Smashing Pumpkins kicked off their UK tour in Birmingham last night with a 24-song run.

Smashing Pumpkins cover U2 song

Notably, their third song was a cover of U2’s ‘Zoo Station.’ They had never played this song before. Video clip of the performance also emerged on the internet.

‘Zoo Station’ opened the iconic album of U2, “Achtung Baby” and the band reinvented themselves with this track, diving headfirst into the murky waters of 90s alternative rock.

Meanwhile, during the concert, Smashing Pumpkins also aired some of their newer material for the first time live, including ‘That Which Animates The Spirit’, ‘Springtimes’ and ‘Birch Grove’.

Meanwhile, several songs also returned to the setlist for the first time in a significant while, including ‘Thru The Eyes Of Ruby’ (which hadn’t been played since 2015), ‘Panopticon’ and ‘Gossamer’ (both for the first time since 2013).

Smashing Pumpkins’ frontman Billy Corgan recently stated that he doesn’t want to play exclusively fan favourites at their shows.

“I don’t play any songs I don’t want to play. I don’t care if they’re a classic or not,” he said while speaking with Kerrang!. “If I don’t want to play it, I just don’t play it. I don’t put that on the audience like, ‘Well, I’ve got to play this one for you.’ I think that’s kind of cheese.”

He further explained that he’d rather incorporate some lesser-known tracks into the performances in the hopes that it’ll not only be more interesting for devoted fans, but also inspire newer listeners to dive into their catalog.

“Here’s the best way I would say it: the best show for me would be, you’re a fan that really is mostly focused on the older music,” Corgan continued.

“You come and you hear those songs you think, ‘Wow, those sound great, band sounds great. The voice is still there.’ You feel good about your decision to come to the show.”

He added: “But then you might hear five, six, seven other songs, and you find yourself going, ‘I don’t know this one,’ so you look up one, and go, ‘Oh, that was a deep cut from 1996. I didn’t know that one. It was some B-side. That’s interesting.’

“And then someone making the same discovery about your new stuff, but thinking it was old. I’m not talking about causing confusion. I’m talking about having the person be curious about that.”

The tour continues tonight (June 8) in London, which they will follow up with Dublin, Glasgow, Cardiff and Manchester.