A celebration or a funeral? Billy Corgan previews The Smashing Pumpkins’ Rats in a Cage tour

Tuesday, August 18, 2026 at 3:59 AM

The Smashing Pumpkins will launch their Rats in a Cage tour in September. Each show will feature one set dedicated to the 1995 Pumpkins album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness in honor of its 30th anniversary, as well as a second, career-spanning set. "The [...]

"The Rats in a Cage tour is interesting, because I've made the choice that we're gonna play the Mellon Collie set first," frontman Billy Corgan tells ABC Audio. "Which means you're gonna have 15-18,000 people in a room wondering, 'OK, now what are they gonna do?""

Indeed, the RIAA Diamond-certified Mellon Collie has some of the biggest Pumpkins hits, including "1979," "Tonight, Tonight," "Zero" and "Bullet with Butterfly Wings," which spawned the famed lyric that inspired the tour's name.

"We're planning something sort of different," Corgan says. "It'll be interesting 'cause some people will take the journey and other people will think, 'What are they doing? Because I came here to celebrate, and they're taking me through a funeral.""

The Rats in a Cage tour kicks off Sept. 30 in Columbus, Ohio.

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