Do you like your 90’s indie rock peppered with a dash of high-octane wrestling action?
Well, you’re in luck because two icons of the genre are headed to Newcastle this April in what promises to be one of the most unique shows the city has seen for some time.
The Smashing Pumpkins will headline the World Is A Vampire festival at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on Wednesday 19 April - a show that gives new meaning to the term ‘rock and roll wrestling’
The Siamese Dream hitmakers will be joined by fellow alt-rock trailblazers Jane's Addiction and Aussie rockers Amyl & The Sniffers, RedHook and Battlesnake.
But wait, that’s not all. In between sets of this impressive lineup, the audience will be treated to some high-octane wrestling bouts between the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and the Wrestling Alliance of Australia (WAOA).
It appears that Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan is quite the wrestling fan. So much so that, in 2017, he purchased the long-running NWA.
Outside of the ring, though, The Smashing Pumpkins were one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands of the 1990s, often cited as one of the most influential acts in alternative rock.
With such instantly recognisable tracks as Disarm, Tonight, Tonight, 1979, and Bullet With Butterfly Wings, The Smashing Pumpkins have been a mainstay for the past three decades.
Jane's Addiction, meanwhile, were one of the first bands from the alt-rock movement to gain both mainstream media attention and commercial success.
The band's first two studio albums, 1988’s Nothing's Shocking and 1990’s Ritual de lo Habitual, were released to widespread critical acclaim and gave the world classics like Mountain Song, Been Caught Stealing and Stop!
Let’s get ready to rumble, Newcastle.
The World Is A Vampire Festival is on at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on Wednesday 19 April. Tickets are on sale from 12pm on Friday 3 February. Head here for more information.