Chance The Rapper will do that hockey, again.
The Smashing Pumpkins and Chance The Rapper will take the stage at Wrigley Field during the NHL Winter Classic on Dec. 31 between the St. Louis Blues and the Chicago Blackhawks.
The NHL announced Thursday that both Chicago acts will be part of the entertainment for the outdoor game. The Smashing Pumpkins will perform before the game, with Chance The Rapper headlining the intermission.
A three-time Grammy Award-winning hip hop artist, Chance The Rapper spoofed a clueless NHL rinkside reporter named Lazlo Holmes during a Saturday Night Live sketch in November 2017 dropping such gems as, “one of the main guys on the Rangers, I don’t know how to say his name because it has 30 letters in it and none of them are vowels,” and, “as they say in hockey, let’s do that hockey.”
The Smashing Pumpkins, who have sold over 30 million albums worldwide, feature frontman Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The band topped the Billboard 200 chart in 1995 with the double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, featuring hit songs “Bullet with Butterfly Wings,” “Zero,” “Tonight, Tonight,” and “1979.”
Corgan is a big fan of the Blackhawks, Cubs and Bulls, and is also known for his love of professional wrestling, having owned the National Wrestling Alliance since 2017.
Chicago and St. Louis meet for the 16th NHL Winter Classic and 42nd NHL regular-season outdoor game. It will also mark the seventh outdoor game for the Blackhawks and the third for the Blues.
