Smashing Pumpkins to recreate classic ‘Siamese Dream’ Tower Records release party 30 years on

9 September, 2023

Smashing Pumpkins

Smashing Pumpkins will commemorate the 30th anniversary of their seminal album ‘Siamese Dream’ by restaging its 1993 release concert.

From September 14-17, Madame Zuzu’s – the tea shop and art studio in Illinois co-owned by frontman Billy Corgan and his fiancee Chloe Mendel – will be transformed into a re-creation of Tower Records, where the original ‘Siamese Dream’ release show was held.

The weekend will conclude with the band playing two acoustic sets featuring the same setlist they played at Tower at midnight on July 27, 1993, the day of the record’s release. One will take place at 6pm, the other at 9pm.

“The Smashing Pumpkins played an unforgettable in store performance at Tower Records, Chicago,” said Tower’s president Danny Zeijdel in a statement [via Stereogum]. We’re excited to celebrate ‘Siamese Dream’ once again, 30 years after hosting the original album release party. In the future, we intend to provide the same platform for young, emerging artists. We will continue with this at Tower in Brooklyn and new online experiences forthcoming.”

Tower Records closed in 2006 but the franchise was revived in 2020, opening a physical space called Tower Labs in Brooklyn.

NETHERLANDS – JULY 01: Photo of Smashing Pumpkins; Smashing Pumpkins photographed in London. July, 1993 (Photo by Paul Bergen/Redferns)
Earlier this year, Corgan revealed he once told Pantera to “shut the fuck up” after they started questioning Metallica’s ‘90s output.

Corgan recalled in an interview a time he was backstage with Pantera, who were discussing “one of Metallica’s mid-’90s [albums], it might have been ‘Reload’ or something,” and there was “a lot of controversy about where Metallica was trying to go and what happened to Metallica and are they still metal [if] they’re wearing makeup now”.

“They were just going on and on about Metallica,” continued Corgan. “Not in a negative way, more confused like, ‘I love Metallica, but I don’t get it and they’re not metal and what’s going on?’.”

“I knew them well enough that they would sort of listen to me and I said ‘You know what? Shut the fuck up’,” added Corgan, with the room apparently going silent.

“’Listen, set aside Metallica for a second’,” continued Corgan. “‘You guys right now are the best metal band on the fucking planet, okay? You just focus on Pantera. You just focus on being the greatest metal band on the fucking planet. Metallica will work it out’, and they did, right?”

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