Smashing Pumpkins playing Cosmo

The '90s alt-rock boom was generally short on guitar heroes, though Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan continues to live up to that designation with an abundance of bulldozer riffs and wild-eyed soloing. Like Corgan's playing, the Pumpkins catalog is equally posited on texture and torque, at times pretty, at times punishing.

The band's readying a new album, "Oceania," due out this fall, which Corgan says may be the Pumpkins' last if the group doesn't get enough support for their efforts. Do your part and see the Pumpkins at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Boulevard Pool at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, 3708 Las Vegas Blvd. South. Tickets are $55-$80; call 698-7778.

-- By JASON BRACELIN