Smashing Pumpkins took over the Jimmy Kimmel Live outdoor stage for a live performance of their latest single, “Sighommi.” The band delivered the song in front of an audience packed into the performance area in the parking lot behind the studio where the late-night show is filmed.
“Sighommi” is a guitar-heavy selection from Smashing Pumpkins’ recently released thirteenth studio album, Aghori Mhori Mei, which arrived in August. Billy Corgan led the set with James Iha and Kiki Wong on guitar, Jimmy Chamberlin on drums, Jack Bates on bass, and Katie Cole on backing vocals.
While “Sighommi” is the only song that got an official broadcast upload, Smashing Pumpkins treated the audience to a five-track set. They followed the single with “Jellybelly” from their third album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and a cover of U2’s “Zoo Station.” The band wrapped the set with “Tonight, Tonight” and “1979.”
The outside stage at Jimmy Kimmel Live returned earlier this year after being shuttered first during the pandemic and then again due to last year’s Hollywood strikes. Smashing Pumpkins joins the growing list of artists who have performed on the stage since its re-opening, including Cage the Elephant, Chris Stapleton, Jelly Roll, and Green Day.
The band have yet to announce formal plans to take Aghori Mhori Mei on the road, so these kind of one-off performances are the only place to hear selections from the new record live.
“With Aghori Mhori Mei, Corgan has returned to thrashy, and more compact, basics: a mere 10 songs, heavy on the thud,” Rolling Stone wrote in a review of the record. “With the Pumpkins reduced to its core original trio — Corgan, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin — the album demonstrates that they’ve lost little of their brute force. As tracks like “Sighommi” show, they can still riff up a Twisters-of-rock storm, partying like it’s 1999.”
