Smashing Pumpkins’ Album Release Show: Billy Corgan Reveals Origins of ‘1979’ and How He Brought Wrestling on Tour
variety.comSophia Scorziello editor Billy Corgan is always looking for another envelope to push. On Tuesday night, the iconoclastic Smashing Pumpkins singer and original band members James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin held a concert at the iHeartRadio Theater in Los Angeles to welcome the third and final installment of their concept album, “Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts.” The band just returned from a leg of festival shows in Australia and Mexico, in which Corgan incorporated his love of wrestling by having pros battle it out in the ring in between music sets.
Unfortunately, there was no wrestling at the album release show due to the intimate nature of the iHeartRadio Theater, which has a 450-person capacity limit. “My love for wrestling goes back to when I was a kid,” Corgan told Variety after the show.
By now, he had traded the calf-length black robe he wore on stage for a Franz Kafka t-shirt, and had but a smidge of the white paint that covered his entire face and head remaining.
In 2017, Corgan bought and revived the National Wrestling Alliance, which, before the rise of the WWE, was the premier brand in professional wrestling. “When I bought the company six years ago, people automatically assumed I’d incorporate into music because it’s the easy thing to do.
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