Smashing Pumpkins to Headline the Sunset Strip Music Festival

The Smashing Pumpkins have been confirmed to headline this year's Sunset Strip Music Festival on Sunday, Aug. 28. The gig will mark only the second time in history that a portion of the Strip will be shut down to traffic for an event like this.

The news means that the Pumpkins will be a little busier than we thought plugging the group's massive 44-song 'Teargarden by Kaleidyscope' project, which began trickling out digitally in May. The Billy Corgan-steered band, which rounded out by guitarist Jeff Schroeder, drummer Mike Byrne and new bassist Nicole Fiorentino, had already announced a run of intimate gigs beginning July 6 in Cleveland, plus a pair of headlining festival spots in Tokyo and Osaka this August.

Aside from shutting down part of the Strip, the SSMF has also announced a special tribute gig that will pay homage to Slash. Slated for the House of Blues on Aug. 26, the former Guns N' Roses axeman follows in the footsteps of 2009's honoree Ozzy Osbourne.

VIP and three-day tickets for the event will go on sale Thursday, June 17.