The Smashing Pumpkins at the Knickerbocker Arena — November 2, 1996

On November 2, 1996, the Smashing Pumpkins brought the Infinite Sadness tour to Albany’s Knickerbocker Arena, with Garbage opening, and sold all 12,434 tickets for a $310,850 gross. It was a band playing through grief: touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin had died that July, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin had been fired days later, and Matt Walker and Dennis Flemion had stepped in when the tour resumed in late August. The set opened on “Where Boys Fear to Tread” and “Zero,” ran through “Tonight, Tonight,” “Disarm,” “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” and “Cherub Rock,” and came back for “1979” before closing on “Silverfuck.” Thirty years later, it stands as Mellon Collie at full arena scale, sold out in the Capital Region.