Smashing Pumpkins confirm UK orchestral tour as Auf der Maur rejoins on stage
Billy Corgan will bring a 60-piece orchestral reimagining of Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness to Britain later in 2026, confirmed as the band staged a reunion with former bassist Melissa Auf der Maur at a Chicago warm-up show.
The Smashing Pumpkins have confirmed that Billy Corgan will tour the UK later in 2026 with a 60-piece orchestra, performing a full reimagining of the 1995 album Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness. The announcement lands alongside a burst of reunion activity: at a pre-Lollapalooza gig at Chicago's Riviera Theatre on Wednesday night, former bassist Melissa Auf der Maur joined the band on stage for the first time in over a year.
Auf der Maur, known for her stints in both the Pumpkins and Hole, closed the set with the group on "The Everlasting Gaze." Her previous appearance with the band came in Montreal roughly 12 months earlier, ending a quarter-century absence that stretched back to 2000. She is also preparing her first solo album in 16 years, drawn from songs written during her years in both bands.
The Chicago show itself leaned heavily on deep cuts. The band opened with "1979," "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" and "Edin," then dusted off "Dorian" for the first time since 2015 and "Thirty-Three" for the first time since 2018. A track from the recent album Aghori Mhori Mei, "War Dreams of Itself," received its live debut. Fan staples "Tonight, Tonight," "Jellybelly" and "Disarm" filled out the middle of the set.
The night's most unexpected guest was Barry Williams, best known as Greg Brady on the 1970s sitcom The Brady Bunch. Williams joined Corgan for a cover of "It's a Sunshine Day," a song originally performed by the Brady kids on the show. The collaboration followed Williams' appearance earlier this year on Corgan's podcast, The Magnificent Others.
First Lollapalooza appearance in three decades
The Riviera Theatre gig served as a warm-up for the Pumpkins' main-stage set at Lollapalooza 2026 on Friday, their first appearance at the Chicago festival in 32 years. Fans unable to attend can watch the full set via Lollapalooza's livestream on Hulu and Disney+.
For European audiences, the more consequential news is the orchestral Mellon Collie tour. Corgan has also recently staged a "requiem" performance for Zero, the persona he adopted during the album's original release cycle, signalling a broader revisit of that era. Bringing a 60-piece ensemble to UK venues will represent a significant production undertaking and a test of whether nineties alt-rock nostalgia can sustain an orchestral format beyond a single anniversary run.
Auf der Maur's return, meanwhile, adds a layer of genuine musical interest to what might otherwise be a nostalgia circuit. Her archive album, assembled from material written across two of the era's defining bands, suggests the reunion is not purely retrospective.
