Rage and melancholy at Gunnersbury Park: The Smashing Pumpkins celebrate 30 years of ‘Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’
Celebrating three decades since the release of their triple LP, the ‘90s alt-rock architects played a 20-song set of fan favourites and greatest hits.
Photo: Mike Massaro / Hello Content
They were one of the most successful bands of the 1990s. Their albums are among the most lauded of the alternative rock genre, and they are still celebrated as pioneers of the timeless, grungy chord. Their frontman is the vampiric Billy Corgan, their name is The Smashing Pumpkins, and, 30 years ago, they released a defining triple album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.
Photo: Mike Massaro / Hello Content
To celebrate the record’s anniversary, and in promotion of their latest album — 2024’s Aghori Mhori Mei — the iconic three-piece have been playing festivals across Europe. August 10th marked their return to London, at the grandiose Gunnersbury Park, for a night of nostalgia and hard rock.
The blistering summer’s day saw supporting sets from fellow Americans Rocket, natives unpeople, White Lies and ‘90s legends Skunk Anansie. The result was six hours of unadulterated rock, combining the hard edge of pioneering Brit-rock with up-and-coming grunge and indie. Each group worked the thousands of Londoners up into an electric lather, before finally, at 8pm, The Smashing Pumpkins took to the stage.
Corgan was every inch the goth-rock vampire behind some of alt-rock’s everlasting offerings, backed by bandmates James Iha (guitar, backing vocals) and Jimmy Chamberlin (drums), along with touring musicians Kiki Wong (rhythm guitar) and Jack Bates (bass).
The set opened with selections from the group’s Machina and Machina II albums, Glass’ Theme and Heavy Metal Machine. Pentagrams was one of just a handful of tracks from Aghori Mhori Mei, before the Pumpkins delighted fans with staples Today and Bullet with Butterfly Wings — the latter of which stirred up the crowd like hot water to a wasp nest.
Photo: Mike Massaro / Hello Content
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, in its 30th anniversary and still one of the group’s most successful albums, saw the bulk of the 20-song setlist. 1979, a track Corgan wrote about his coming-of-age, and Tonight, Tonight rang out like heavy metal sermons to swathes of the initiated, while favourites Zero and Porcelina of the Vast Oceans made a thousand fans’ dreams come true. The latter, a nine-minute, sprawling epic, was one of the night’s many highlights.
Psychedelic-grunge anthems like Mayonnaise and Cherub Rock sounded incredible belted out from the Gunnersbury Park stage. Few words were spoken between tracks, but the energy radiating from the band was magnetic — these were a group of musicians decades into their career, and they were still having a great time, performing beloved songs to eardrum-shattered people.
Photo: Mike Massaro / Hello Content
There was a surprise cover of Take My Breath Away by Berlin, from the movie Top Gun. Corgan’s weasel-like hiss might not sound like the natural choice to cover the shmaltzy ‘80s ballad, but it was handled well enough. The Everlasting Gaze, another track from Machina, rounded out the evening with one last punch to the throat.
In under two hours, one of the ‘90s biggest rock acts took to the stage, played alt masterpiece after masterpiece, and left as if it was all in a day’s work. I suppose for Corgan and friends, it was: they’ve been penning Siren-esque riffs and causing mass whiplash for over 30 years. Long may they reign.