Billy Corgan has “mad respect” for anyone who can play the Las Vegas Sphere, and has a “goth winter” vision for what a Smashing Pumpkins show in the venue would be like.
Earlier this year, Corgan said a Pumpkins Sphere show would be “a no-doubter for us. We just haven’t been asked yet.” Speaking to Consequence on the red carpet at the Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony (where he helped induct KISS’s Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley), he clarifies that he’s not “begging for a gig” at the Vegas venue but thinks his band could deliver a unique experience.
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“I’m really impressed by anybody who can play the Sphere because it’s a heavy lift. It’s a production thing, and you really have to draw a lot of people,” Corgan says, shouting out No Doubt, Eagles, and U2 for doing it well. “So number one, I’m not sure sure we’re big enough to draw enough people over time to do it — but if somebody came and said, ‘Yeah, we believe you can do it,’ I think the Pumpkins could put on a show that nobody else would put on, because of the theatrical nature of the records and the presentation. And with that level of production, it would be like a goth winter in there, and I think we’re probably the only band that could pull that off at that level.”
Reiterating that he’s not “appealing to them to book us,” he does think there’s a world where more bands get Sphere-like opportunities in the future: “They’re trying to build other Spheres, like in Dubai and London, and I think once that gets online, then I think you’re gonna see the system loosen up of who can play because you’re gonna be able to travel. Right now, you need bands that are big enough to draw multiple, multiple dates to make that whole thing work.”
He concludes, “I’m telling you, mad respect to anybody who’s pulled it off, including Phish.” Watch the interview for his full remarks below.
Sphere dates may be a dream of the future for now, but Smashing Pumpkins will be heading out this fall on their “The Rats in a Cage Tour” to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Get tickets here. We’re sure artists like Tame Impala, Des Rocs, Alice Glass, and Nita Strauss will be looking for tickets themselves, as they’re all part of an upcoming Smashing Pumpkins tribute LP, Sending Hearts to All My Dearies, arriving digitally on August 14th and on vinyl October 16th.
Meanwhile, Corgan also recently revealed the band reunited with producer Butch Vig for the first time since 1993’s Gish, working on a track expected out later this year.
