Smashing Pumpkins Announce Charity Tour
All ticket sales revenue from group's 13-city summer tour to go to local youth charities.
Music News Editor-in-Chief Michael Goldberg reports:
The Smashing Pumpkins today announced a 14-show, 13-city charity tour, billed as "An Evening with the Smashing Pumpkins." The tour will begin in San Francisco on June 30 and end in Miami on August 8.
The group will donate all ticket sales revenue from the 14 shows to local youth charities; one non-profit organization in each city where the Pumpkins perform will be the beneficiary of the ticket sales revenue in that city, according to the group's management.
"With this tour and in choosing these specific charities we believe it is very important not just to lend our name but also give our money," Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan said in a prepared statement.
"Each organization has such a positive impact in the community," Corgan continued, "we wanted to shine the spotlight on their work."
The much anticipated summer tour by one of the most popular rock bands in the world will begin in San Francisco on June 30 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium; the money from that show will go to the East Bay Agency for Children.
The group, whose latest album, Adore, was released on Tuesday, will also hit Detroit, Dallas, Houston, Toronto, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Boston, New York City, Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte and Miami, where the final show will take place.
The Pumpkins have been touring Europe since mid-May, performing 90 minute sets that have drawn mostly from their new album, but have also included "1979" off their smash 1995 album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and a cover of Joy Division's "Transmission."
As has been the case in Europe, for the North American shows the trio -- guitarist James Iha, bassist D'Arcy Wretzky and Corgan -- will be joined by drummer Kenny Aronoff, percussionists Stephen Hodges and Dan Morris, and keyboardist Mike Garson.
The Pumpkins, traveling with a 19-or-so member crew, will bear all expenses incurred during the tour. Those expenses are expected to be "much more than" several hundred thousand dollars, according to the group's publicist, Gayle Fine. "There's transportation, hotels, sound, lights..."
The shows will be billed as "An Evening with the Smashing Pumpkins," and there will be no opening acts. In Nashville on August 5, the group will do a "special acoustic show" at the Grand Ole Opry, said Fine.
"The plan was never to do a long tour," said Fine. "This is a way to get to major areas of the country and to pay back their fans.
"The band wants to be involved in positive things," Fine added, explaining the decision to do a charity tour. "Each of those [charities] does very positive work in their communities. They're all great, local grassroots organizations. The Pumpkins have been together for ten years. This is a way to give back to the kids and communities that have been supportive during the past ten years."
The Pumpkins spent several months researching charities in the cities where they will perform, ultimately selecting non-profit organizations that "work with kids and are family oriented," Fine said. "Taken as a whole [the charities] cover pretty much all walks of life."
Fine added that the goal in each city is to "give at least six figures [over $100,000] to the local charity." If they accomplish that goal, more than $1.4 million will reach the 13 youth-oriented charities.
In addition to the charity tour, the group will perform at four H.O.R.D.E. dates, Milwaukee's Summerfest, Minneapolis' free Hennepin Avenue Block Party, and headline a benefit show at Chicago's Soldier Field (with net proceeds going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Northern Illinois.
"An Evening With The Smashing Pumpkins" Summer Tour
June 30; San Francisco; Bill Graham Civic Auditorium; East Bay Agency for Children (charity)
July 8; Detroit; State Theater; HAVEN
July 10; Dallas; Will Rodgers Auditorium; The Family Place
July 12; Houston; Bayou Place; Houston Children's Charities
July 20; Toronto; Massey Hall; Street Outreach Services
July 28; Philadelphia; Tower Theater; Cramp Community Reading Center
July 29; Washington, D.C.; Constitution Hall; City Lights School
July 31; Boston; Orpheum Theater; Children's AIDS Program
August 1 & 2; New York City; Radio City Music Hall; Hale House
August 4; Atlanta; Fox Theater; Reach
August 5; Nashville; Grand Ole Opry; W. O. Smith Nashville Music School
August 6; Charlotte, North Carolina; Ovens Auditorium; Elon Homes for Children
August 8; Miami; Sunrise Theater; Center for Children in Crisis
Source: Sonicnet