Last year, the alternative-rock icons, THE SMASHING PUMPKINS, released their 13th studio album “Aghori Mhori Mei,” and on August 24th, 2025, they brought their Aghori Tour to Helsinki, at the notorious Icehall venue at Nordis. As it happens, this year also marked the 30th anniversary of the band’s magnum opus, “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness,” so it was kind of written in the stars that the band would, perhaps, cater to us GenX fans by playing more than a few bangers from this gargantuan album classic. As per my usual bad karma, I had missed all their previous three concerts in this neck of the woods over the years, so there was no better occasion to finally put things right than this. Plus, the warm-up act had been announced to be MYRKUR, the atmospheric black-metal solo project of Danish powerhouse vocalist Amalia Bruun, the haunting debut “M” of which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. I’d never seen her on stage either. So, this event was one of those “Two headliners for the price of one” type of things. At some point, Billy Corgan noted that the event had been sold out. No wonder, with a banquet like this! Outside the Jäähalli main entrance, while waiting for the doors to open, I spotted quite a few indie kids, who had not even been born when “Mellon Collie” came out, but I guess it was safe to say that the vast majority of the crowd were in their 40s and 50s – the disenfranchised youth of the 1990s who had come of middle age.
Even though I had a ticket for a numbered seat, I arrived in good time to get into the mood properly (after having blasted THE SMASHING PUMPKINS albums all day at home). I had my doubts that MYRKUR‘s black-metal aesthetic might not rub my fellow GenXers in the best possible way, but I was delighted to notice that the floor and the seats were getting rather crowded before the showtime. Still, the choice of a support act seemed a bit odd, genre-wise, to be honest. Then again, if my memory serves me right, Corgan used to listen to a lot of good stuff back in the day. So, I figured this was his call. The connection was later disclosed when Bruun introduced the song, “Devil in the Details,” as one that Corgan had helped her to write. It’s not that I minded having THE SMASHING PUMPKINS paired with such a beautiful onslaught of black-metal tinted stuff. Bruun‘s vocal prowess is unbelievable, and the band is not merely about black metal. MYRKUR‘s 2020 Nordic folk album “Folkesange” was one of the best albums of that year, as well as my gateway into her beautiful music. Its highlight, “Leaves of Yggdrasil,” closed the set on a haunting note, after a nice selection of choice gems from both 2023’s “Spine” and those previous albums. I’m pretty sure that those who weren’t familiar with MYRKUR before this show were left speechless. It’s not every day you get to hear Nordic herding calls and blast beats mixed.
Upon arriving at the venue, it had been impossible not to notice the giant figures standing at the back of the stage, figures that looked like mechanical scarecrows designed by Fritz Lang. I must admit to having thought that, as far as stage decorations went, they didn’t look very impressive at face value. My opinion changed, though, when THE SMASHING PUMPKINS started to blast. Those giant stage fixtures were stuffed full of lights – and there were more than a few occasions when those somewhat clumsy-looking figures really worked wonders. Whoever designed the lights deserves a mention.
The set kicked off with a couple of new songs from the band’s latest album, but after that, it was basically a cavalcade of the band’s greatest hits, with “Mellon Collie” put front and center. As if that wasn’t enough of a treat to us old fans, the band’s lineup was as close to their original personnel as you could have in this day and age: Billy Corgan himself in high spirits, James Iha on guitars, and the one and only Jimmy Chamberlin on drums. New members Jack Bates and Kiki Wong offered a hand on bass and extra guitar, respectively. The extra hand on the guitar department allowed Corgan to focus on vocals exclusively here and there. Speaking of which, while the band’s maestro doesn’t sound as angst-ridden and explosive as he may have been 30 years ago, it must be noted that age has treated his voice rather well.
So, when the old bangers started to roll out, one after another, I guess I wasn’t the only one getting goosebumpey all over. The nostalgia tripping began with “Today” from 1993’s “Siamese Dream.” While THE SMASHING PUMPKINS weren’t a grunge band, strictly speaking, and never wanted to be such as far as I recall, they accidentally did write one of the best grunge albums of the decade. Despite the fact that I never saw the band in the 1990s, when this song started to blast from the giant PA, I felt like a 19-year-old geek again – and, judging by the crowd reaction, the wave of nostalgia sweeping across the audience was something very tangible. And then, it only got stronger when Corgan uttered the iconic words into the mic, “The world is a vampire…” to cue the next song, “Bullet with Butterfly Wings.” Talk about a wave of ecstasy washing over you! I mean, the song was every bit as big in 1995 as “Smells Like Teen Spirit” had been a few years earlier – even in this neck of the woods. At the time, if you switched on one of the two Finnish rock-oriented radio stations of the era – Radio City or Radio Mafia – it didn’t take long to hear this beast, and when it did come on air, you turned the volume up a good notch, just like you’d done with that NIRVANA banger. So, even though Corgan didn’t perhaps sound as angry as 30 years ago, there’s no denying that THE SMASHING PUMPKINS delivered a fired-up rendition of this massive 1990s anthem.
