by DreX
Soundgarden, the latest act to resurface on the ever expanding 90’s nostalgia circuit, played one of their exclusive two date US Tour at Verizon Theater in Grand Prairie last night. Long gone were the hanging from the chandelier stage antics of decades past. Also gone were the raucous, moshing, drug and hormone fueled 20 something crowds of their heyday. Replaced with an middle aged army of horn-flying, piss-beer chugging cubicle warriors and soccer moms. Beyond that what remained was a selection of well crafted tunes that span five albums and to this cubicle warrior’s ears that was more than enough to satisfy. Beginning with a vicious offering of “Searching With My Good Eye Closed” they set the tone for what was to be a crowd pleasing array of their biggest tracks. The levels on Chris Cornell’s vocals for the first few songs were a little off but once they were dialed proper the room sounded exceptional. The rhythm section consisting of Ben Shepard on bass and the exceptional Matt Cameron on drums have always been tight and solid and last night was no different. Kim Thayil’s guitar work is something I have always wrestled with. A true lead man he is not but admittedly his alternate tuning, heavy riff style defines SG’s sound as much as Cornell’s legendary vocals. And concerning those vocals, I received a text at some point during the night from a friend that simply said: “He can still wail” and wail he did. Its easy to climb on the Cornell hater-train because he’s put out a lot of shitty music in the past several years but the man has pipes for days and last night they were on full display. “Spoonman”, “Jesus Christ Pose”, “The Day I Tried To Live”, “Rusty Cage”, “Black Hole Sun”, and an especially sludgy and highly enjoyable rendition of “4th Of July” to close out the first set were all put into play and they have done what neither I, the audience nor the bands youthful exuberance could not, stand the test of time.
Set List:
Searching With My Good Eye Closed
Spoonman
Gun
Jesus Christ Pose
Blow Up the Outside World
The Day I Tried to Live
My Wave
Burden in My Hand
Ugly Truth
Fell on Black Days
Loud Love
Drawing Flies
Black Hole Sun
Outshined
Rusty Cage
Head Down
Pretty Noose
Superunknown
4th of July
Encore:
Beyond the Wheel
Slaves & Bulldozers