During the VIP experience at an Iowa Smashing Pumpkins gig, front man Billy Corgan surprised fans by sitting behind the piano, hood up, for a casual yet delightful rendition of the Beatles' Abbey Road classic, "Something."
Prior to the June 20 gig during the Smashing Pumpkins first ever acoustic tour, Corgan sat relaxed in a striped hoodie while blunt piano chords accompanied his charming vocals. The singer snubbed the song twice in a row, having to start over. "It's such a good song, and I keep f*cking it up," he said, laughing. "If I f*ck up my own song, I'm like, 'Well, I wrote it.'"
One fan teased that he wanted a refund, which brought on an anecdote from Pumpkins' past. During a time when drummer Jimmy Chamberlin couldn't perform a small club gig, the band jumped into playing two acoustic sets. Kicking off the acoustic journey, Corgan disclaimed that whoever wanted their money back can leave—one person took him up on the offer.
The acoustic tour, titled "In Plainsong," features the music spanning Corgan's career including his solo work as well as Zwan. The tour will come to an end on June 25 in Minnesota, but shortly after the Pumpkins will accompany Marilyn Manson for 23 dates of a co-headlining tour dubbed "The End Times," launching on July 7, notes Rolling Stone.
Chamberlin, an original band member who made his mark of classic LP's like Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and Siamese Dreams, will once again wow audiences with his percussive talents.
"We're thrilled Jimmy's back in the saddle this summer to drive a super high-octane set, and it's nice to see the stars aligning around Smashing Pumpkins anew," Corgan said in a statement. "We suddenly found ourselves in the situation of not having anybody lined up," he told USA Today. "You can't just grab somebody and say, 'Play drums on this Smashing Pumpkins song.' Jimmy's drum parts are so incredibly technical and nuanced that it's a very rare class of people that can step in and play."
