BILLY CORGAN Says SMASHING PUMPKINS Are 'Absolutely' Interested In Playing At Sphere In Vegas: 'It's A No-Doubter For Us'

In a new interview with the "Klein. Ally. Show." on the Los Angeles radio station KROQ, SMASHING PUMPKINS frontman Billy Corgan was asked if he and his bandmates would be interested in doing a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Absolutely. It's a no-doubter for us. We just haven't been asked yet."

Billy continued: "If the Sphere came to us and said, 'We'd love you to do all of [SMASHING PUMPKINS' seminal 1995 RIAA-diamond-certified album] 'Mellon Collie [And The Infinite Sadness]' with that production,' now that makes sense to me. That makes sense to me, to do something like that, to build a show around the album, much like we've done the opera with The Lyric [Opera] in Chicago, and now it's going to Europe. That makes sense to me because then you have a chance to recast the songs and the music in a different dynamic. But playing a 30-year-old album with that pacing and that song order, and expect everyone to sit there and be happy, I think that's asking a lot of the audience. That's why we fought against just going out and playing the record."

Earlier this week, SMASHING PUMPKINS announced "The Rats In A Cage Tour", one of their most ambitious live shows yet. Kicking off in September and running through November 2026, "The Rats In A Cage Tour" will feature the band playing two distinct sets: one celebrating "Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness"'s recent 30th anniversary, and one a career-spanning journey through nearly four decades' worth of beloved hits, deep cuts, and fan favorites alike.

By the time THE SMASHING PUMPKINS released "Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness", they had already announced themselves as one of the definitive rock bands of the '90s with 1991's "Gish" and 1993's "Siamese Dream". While those two albums are classics in their own right, and the PUMPKINS already had a host of beloved hits under their belts, "Mellon Collie" saw them ascend to a whole other level. Across the double album, Corgan threw everything he had at this music, resulting in some of the band's most ubiquitous hits: "1979", "Tonight, Tonight", "Zero" and "Bullet With Butterfly Wings". "Mellon Collie" soon earned THE SMASHING PUMPKINS seven Grammy nominations, including "Album Of The Year" and "Record Of The Year", and would later attain diamond certification from the RIAA. It lives on not only as one of the most pivotal albums of the '90s, but also as one of the great albums in the rock canon.

The Las Vegas Sphere is a 17,600-capacity venue which has transformed live entertainment since opening in September 2023.

Known for its immersive entertainment experiences, including concerts and films, featuring a state-of-the-art 16K resolution wraparound screen and a powerful sound system, the Las Vegas Sphere is nestled near the Venetian Resort and Wynn Las Vegas just off the Las Vegas Strip.

The Sphere has already hosted residencies from a number of legendary rockers, including U2, PHISH, DEAD & COMPANY and THE EAGLES.

U2 opened the building with 160,000-square-foot LED screens and 4D features, playing to more 700,000 fans across 40 sold-out dates from September 2023 through March 2024. The shows commemorated one of U2's most successful albums, the chart-topping 1991 release "Achtung Baby", played in its entirety, along with select tracks from other U2 LPs.

Sphere's next-generation technologies include the world's highest-resolution LED display that wraps up, over and around the audience, creating a fully immersive visual environment. The venue also features the world's most advanced concert-grade audio system, Sphere Immersive Sound, powered by HOLOPLOT, which delivers audio with unmatched clarity and precision to every guest.

This past March, METALLICA added 16 dates to its Sphere residency, tripling the number of shows for the engagement, which begins in early October and now extends into 2027. All 24 "Life Burns Faster" shows will continue the "No Repeat Weekend" tradition that began with the 2023 kick-off of the band's "M72" world tour, with no songs repeated on each Thursday and Saturday.

METALLICA originally announced eight dates at the venue between October 1 and 31 October, but later added shows in November (November 5 and 7),January (January 28 and 30),February (February 4, 6, 18, 20, 25, and 27),and March (March 4, 6, 11, and 13).