Smashing pumpkins legendary band in a small setting at North Carolina

June 25th, 2007 | Music Guru | Music News

When the Smashing Pumpkins reunited after seven years to plan a U.S. concert series, they made a surprising choice for their first shows: a small club in the mountains of North Carolina. The shows are the biggest event in the club’s history.

The Orange Peel, which has a capacity of 942 people, will host the alternative rock band when they open Saturday for a nine-show run in Asheville.

Locals hope the concerts — the band’s first extended-stay performance in 13 years — puts this sleepy mountain town on the music map.

More bands reject rather than accept invitations to play at the club, said Karen Ramshaw of Public Interest Projects, which owns and operates The Orange Peel. But the Smashing Pumpkins sought it out, said Tennessee-based music promoter Ashley Capps, who helped coordinate the band’s U.S. return.

The Smashing Pumpkins sold millions of albums and won two Grammy Awards before breaking up in 2000. The band’s last so-called “residency” was a four-show stint in Chicago in 1994, before the release of “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.”

Since beginning their return in May — reunited under frontman Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, with others to be announced — the band has performed more than a dozen shows across Europe.

Their Asheville shows will be followed by eight concerts at the historic Fillmore in San Francisco from July 22 to Aug. 1.

The band’s new album, “Zeitgeist,” is set for release next month.