The Pumpkins Take Paris!

May 22 will be the greatest day for Pumpkinheads.

On that date, the Smashing Pumpkins will reunite in Paris for their first concert in six and a half years.

In a blog posting on the band's MySpace page, the Chicago alt-rockers confirmed they'll play the French capital's historic Grand Rex theater on May 22 and will unveil songs from their hotly anticipated new album, Zeitgeist, hitting stores on July 7, or 07-07-07.

After that performance, they'll headline a series of European festival dates throughout the summer, including Interlaken, Switzerland's Greenfield Festival on June 17 and England's Leeds and Reading Festivals on Aug. 24 and 26 respectively.

As for appearances in North America, only two stops have been announced so far: a V Festival outing at Pimlico Park in Baltimore on Aug. 5 along with the Police and the Beastie Boys, as well as Toronto's V Festival on Sept. 8 along with Björk and the Killers.

No word yet whether they'll play any one-off shows in the States.

The last time the Pumpkins took the stage together was at their swan song gig on Dec. 2, 2000, at the Windy City's famed Metro nightclub, after which they disbanded and moved on to other projects.

Frontman and principal songwriter Billy Corgan released a disc with a new group, Zwan, which included Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlain among its members. The bald singer then put out a mediocre solo record, The Future Embrace, which failed to make much of a dent in the charts.

Lead guitarist James Iha issued his own solo effort, then joined alt-metal outfit, A Perfect Circle, in 2003. Bassist D'arcy Wrestzky left the band in 1999 for an acting career following the recording of their last studio album, Machina: The Machines of God and their digital-only Machina II/The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music, and was replaced by ex-Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur.

In the summer of 2005, Corgan took out full-page ads in Chicago newspapers announcing that the Pumpkins were back together, working on new material and ready to rock again.

Zeitgeist will mark the band's sixth official studio release. Still a question mark, however, is exactly how many Pumpkins will be back, given the bad blood that led to the quartet's demise. So far, only Corgan and Chamberlain are aboard the current incarnation, as Iha and Wretzky have not uttered a peep since the newspaper notices touting the reunion.

But given previous remarks by the whiny-voiced crooner concerning how he and his former mates left things following their farewell concert, fans shouldn't expect a full-fledged reunion.

"The truth of the matter is that James Iha broke up the Smashing Pumpkins...not me, not Jimmy, but James...Did it help that D'arcy was fired for being a mean-spirited drug addict, who refused to get help? No, that didn't help keep the band together," wrote Corgan in his online journal back in 2004.

He added: "Many friends at that time suggested letting James leave, so Jimmy and I could continue on under the name...but I was too loyal to the man I had started the whole thing with and I protected him until the very end, right up until the last show on Dec. 2, 2000, when he thanked D'arcy on stage, but not the two men standing next to him."

Still bitter, Billy?

Since announcing his desire to bring back the Pumpkins, Corgan has reportedly rehearsed in the studio with former Jane's Addiction bassist Eric Avery, rumored to be one possible fill-in. 

We'll know for sure whether the original lineup is able to put their lingering acrimony aside when the Smashing Pumpkins regroup in the City of Light.

Tickets for the Paris Grand Rex gig go on sale Apr. 11. Vive les Pumpkins!