Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins has been added to the bill for the fourth annual Waltz benefit concert taking place in Chicago Saturday night (March 23). Corgan joins previously announced performers Steve Earle, Ronnie Spector, Wilco’s John Stirratt, former Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin (who now drums for Corgan’s new band Zwan), Sonia Dada, Alejandro Escovedo, Graham Parker, Ivan Neville, Sonny Landreth, Kelly Hogan, the Mekons’s Jon Langford, Ken Nordine, David Amram, and Nicholas Tremulis and his band at the Chicago club Metro.
Ronnie Spector revealed she’s looking forward to being on the bill with such a wide array of artists. Although she was hesitant to disclose specifically what she’d be performing at the concert, she told she would be singing “something old, something new… Rock and roll, of course,” she adds. “I don’t think I would ever not sing ‘Be My Baby,’ so I just gave that away… ’cause I love the song and I never get tired of it and it’s a great song for all ages, you know?”
Proceeds from the event will benefit Heartland Alliance’s Neon Street, an organization that “helps homeless and at-risk teens become healthy adults.”
