Smashing Pumpkins headlined Lollapalooza on Thursday, July 31, in Chicago, with Billy Corgan bringing out Olivia Rodrigo and Yungblud as surprise guests to perform nineties tracks. The performance marked the Chicago-bred band’s first Lollapalooza headlining slot in 32 years; they last played the festival in 1994 on a bill with the Beastie Boys, A Tribe Called Quest and Green Day.
Yungblud performed first, taking the stage less than an hour after his own festival set to sing “Luna,” the closing track from the band’s 1993 album Siamese Dream. Rodrigo followed, introduced by Corgan as “a very, very special guest,” performing “Thirty-Three” from the band’s 1995 double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.
The album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 1995 with 246,500 first-week units and was certified diamond by the RIAA. The single “1979” became the band’s biggest Hot 100 hit at No. 12, while “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” won the 1997 Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance.
Rodrigo’s 2021 debut SOUR and 2023 follow-up GUTS both entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1. Yungblud won his first Grammy earlier this year for Best Rock Performance for his rendition of “Changes” at Ozzy Osbourne’s Black Sabbath farewell concert.
The band launches The Rats in the Cage tour on September 30 in Columbus, Ohio, built around a set marking the 30th anniversary of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.
See Smashing Pumpkins live
Upcoming Smashing Pumpkins events with tickets available:
- Sep 30, 2026 — Value City Arena at The Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio · Get tickets
- Oct 2, 2026 — TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts · Get tickets
- Oct 3, 2026 — CFG Bank Arena, Baltimore, Maryland · Get tickets
- Oct 4, 2026 — Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York · Get tickets
- Oct 6, 2026 — PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania · Get tickets
Source: Billboard
