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Music

Smashing Pumpkins Played a House Show and Got Shut Down by the Cops

The (mostly) reunited band's show was held at the same house in which the band shot some footage for the "1979" video two decades ago. The police let them finish their set.

Billy Corgan, a once-masterful songwriter who now peddles bizarre conspiracy theories and deliberately makes people think he's a dumbass, has a Smashing Pumpkins reunion on the go right now. Former bassist D'arcy Wretzky isn't involved, but James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlain are back in the fold, and their first single together since 2000's Machina/The Machines of God, last month's "Solara," actually rekindled a little of their former grandeur. The most recent stop on their bumpy comeback trail was a house party in Studio City, Los Angeles, this past weekend—a show at the same house in which they filmed parts of the video for "1979." To really capture the spirit of the 1990s, the whole thing got shut down by police after the neighbors complained.

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To emphasize just how far Corgan and Co. have come since their rebellious heydays, the LAPD let them finish their set (though the band were forced to cut things off before a planned encore of "Cherub Rock"). And because Corgan is "not anti-anything except establishment," a man who finds "institutions and systems suspicious," he was full of praise for the cops who showed up. "Great times in LaLa," he wrote on Instagram. "Appreciation to those that came out to the Troubador [sic]. And apologies to those in Studio City for the disturbance of our nihilistic noize. 'Twas a full moon and something just gets into the blood. And respect to the police, who let us finish the set. Mendacious as our conclusion was."

There weren't supposed to be any phones at the event, but a few chunks of footage made it out the other side. Watch it all below. Punk lives.

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