s latest addition, guitarist Kiki Wong. Jack Bates — the son of New Order’s Peter Hook — handled the bass.

They proved equally adept at snarling rockers like “F— You (An Ode to No One)” and “Zero” as they were lighter fare like “Tonight, Tonight.” Corgan, whose vocals were high in the mix, seemed to be in a better mood than usual and Chamberlin took time to fondly recall driving up from Chicago for an opening gig at the 7th Street Entry in 1990.

The highlight was the slow burning “By Starlight,” a beautiful song about a broken-down marriage. They wrapped with the instrumental title track and took an intermission.

The second set opened with another instrumental, “Machina, Machina,” and went to to include tracks drawn from throughout the band’s career. It included a few obvious smashes (“Disarm,” “Today,” “Cherub Rock”) alongside some rarities like the 2008 b-side “Superchrist” and “Jesus Is the Sun,” a “Gish”-era outtake.

Some of the more recent material, however, didn’t quite connect, like the lengthy “Sojourner” from “ATUM: A Rock Opera in Three Acts,” a 33-song collection released in 2022 and 2023 and announced as a “sequel” to “Mellon Collie.”

Faring somewhat better were the selections drawn from the Pumpkins’ most-recent effort, 2024’s “Aghori Mhori Mei.” It was billed as a return to rock and roll guitar after years of more synth-heavy experimentation. Tracks like “Edin” showcased some thrilling interplay between the trio of guitarists, but lacked the hooks from the old days.

Still, given all of the issues the Smashing Pumpkins have faced in recent years, from lineup changes to little-heard new albums to Corgan’s ongoing megalomania, Tuesday’s show felt like one from a unified band. At one point, Chamberlin went out of his way to tell the crowd they’d be back again (and again) and it sounded like he meant it.