Smashing Pumpkins tour announces new dates for 20th anniversary

The critically acclaimed Smashing Pumpkins have announced the itinerary for their 20th anniversary tour. The 13-city trek includes a four-night triumphant return to the band’s native Chicago, where they have not performed since the original lineup’s split in 2000.

After a one-night performance on October 26 at Neil Young’s annual Bridge School Benefit, the Pumpkins tour kicks off November 1 at Palace Theatre in Cleveland, OH. The anniversary jaunt continues through a December 2-3 run at Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, CA, and includes a November 18-19 stretch at the Chicago Theatre as well as a November 21-22 run at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, IL.

Two-night stands are also on the books for Toronto, New York City, Boston, and Washington, DC. During these double engagements, the band has promised to alternate between two unqiue sets, dubbing night one “Black Sunshine” and night two “White Crosses.”

In an earlier announcement on the band’s Web site, frontman Billy Corgan stated that the band was already “working on lots of surprises” for the anniversary tour. The shows are meant to be a retrospective of the Pumpkin’s career and legacy, looking back to the band’s founding in 1987, while also celebrating the band’s renewal.

The band prepared for the 20th anniversary trek with a string of smaller venue events in August. Recent tour dates have featured the new Pumpkins lineup, consisting of new members Jeff Schroeder (guitar), Ginger Reyes (bass), and Lisa Harriton (keyboard), in addition to original members Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. Corgan and Chamberlin reformed the Pumpkins in 2005, releasing the band’s first studio album in seven years, “Zeitgeist,” in July 2007.

Smashing Pumpkins have a 2009 tour in the works to celebrate the band’s “Gish” era and founding, though specific dates and plans have not yet been announced. Currently, the band is preparing for the release of the new single “G.L.O.W.” as an exclusive download via October’s Guitar Hero: World Tour, as well as the upcoming two-disc documentary “If All Goes Wrong,” due November 11.

Smashing Pumpkins itinerary:
(Dates subject to change.)