Smashing Pumpkins Announce ‘Rats In A Cage Tour’

The Smashing Pumpkins are heading back on the road with what may become one of the band's most ambitious live productions in years. The legendary alternative rock group has officially announced The Rats In A Cage Tour, a large-scale North American run designed to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their landmark album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

Rather than offering a traditional greatest-hits tour, frontman Billy Corgan and the band appear to be building a far more theatrical experience. Each night will feature two completely distinct sets: one focused entirely on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness material in an immersive production setting, and a second set pulling from nearly four decades of Smashing Pumpkins songs, rarities, and fan favorites.

The title itself references one of the band's defining songs, “Bullet With Butterfly Wings,” whose famous lyric "despite all my rage..." helped cement the Pumpkins as one of the defining voices of 1990s alternative rock. Thirty years after Mellon Collie transformed the band's trajectory, the group appears ready to revisit that era on a much larger scale.

The tour launches September 30 in Columbus, Ohio and stretches through November with dates across major cities in the United States and Canada. Stops include Boston, Chicago, Austin, Las Vegas, Seattle, Brooklyn, Vancouver and many more before ending with an appearance at Darker Waves Festival in Huntington Beach.

Las Vegas fans will also get a hometown-area stop when the tour arrives at MGM Grand Garden Arena on October 30.

The run also marks another major chapter in the band's current evolution. It continues one of the first large touring cycles featuring guitarist Kiki Wong following the departure of longtime member Jeff Schroeder.

For longtime fans, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness remains more than a successful album. Released in 1995, the double album became a cultural landmark and produced songs including "1979," "Tonight, Tonight," "Zero," and "Bullet With Butterfly Wings." It later achieved Diamond certification and helped define alternative music during the decade.

Three decades later, The Smashing Pumpkins are not simply revisiting the past. They're turning one of alternative rock's most important albums into a full-scale live event.