It’s a treat to go to any Smashing Pumpkins tour – this year, it will all kick off in Mexico’s Cumbre Tajin festival this month, and end in August, in Japan.
The American group will be promoting their latest album, ‘Oceania’ – an album that while intricate and arguably “bigger” than anything the Pumpkins have done in many years (with electronic interludes, folk-rock breakdowns, songs that escalate from chill to all-out stomps), but, to be quite honest, lacks the pure musical quality it had with original members and just as an air of dictatorship around it. Billy Corgan is Smashing Pumpkins and that’s just the way it is at the moment.
But, bar all the drama and inconsistencies, the tour promises to be (if I may be allowed to say so) a smash:
March
23 Veracruz, Mexico – Cumbre Tajin Festival
April
29 Melbourne, FL – King Center for the Performing Arts
May
2 St. Augustine, FL – St. Augustine Amphitheater
3 Tampa, FL – Funshine Music Festival
5 Memphis, TN – Beale Street Music Festival
7 Raleigh, NC – Red Hat Amphitheater *
8 Charlotte, NC – Time Warner Amphitheater *
10 Atlanta, GA – Chastain Amphitheater
11 Gulfport, MS – Gulfport Music Festival
14 Dallas, TX – Palladium
18 Columbus, OH – Rock on the Range
June
20 Cologne, Germany – Live Music Hall
21-23 Tuttlingen, Germany – Southside Festival
21-23 Scheessel, Germany – Hurricane Festival
24 Paris, France – Le Zenith de Paris
25 Nantes, France – Le Zenith Nantes Metropole
27 Barcelona, Spain – Razzmatazz
28 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain – Azkena Music Festival
July
1 Manchester, England – Academy
2 Glasgow, Scotland – Academy
4 Lille, France – Le Zenith de Lille Grand Palais
5 Belfort, France – Eurockeennes Festival
6 Herouville-St.-Clair, France – Beauregard Festival
9 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg – Rockhal
10 Vienna, Austria – Open Air Arena
12 Trencin, Slovakia – Pohoda Festival
14 Rome, Italy – Rock in Roma Festival
16 Vienne, France – Theatre Antique
17 Carcasonne, France – Festival de Carcassone
18 Porto, Portugal – Mares Vivas Festival
20 Bern, Switzerland – Gurtenfestival
21 Dour, Belgium – Dour Music Festival
22 London, England – Wembley Arena
August
10 Osaka, Japan – Summer Sonic
11 Tokyo, Japan – Summer Sonic