| Soundgarden at The Forum |
| Written by Paul Lyons |
| Sunday, 24 July 2011 06:09 |
 Can you name a band that looks and sounds better 14 years AFTER they had broken up? If you asked me a week ago, I would have been stumped. Yet today the answer is loud and clear: Soundgarden. Ever since they reunited last year, Soundgarden has been on the rampage playing shows across the country and destroying their audiences. Friday night at The Forum in Los Angeles, Soundgarden unleashed their ferocious power on a near-capacity crowd with an unbelievable 25-song, 2 1/2 hour extravaganza. The most fascinating thing is, unlike every other headlining band in the universe, Soundgarden still plays as if they are still an opening act. What that means is, despite their fame, fortune, and legend...Soundgarden never ever rest on their laurels. They perform their songs as if they need to win the audience over...like they have something to prove. Further emphasizing this point, on Friday night, lead singer Chris Cornell made sure to remind the audience a few times that “We’re Soundgarden”...as if the adoring crowd needed to be told who they were. Yet that’s exactly what an opening band would do. The mood was set when the The Stooges wah-wah classic “1969” blasted over the loudspeakers before the lights went down. One by one, the reunited Soundgarden hit the stage to thunderous applause. From the opening song, “Searching With My Good Eye Closed”...a great track from 1991’’s classic Badmotorfinger album, it was clear to all that Soundgarden were firing on all four cylinders, and were going keep up that momentum for the entire show. Lead guitarist Kim Thayil looked just like he did 20 years ago...with a touch of grey in his beard. His exotic, fluid playing (usually in the delicious Drop D tuning) was flawless. Bassist Ben Shepherd has bulked up in the last few years, yet he still plays like a renegade maestro...as if he’s gonna bolt any second from the show, with his bass hung dangerously low to the ground. Ever reliable Matt Cameron on the drums provided the same forceful, complex yet steady rhythm that has fueled Soundgarden’s music since the 1980s. Then there’s lead singer Chris Cornell, who’s 8-octave range has never sounded better. Even when I saw Soundgarden back in their 90’s heyday, he did not sound this good. I’m just gonna say it...Chris Cornell has drank a gallon of water from the Fountain of Youth. How else to explain the fact that he looks younger now then he did 15 years ago? How else to explain the fact even at 47 years old, his voice still sounds just as amazing as it did when he was 25. There were times where my jaw dropped just listening to him sing.  If you were a die-hard Soundgarden fan, the setlist last night was really and truly a dream come true. Beginning last year, Soundgarden dove deep into their back catalog for the first time ever. In the 90’s, the band would only play songs from their 90s records...ignoring their great 80’s songs completely. Last night at The Forum, they sky was the limit in terms of what songs they could play. There was no new album to support...so it was anything goes. After “Searching With My Good Eyes Closed”, Soundgarden killed the crowd with a faithful rendition of “Spoonman”...the classic 1994 track from their masterpiece Superunknown, one of the greatest albums ever made. Then it was time to reach back to a rare gem from 1989’s Louder Than Love...”Gun.” Never thought I’d ever see that one played live. This was followed by an excellent double-shot of Badmotorfinger tracks: “Jesus Christ Pose” and “Room a Thousand Years Wide.” Turning back to 1996, Soundgarden broke out “Blow Up The Outside World”, a key track from their final studio album Down On The Upside. Then they performed a triple-shot of Louder Than Love tracks: “Loud Love”, “Big Dumb Sex” and the great “Ugly Truth.” It’s hard to believe that Soundgarden dropped these fantastic songs from their set 17 years ago, and never performed them again until last year. Superunknown is filled with nothing but amazing, dark rock and roll songs. So the band fed from that album as much as possible, such as the next song they played “Fell On Black Days.” Yet just when you think you got the show figured out, Soundgarden reached back to their very first full-length album...1988’s Ultramega OK, and performed a stellar version of the great opening track from that record...”Flower.” Chris Cornell told the crowd that the band originally considered playing some of the new material they had been working on recently, then changed their mind and decided to just play old songs instead. Needless to say they crowd did not mind, as they were more than happy to stomp and sing along to the Badmotorfinger classic “Outshined.” About headlining at The Forum for the first time, Cornell mentioned that the night’s concert was going to be one of the Forum’s last, as it was just recently sold. He was clearly not happy about that. I can’t blame either, as The Forum has been THE venue for thousands of great Los Angeles concerts for well over 40 years now. From old, to relatively new, Soundgarden next brought out “Black Rain”...a song originally recorded in 1991, yet was re-worked and released for the first time ever just last year on their compilation album Telephantasm. Speaking of 1991, next up was the great opening track from Badmotorfinger: “Rusty Cage.” Rusty, this song was not...sounding just as fresh as it did twenty years ago. Then came a double-shot of Superunknown classics: “The Day I Tried To Live” and the brilliant and powerful “My Wave.” Down on The Upside’s “Burden In My Hand” followed...still sounding strong fifteen years after its initial release. To close the main set, Soundgarden treated the crowd to no less than four Superunknown tracks in a row: “Black Hole Sun,” the transcendent psychedelic epic “Head Down”, “Superunknown” and the rarely performed gem “4th of July.” A huge highlight of the show was when Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready joined Soundgarden on stage to jam on “Superunknown.” Kim Thayil let McCready take a guitar solo, which to no surprise to anyone, was fantastic. Just when you thought the Soundgarden show could not get any better, the band came back for an encore to again dive deep in their back catalog to perform an out of this world version of Ultramega OK’s “Beyond The Wheel.” I still am in awe of how Chris Cornell sang that song. His vocal skills in the upper range seem almost...superhuman. I don’t know how he does it. At 47, to hit the same extreme high notes Cornell did back when he was 24? Unbelievable...In fact, I still don’t believe it. Spoiling the crowd rotten, Soundgarden next treated the crowd to another old rarity...their first ever single: 1987’s “Hunted Down”...sounding as if it were just recorded yesterday. Next, the band brought out the ninth Superunknown track performed that evening: the brooding and vengeful “Mailman.” To close out the show, the band played the great, pounding, Badmotorfinger classic “Slaves & Bulldozers”...which ended with five minutes of nothing but loud feedback from Kim Thayil and Ben Shepherd. The roar of the amps washed over the crowd in a sea of distortion and noise...which still somehow fit perfectly with the concert, and ended the night on a high note. Soundgarden’s Friday night concert at The Forum was just pure perfection in all ways. Great setlist. Great performance. Amazingly, the band has lost none of their edge. Doesn’t get any better than that. And to think that this incredibly talented and powerful quartet are now officially back together AND recording a brand new album? This scares the crap out of me, because the potential for greatness is enormous. Watch out world, Soundgarden is most definitely BACK. |
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