Smashing Pumpkins

SMASHING PUMPKINS kicked off their nine-show residency at Asheville, North Carolina's Orange Peel on Saturday night (June 23) with a three-hour performance that also marked the band's first U.S. show since late 2000. According to Harp magazine, the group included a large amount of tunes from its upcoming "Zeitgeist" album in the 26-song set, which also featured a number of PUMPKINS classics, hits and rarities. The band even played a new song which frontman Billy Corgan said had been written just the day before. The PUMPKINS performed again on Sunday (June 24), with the remaining dates scheduled for June 26, June 27, June 29 and June 30 and July 2, July 3, and July 5.

The PUMPKINS sold a record 8,478 tickets for the nine shows at the Orange Peel, which holds just over 900 people.

The group will also perform 13 shows at the Fillmore in San Francisco late next month.

Corgan recently posted a message at the band's web site in which he said that he hopes the two residencies will "foster an environment of creativity, risk taking, and mutual community...to attempt to find some new forms (musically and aesthetically) that will point us future forward...we hope that each of these performances can be a great adventure.