The Illinois State Fair has announced that two-time GRAMMY award-winning The Smashing Pumpkins will headline the Illinois State Fair Grandstand on Friday, August 16.
The Smashing Pumpkins are one of the most iconic, iconoclastic and influential bands of all time, shaping alternative music and culture. Since forming in Chicago during 1988, the group have sold over 30 million albums worldwide and garnered two GRAMMY® Awards, two MTV VMAs, and an American Music Award.
Their catalog includes seminal offerings such as the platinum Gish [1991], the quadruple-platinum Siamese Dream [1993], the diamond-certified Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness [1995], the platinum Adore [1998], and the gold Machina/The Machines of God [2000].
Rolling Stone cited both Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness among its “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” It would also be impossible to envision alternative music and culture without their signature iconography such as the idyllic album artwork for Siamese Dream, the black Zero shirt, the laissez faire bliss of the “1979” music video, the gothic metamorphosis of “Ava Adore,” or the multi-dimensional live shows that sell out worldwide to this day.
2018 saw The Smashing Pumpkins unveil the SHINY AND OH SO BRIGHT, VOL. 1 / LP: NO PAST. NO FUTURE. NO SUN. and launch the immensely successful Shiny and Oh So Bright Tour, which packed arenas. Maintaining this momentum, the band released their eleventh full-length double album CYR [2020], representing yet another evolution, and more recently, ATUM [2023], the sequel to 1995’s Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and 2000’s Machina/Machine of God. As prolific as ever, The Smashing Pumpkins are currently working on new music. More details to come.
“The Smashing Pumpkins defined a new sound in the 90s and have continued to evolve through the years,” said Illinois State Fair Manager Rebecca Clark. “This show is sure to draw an eclectic and enthusiastic crowd, and we are excited to bring The Smashing Pumpkins back home to Illinois.”
Opening act PVRIS (pronounced Paris), who has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, brings artistry and storytelling to their genre-defying music with hits like, “Animal” and “Anywhere But Here.”
Tickets for this event, featuring The Smashing Pumpkins, will be on sale Friday, April 5th at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster.
Tickets to the new tour dates will be available for presale on April 2 at 10:00 am local with the artist presale code “VAMPIRE”. You can learn more about the presale via The Smashing Pumpkins’ website. There will also be a few more presale events for the supporting artists and VIP packages via Ticketmaster.
General on-sale kicks off on April 5 at 10:00 am local. We recommend looking for non-US tour date tickets on Viagogo for the best deals and best chance at scoring tickets to sold-out dates. For North American fans, Stubhub will be your best bet for finding good seats, especially if your tour date of choice is sold out by the time the presale events end.