Pearl Jam and The Smashing Pumpkins will perform at the Sea.Hear.Now. Festival on September 18-19, 2021 at Asbury Park. Patti Smith, Matt and Kim, The Avett Brothers, Billy Idol, Dirty Heads, Grouplove, and many others are also set to perform. Billy Corgan reacted to Pearl Jam playing Wrigley Field a couple of years ago. Pearl Jam, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Red Hot Chili Peppers toured together in 1991 when the three bands were promoting Ten, Gish, and Blood Sugar Sex Magik respectively.
Corgan said about that tour, in comments that Alternative Nation transcribed, “That Chili Pepper tour was crazy because we got a call. Anthony Kiedis later told me he saw our video on MTV 120 Minutes, and just off seeing the Siva video one time, they invited us to be the opening band. On top of that, they threw on this unknown band named Pearl Jam. When the tour started, probably the first week or two there seemed to be, wrestling would call it booboo face, there seemed to be some unhappy people.
We were on the backend of our record, which was a big success, so we were flying high, a tour with the Chili Peppers and everything. I remember kind of pulling some people aside, not from the bands, but people involved with the bands, and I said, ‘What’s going on?’ They said, ‘Well the Chili Peppers are upset because the record company isn’t really supporting their record, and Pearl Jam is upset because the record company isn’t really supporting their record. So it almost looked like, and again we didn’t know everybody back then like we know them now, so it’s like, oh it’s really not going well for them.
But the Chili Peppers were a big band, then all of a sudden ‘Under The Bridge’ hits, and that tour starts to take off, because everyone wants to see the Chili Peppers. Then ‘Alive’ or ‘Jeremy’ hit, so we had this triple crowd of Chili Peppers fans, Pumpkins fans, and Pearl Jam fans. It was this legendary tour, because this was all hitting at the exact same time. It was a great time for rock.”
A fan asked Corgan earlier this year, “Thoughts on Pearl Jam’s ticketing to prevent scalpers? Would you ever do similarly?” Corgan responded, “Not aware but anything that rewards fans for loyalty is a good thing.” Corgan also discussed his depression after Pearl Jam and Nirvana exploded in popularity.
