Watch Melissa Auf der Maur reunite with Billy Corgan for ‘The Everlasting Gaze’ in Montreal

Former Smashing Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf der Maur has reunited with Billy Corgan at his recent Montreal concert – check out footage of their performance below.

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Corgan is currently on tour in North America with his solo project Billy Corgan and The Machines Of God to commemorate both the 30th anniversary of the Pumpkins’ third LP as well as the 25th anniversary of their double LP ‘Machina/The Machines Of God’.

While no other member of the Pumpkins have participated in the anniversary shows, former live bassist Melissa Auf der Maur – who joined the band between 1999 and 2000 after leaving Hole – reunited with Corgan at his Montreal concert last Friday (June 13).

Corgan surprised those in attendance by bringing Auf der Maur out for the final song of the night, ‘The Everlasting Gaze’. Fittingly, she appeared in the music video for the same track back in 2000 despite not having recorded the track or featured on any of the Pumpkins’ albums.

“Merci to Melissa Auf der Maur for joining The Machines of God tonight in Montréal,” Corgan wrote on social media following their performance.

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You can watch them perform ‘The Everlasting Gaze’ below.

Ahead of the performance, Melissa Auf der Maur greeted her hometown crowd, speaking to them in French for a little bit before switching to English. She reflected on meeting Corgan for the first time in 1991 and asked him if he remembered what their first conversation was.

After sheepishly admitting he had no recollection of the moment and joking that she told him “I love you, never leave”, Auf der Maur said: “On behalf of Montreal, Canada, I apologise for the broken beer bottle that was thrown at him. I’m Melissa from Montreal, and I will follow you until the end of time.”

You can watch Auf der Maur’s speech below, beginning at the 29:50 mark.

Auf der Maur replaced then Smashing Pumpkins bassist D’arcy Wretzky after she announced her departure from the band in September 1999, until the group disbanded in late 2000. During her time with the band, Auf der Maur performed live at all of Smashing Pumpkins’ shows, and appeared in several music videos.

Corgan revealed in 2018 why Melissa wasn’t part of the band’s reunion shows, telling NME: “It’s not even worth getting into that history. I don’t have any ill will towards Melissa, but she never considered herself to be part of the unit and made it very clear that she didn’t ever want to be considered part of the unit posthumously. It was kind of like, ‘I’ll do this for this window’.”

Speaking to NME in February about ‘Mellon Collie’ turning 30, Corgan shared: “We are working with the parent label to possibly put out some kind of special edition. I am announcing that I’m doing some solo dates and hope to honour the album as part of that. There’s some other stuff but I can’t talk about just yet.

“It’s weird because I can’t believe it’s been 30 years. I’m really excited, but at the same time, I’m like ‘What happened over these last 30 years?’” Corgan’s solo project are due to tour North America until the end of this month – you can find a full list of dates and any remaining tickets here.

Later this summer the Smashing Pumpkins are set to perform a massive show at Gunnersbury Park with Skunk Anansie and White Lies as special guests. Speaking about that gig, Corgan said: “The nice thing about playing all these years, especially together, is you now know how to handle those bigger moments. I’m really proud that this particular line-up of the band knows how to rise to those occasions. Whereas when I was young, I would look at those gigs and almost feel intimidated.

“Now, I look at those gigs and I want to rub my hands together because it’s so exciting. It’s a chance to create a one-of-a-kind moment in your life and the audience wants it. They want to see you at your peak and that pressure and feeling is magical when it works.”

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