The rest of the set was no less nostalgia-inducing, with a few choice songs standing out as haunting breathers among the uptempo riffers. First, “1979” served as a poignant, melancholy-tinged reminder that it all happened a lifetime ago – 1979 as well as 1995 when the song came out. Corgan‘s homage to mellow, cinematic prog of yesteryear, “Porcelina of the Vast Oceans,” in turn, reminded me how astonishingly versatile “Mellon Collie” truly was back in the day. It sounded like nothing the band, or anyone else for that matter, had previously done. That said, in addition to the band’s spirited cover version of BERLIN‘s blockbuster hit “Take My Breath Away” from the 1980s, there were a couple of new songs slipped into this cavalcade of classics, too. The latest single, “Sighommi” from last year, blended right in with the golden oldies. Then the mellow moodpiece, “999,” from the new album, worked quite nicely, squeezed between two monoliths from “Siamese Dream.” Its chorus is just as tear-jerking as, say, in “Disarm,” which came next. So, just when I said that age seemed to have toned down Corgan‘s anger a bit, his youthful angst in this haunting classic could have fooled anyone. This was one of the absolute highlights of the evening for me – if it’s even possible to single out such in a setlist like this, on which the next song, for instance, was one of the band’s biggest singles ever, “Tonight, Tonight.” In the 1990s, when we were uppity 20-somethings, we used to laugh at Boomers who seemed to bend over backwards for bands such as THE ROLLING STONES, with which they had grown up in the 1960s. I’m not laughing anymore – although it must be stated that THE SMASHING PUMPKINS has much better tunes.
The band’s sublime riff-monsters dominated the latter half of the set, but the non-stop riffing was interrupted by two outstanding numbers. First, “Ava Adore” served as a nice reminder that the band had flirted with electronic flourishes at some point, and to a resonant effect, too. Then, the other absolute highlight of the evening for me, “Stand Inside Your Love,” nuanced the grunge-tinted riffathons more than nicely. Corgan reminisced on their 2000 album, “Machina / The Machines of God,” as the one in their back catalog that had sold maybe 5 copies in Finland, back in the day. I must admit to having felt a sting in my heart – I bought the album some 10 years later, only to find that it had a track that was to become one of the most important songs in the band’s whole discography (for personal reasons that I shall not disclose here). I had stalked the band’s recent setlists, and I hadn’t noticed them playing this beautiful banger in a while. So, maybe it was a special treat for us withdrawn Finns who didn’t realize the album’s brilliance 20 years ago, I don’t know. Whatever the case, I was happy like a dog with two tails. Then, the show was brought to a close with two of their best riffers – “Zero” and “The Everlasting Gaze.” The band couldn’t possibly have catered to us GenX fans better. The band played for 2 hours, and it was nigh impossible not to feel nostalgia tingling all over, almost non-stop. That said, the few new songs that they played sounded pretty good, too. I guess I ought to check out the new album as well. I must admit that I didn’t even notice that THE SMASHING PUMPKINS had released something new last year, but I guess I was too busy disemboweling myself with some ultra-progressive death-metal stuff, or something. Shame on me. For sentimental reasons, this was the peak concert experience for me this year, although I’ve seen some pretty nostalgic shit in the past 8 months – and even if I were to remove all the layers of nostalgia, I would still call a spade a spade: THE SMASHING PUMPKINS kicked some serious ass! It was hard to believe that the band is fast closing in on their 40th anniversary! You crazy bastards!
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Photos by Laureline Tilkin
Setlist
- Edin
- Pentagrams
- Today
- Bullet With Butterfly Wings
- Muzzle
- 1979
- Porcelina of the Vast Oceans
- Sighommi
- Take My Breath Away (BERLIN cover)
- Mayonaise
- 999
- Disarm
- Tonight, Tonight
- Cherub Rock
- Where Boys Fear to Tread
- Jellybelly
- Bodies
- Ava Adore
- Stand Inside Your Love
- Zero
- The Everlasting Gaze
