One of the more intriguing artistic revivals of the last few years will soon be headed to Charlottesville: The Smashing Pumpkins have announced an August 16th show at the Charlottesville Pavilion.

In the formative days of alternative music, when flannel and corderouy were just starting their short-lived reign over rock, the Pumpkins emerged as one of the darlings of the new sound of youth. Heads turned with the release of 1991’s Gish, but it was the anthemic happy-to-be-alive single “Today” from 1993’s Siamese Dream that catapulted frontman and creative director Billy Corgan and his young quartet to superstardom.

Having established themselves as one of the decade’s bands to watch, their artistic ambitions grew very quickly — they prepared the epic double-disc Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness in time for a 1995 release and released as a featured single “Tonight, Tonight,” a song recorded with immense orchestral accompaniment that Corgan later said was one of the highlights of his career.

Tragedy struck during the supporting tour, however — touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin died of a heroin overdose. Drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, who had allegedly been complicit in the backstage drug activity that led to Melvoin’s death, was subsequently kicked out of the band.

During his absence, reliance on drum machines led to albums like 1998’s Adore and the MACHINA albums in 2000, on which, like so many other struggling alt-rock bands of the day, the Pumpkins attempted to incorporate sounds drawn from electronic music despite raging disapproval by critics and fans alike. Chamberlin eventually rejoined, but bassist D’arcy Wretzky was soon replaced by former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur. In early 2000, Corgan announced the band’s intention to disband entirely, and he said farewell with a final untitled track released the following December.

Personality conflicts have left Corgan on strained terms with both Wretzky and guitarist James Iha, neither of whom had any interest in a reunion. Nevertheless, after the meltdown of Corgan’s next band, a short-lived supposed supergroup called Zwan, and a lukewarm solo disc, Corgan took out a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune in 2005 to announce his intention to rebuild the band without them.

The new lineup, which consists only of leader Corgan and the once-ousted Chamberlin, released six editions of the album Zeitgeist in 2007, essentially giving a different version to each of the major music retail outlets, and an EP called American Gothic followed earlier this year. Amusingly enough, Iha and Wretzky have been replaced, seemingly deliberately, by doppelgangers: taking their place are Asian-American guitarist Jeff Schroeder and female bassist Ginger Reyes. The new band’s string of shows in Asheville and San Francisco last summer were generally well received, and either way it’ll certainly look like you’re back in 1995…