The Smashing Pumpkins have appeared on Disney’s holiday special The Wonderful World Of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration to perform Christmas-themed music.
READ MORE: The Smashing Pumpkins – ‘ATUM’ review: bombastic space-rock opera with anthems
The special, which aired on ABC on Sunday (November 26), was broadcasted from Walt Disney World in Florida. Frontman Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, and drummer Jimmy Chamberlain, were joined by Sierra Swan (who filled in for bassist Jack Bates) to perform an unreleased Christmas song, ‘Evergreen’, and the 1950 Bing Crosby carol, ‘Silver Bells’ in front of the Cinderella Castle at the famed Magic Kingdom theme park.
Watch the quartet’s acoustic guitar-driven, stripped back rendition of ‘Silver Bells’ below:
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♬ original sound – James Matthew Givens
The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration is available for viewing on-demand on Disney+. Other musical guests featured on the program included DJ Khaled, Andra Day and Tori Kelly.
In an interview ahead of the performance, Billy Corgan professed his love for all things Disney, expressing that he and his family visit its theme parks regularly. “I work in the world of professional wrestling and when you’re a big fan of professional wrestling, they call you a mark. So I’m a Disney mark,” said Corgan.
“I collect old Disneyland items. I have stuff as far back as the opening day in 1955. So when they called me to come play Disney, I’m like, ‘Whatever you need’”. Later in the interview, he revealed that he and his family set up seven Christmas trees in their house, “decorated with vintage ornaments”, as an annual holiday tradition.
Watch the full interview with Corgan below:
Billy Corgan has long been known to be a fan of Disney’s theme parks. He has been seen roaming Walt Disney World by fans, and has infamously been photographed riding Disneyland’s Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride. That photo eventually became the subject of a gag on Family Guy.
In September, Smashing Pumpkins celebrated the 30th anniversary of their 1993 sophomore full-length ‘Siamese Dream’ by recreating their Tower Records release concert at Madame Zuzu’s, the tea shop and art studio co-owned by Billy Corgan and fiancé Chloe Mendel.
This year, they released the last two of three parts of their twelfth full-length, ‘ATUM: A Rock Opera In Three Acts’. Earning four stars from NME, Damian Jones wrote: “As albums go, ‘ATUM’ is an ambitious body of work and does ask a lot of its audience. But there’s also plenty on here to please any diehard Pumpkins fan.”
The post Watch The Smashing Pumpkins’ bemusing performance on Disney holiday special appeared first on NME.
