Billy Corgan and The Machines of God – Varsity Theater – Minneapolis MN – June 29th 2025

By Kyle Hansen 2 months ago

Billy Corgan and The Machines of God: A Return To Zero Tour

Review and photos by Todd Johnson

If there’s one thing Billy Corgan has always known how to do, it’s command a room—whether that room holds 20,000 or, in this case, fewer than 1,000. On a warm summer night in Minneapolis, Corgan took to the Varsity Theater stage and delivered a show that felt less like a concert and more like a private séance with his ghosts—and ours.

Backed by his new band, The Machines of God—a name pulled from the Smashing Pumpkins’ mythology—Corgan leaned into the deep end of his catalog, balancing Pumpkins classics with newer solo material that pulsed with strange beauty and spiritual unease. His voice, weathered but firm, still cut with that unmistakable melancholy.

The set opened with “Glass’ Time”, played in near darkness, Corgan backlit in violet. It was a signal: this wasn’t going to be a greatest hits package. But he knew what the crowd came for, and by the fourth song—“Pentagrams”, played with cinematic strings piped through the mix—he gave them that too, delivered with reverence and restraint.

Surprises included “Muzzle”, raw and thunderous, and a slow, aching version of “Tonight, Tonight” that had people visibly emotional. But it was his cover of  Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” and Nancy Siniatra’s “You Only Live Twice”, that showed Corgan isn’t just reanimating the past—he’s still excavating it.

The band was tight but not sterile—particularly Kiki Wong, whose guitar work was sharp, expressive, and unafraid to push beyond nostalgia. And Kid Tigrrr (Jenna Fournier) added an ethereal harmony that softened Corgan’s harsher edges in key moments.

In true Billy form, he talked sparingly, but when he did, he mused on identity, fame, and the “creative void that’s been stalking him since 1998.” The crowd, many of whom grew up on Mellon Collie, seemed to understand.

Highlights:

  • “Bodies” performed solo on acoustic guitar, lit only by a single overhead bulb

  • A surprise inclusion of “Zero” during the encore, with electronic textures that hinted at his Mellon Collie era

Final Verdict

Rating: ★★★★½
Corgan didn’t give fans what they wanted. He gave them what they needed: a night of truth, distortion, and reflection. In a venue as intimate as the Varsity, it felt like we were all inside his head—and strangely, our own too.