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Smashing Pumpkins to Tour Small Venues

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Alt-rock vet Billy Corgan is taking his revamped band Smashing Pumpkins on the road this summer for their first tour in more than two years, and, as the frontman tells is it, the quartet will play “a balance of classics, a few obscure ones, and new material” from the their 44-track album Teargarden by Kaleidyscope.

And there’s more good news for fans: SP will be rocking relatively intimate venues, like Cleveland’s 1,200-person capacity House of Blues, where the quartet will open their 14-date tour on July 6. The trek is the Pumpkins’ first with two new members: drummer Mike Byrne, who auditioned to replace founding sticksman Jimmy Chamberlin when he left in 2009, and bassist Nicole Fiorentino, SP’s newest member who replaces bassist Ginger Pooley, who replaced Melissa Auf der Maur, who replaced D’Arcy Wretzky, the band’s original low-ender. Besides Corgan, guitarist Jeff Schroeder is second most senior member having joined in 2007 for the release of SP’s “comeback” album Zeitgeist.

In addition to the intimate shows, Smashing Pumpkins are also planning special treats for select fans. “We are going to do something unique, which is play an invite-only set during soundcheck of almost all new, unreleased songs,” Corgan explained. “We’re still figuring out a way to make it possible for some of the fans who’ll be in the line outside waiting to get in for that.” Details on the special sets are coming soon.

“I haven’t been this comfortable in a band situation since about 1995,” Corgan said of his band’s dynamic. “Musically, we seem to have wound our way back to a more kinetic, electric, and psychedelic sound that reminds me of SP in GishSiamese era.” Good news!

The Pumpkins have been releasing Teargarden by Kaleidyscope‘s 44 songs piecemeal online. To date, fans have the acoustic ditty “A Stitch in Time,” the screeching rocker “Astral Planes,” the classic rock epic “A Song for A Son,” and the funky, psychedelic “Widow Wake My Mind.”.

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Smashing Pumpkins tour dates:
7/6, Cleveland, OH (House of Blues)
7/8, Grand Rapids, MI (Orbit Room)
7/9, Columbus, OH (Newport Music Hall)
7/10, Louisville, KY (Forecastle Festival)
7/12, Baltimore, MD (Rams Head Live)
7/13, Richmond, VA (The National)
7/15, Norfolk, VA (The Norva)
7/16, Charlotte, NC (Fillmore)
7/17, Charleston, SC (Music Farm)
7/19, Orlando, FL (House of Blues)
7/20, Ft. Lauderdale, FL (Revolution)
7/21, Tampa, FL (Ritz)
7/23, New Orleans, LA (House of Blues Howlin Wolf)
7/24, Memphis, TN (Minglewood Hall)