The Smashing Pumpkins' official website has great news for people who lie awake at night fretting over the perfect Billy Corgan setlist.
During his Aug. 30 show at the Ravinia festival in Illinois, Corgan will play a 20-song set submitted by one of his fans. If that setlist is yours, the rock icon will also play some music for you in a private meet-and-greet session before the show.
Sound fun? You must submit your picks via email before Aug. 14 to be eligible. Corgan will then announce the winner online and provide commentary as to why he selected the particular setlist.
The band laid out the 'YES, IT'S MY BILLY CORGAN DREAM SETLIST' rules on Thursday:
1. You are allowed to choose 20 songs, which must also be presented in the order you'd have them played.
2. Pick songs from any era you like: pre-Pumpkins, pre-Gish, the original line-up years, Zwan, solo, and Pumpkins 4.0 and beyond. But beware if you lean to heavily on any one period, for an even, pleasing, career-retrospective show does not this make.
3. All songs must be written in whole, or in part by Billy Corgan; as he currently has no plans to play covers at RAVINIA.
4. Submissions must be in by Thursday, August 14th. The winner will be chosen personally by Billy, who himself will present your idealized setlist here on The Panopticon; with additional commentary on why yours was picked above all others. And who knows? He might even take some suggestions, or play that favorite song you've always wanted to hear privately during your meet and greet.
5. And lastly, entries with explanations or commentary will be discarded and not considered. So if you're serious about winning, your list should contain nothing more than 20 titles in the order you'd love to see them played. That's it! And don't forget: one entry per person please.
TO ENTER, send your (1) submission to: officialspmedia@gmail.com
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Corgan founded the Pumpkins in 1988 and slowly developed a reputation as a hyper-controlling musical genius during the band's run to stardom in the mid-90s. After disbanding at the turn of the millennium, the group was reincarnated in 2006 and has gone through several changes since then.
Their latest release - 2012's Oceania - was well-received, and Corgan recently announced plans for new material in 2015.
