SMASHING WEEKEND

Billy Corgan and his Smashing Pumpkins bandmates had wondered how to mark the 30th anniversary of the release of their platinum album Siamese Dream. Then, about three weeks before his wedding to Chloé Mendel, it occurred to Corgan that staging a show at his and Mendel’s teahouse, Madame ZuZu’s, would be an opportunity to celebrate the anniversary of the landmark album alongside not only the band’s fans but also with family and friends in town for the nuptials.

Corgan says Mendel, amid all the wedding planning, graciously agreed to plan the show and work with Tower Records to arrange for a pop-up store at ZuZu’s. The show was a tribute to a raucous moment of rock n’ roll history: on July 27, 1993, the band’s midnight performance at Tower Records in Chicago drew nearly 3,000 fans forcing the police to shut down the street outside the store. Despite the last-minute planning, the show went off without a hitch, and Corgan says he was pleased with the result.

“The opportunity to put the whole thing together certainly was unique,” says Corgan. “We were very, very happy with it and it felt right that we did something. The people around me who had been skeptical said it turned out to be pretty special.”

Corgan says he may capture the show on vinyl and sell it at ZuZu’s record shop. While it made a hectic weekend even more so, it was all worth the effort.

“Honestly, it was just a magical weekend getting married to the love of my life and going out with the band,” Corgan says. “It’s a pretty wild journey and doing it all in one weekend made it even more crazy.”