"Staging a Mellon Collie-themed show is something we’ve discussed for over a decade, and finally the stars have aligned," says Billy Corgan

After staging a surprise show at the intimate Hollywood Legion Theater in Los Angeles where they staged a funeral for Billy Corgan’s alter ego Zero, Smashing Pumpkins have announced an extensive North American arena tour where they’ll belatedly celebrate the 30th anniversary of their 1995 double LP Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and play a second set of other songs from their vast back catalog.

“Staging a Mellon Collie-themed show is something we’ve discussed for over a decade, and finally the stars have aligned and exactly on the terms I’d set: which was to build a special night around its most enduring aspirations and ideas,” Billy Corgan said in a statement. “With set 1 of the Rats In A Cage tour exclusively featuring Mellon Collie songs in a highly theatrical setting, and set 2 drawing from the rest of our canon so that there’s a decent amount of variance as to what songs we’ll play from night to night: from our first in Gish to our last in Aghori Mhori Mei.”

The Rats in a Cage Tour kicks off Sept. 30 in Columbus, Ohio, and wraps up Nov. 12 in Los Angeles. The ticket pre-sale begins May 19, and the general on-sale starts May 21.

Prior to the tour kickoff, Corgan will head over to Europe without the rest of the Pumpkins to play a series of ‘A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness’ theater shows where he’ll play songs from the double LP with a 60-piece orchestra.

The classical re-imagining of Mellon Collie was unveiled last November at the Lyric Opera House in Chicago. “The success of translating Mellon Collie into operatic and classical form has been one of the most satisfying experiences of my life,” Corgan said when announcing the U.K. shows. “Where on each of the 7 sold out nights in Chicago we’d finish within the raucous wave of a standing ovation. So to now take it on the road, and to Europe, too says this magical dream doesn’t have to end.”

The upcoming North American arena tour with the Pumpkins takes place on the 31st anniversary of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. On the 30th anniversary last year, Corgan and the Machines of God, his new solo band, played clubs and theaters across the United States. They played material exclusively from Mellon Collie, Machina, and Aghori Mhori Mei. 

His original conception for the tour involved the rest of the Pumpkins, but they weren’t into the idea. “I pushed for years and years for the band to invest in what I would call smaller tours that would highlight particular eras of music,” Corgan told Rolling Stone in 2025. “We weren’t in agreement about what the purpose of such a thing might be for. And we have this agreement, which has been really helpful over the past seven or eight years, that says if we’re not in alignment about something like that, nobody is going to pull rank and say it has to be done. That was very much the way the business worked back in the day, and solved a lot of problems.”

This year, however, the band members were clearly in agreement about hitting the road to celebrate Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, albeit in much larger venues than the ones Corgan played on his own.

The Rats in a Cage Tour Dates
Sept. 30 — Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
Oct. 2 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden
Oct. 3 — Baltimore, MD @ CFG Bank Arena
Oct. 4 — Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
Oct. 6 — Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
Oct. 7 — Hamilton, ON @ TD Coliseum
Oct. 9 — Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
Oct. 11 — Madison, WI @ Kohl Center
Oct. 13 — St. Paul, MN @ Grand Casino Arena
Oct. 14 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
Oct. 16 — Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center
Oct. 17 — Jacksonville, FL @ VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena
Oct. 18 — Tampa, FL @ Benchmark International Arena
Oct. 20 — Indianapolis, IN @ Gainbridge Fieldhouse
Oct. 22 — Nashville, TN @ The Truth
Oct. 24 — Oklahoma City, OK @ Paycom Center
Oct. 25 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center
Oct. 27 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
Oct. 29 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Delta Center
Oct. 30 — Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand Garden Arena
Nov. 1 — Portland, OR @ Moda Center
Nov. 3 — Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome
Nov. 5 — Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
Nov. 6 — Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
Nov. 8 — San Jose, CA @ SAP Center
Nov. 11 — Phoenix, AZ @ Mortgage Matchup Center
Nov. 12 — Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum