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Fans In For A Surprise When Smashing Pumpkins Reunite With Guitarist James Iha Onstage After 16 Years

By Jennifer Ricketts
Published on: 13:32 PST, Mar 27, 2016

Former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist and founding member James Iha gave fans the surprise of a lifetime when he joined Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin onstage for the first time in 16 years. The special reunion took place on Saturday night, March 26, which was not only the day before Easter, but also Iha’s 48th birthday.

Saturday’s concert marked the fourth date of the Smashing Pumpkins’ In Plainsong tour, which the band has billed as “an acoustic-electro evening,” at the Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Singer Liz Phair is the opening act for the Pumpkins.

Midway through the Pumpkins’ set, guitarist Jeff Schroeder left the stage, and fans were stunned to see James Iha when he showed up on stage with his guitar to join his former band.

“Yes, it’s James Iha,” Corgan told the roaring crowd at the Pumpkins concert, announcing Iha would play the Siamese Dream portion of the show with the band.

Elias Fulmer, of Alternative Nation, who was in attendance at the Smashing Pumpkins concert, wrote about his experience seeing the reunion.

“It was really like a dream and at the point that I’m writing this, I’m really still having a lot of trouble truthfully believing it. It was incredibly heartwarming to see James and Billy perform ‘Mayonaise’ together in 16 years, given the history of that song. They gave me an incredible shiver down my spine as I came to realize what was really happening, even now…”

“Naturally the world must be ending and if it is, well, I’ve seen the best incarnation of the Pumpkins ever. So if the world is really ending, I can die with some sense some greater sense of satisfaction.”

With Corgan, Chamberlin, and Iha playing together, the only member of the Pumpkins missing from the original lineup was bassist D’arcy Wretzky. Together, the three of them played several songs from the Smashing Pumpkins’ 1993 album, Siamese Dream, including “Mayonaise,” “Soma,” “Rocket,” “Today,” “Disarm,” “Spaceboy,” along with “Whir” from Pisces Iscariot, Spin reports.

As mentioned earlier, Iha turned 48-years-old on Saturday. He returned with the Pumpkins for the encore to perform a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Angie.” During the encore, the Smashing Pumpkins surprised Iha with a birthday cake and led the audience in singing “Happy Birthday” to him, according to Pitchfork. The encore ended with “Amarinthine.”

Fans shot videos of the performances as well as of the crowd singing “Happy Birthday” to the former Pumpkins guitarist.

Iha parted ways with the Smashing Pumpkins back in 2000 when the band initially split up. Alternative Nation reports that Iha last performed with the Smashing Pumpkins on December 2, 2000 in Chicago. Over the years that followed, Iha and Corgan’s relationship became strained, and Iha never joined in the various lineups Corgan had of the band.

Consequence of Sound reports that earlier this year, Billy Corgan expressed hope he could make peace with his former Pumpkins bandmate James Iha. The icy relationship between the two thawed a bit earlier this month when they, in writing, threatened to sue whoever has been leaking Smashing Pumpkins demos over the last several months.

Corgan has also buried the hatchet with former adversaries, including Marilyn Manson, according to Rolling Stone.

The Smashing Pumpkins’ concert lasted for over two hours.

[Photo by Charles Sykes/AP]

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