Soundgarden

they were awesome in london earlier in the summer - played superunknown in its entirety (save Half, disappointingly).

yeah my friend went last night and said it was Superunknown and BMF heavy, which is music to my ears.

if they play "Limo Wreck" and "Mailman" I will lose my shit. i've always dreamed of hearing those in a live setting. it's an outdoor show too so it won't be sound bouncing off walls and make me go deaf.

so...great

haha!

cornell doesn't seem to have aged a day, does he?

Saw them here in September last year, what a set! They kicked off with 'Incessant Mace' and kept dipping deep in the catalogue even as they played most of the hits. They're not much of a stage presence, but hey. The one they didn't play was 'Black Hole Sun', and as I was leaving the moaning of punters around me was something else. I mean you paid €60 to see a band play one song? Feck off.

It's a shame though because he can actually sing that song live now, unlike back in the day!

my only complaint (if it's even a complaint) is that they were a little 'hits' heavy. I woulda loved to hear "Mailman" or "Limo Wreck". but who gives a shit really?

this is the reason I love outdoor shows. hearing "Fell on Black Days" as the sun was setting = <3

Saw them last week too. I was there mostly for NiN, but it was cool to see SG back together. Cornell was in great voice. I don't know how well-regarded the Down on the Upside era is, by them or the fans, but I was disappointed they skipped the entire album since the show was pretty much all hits anyway.

he played "Burden in My Hand" and "Pretty Noose" last night, which surprised me given how static their setlist had been over the last few weeks. I was glad - don't love Upside, but I love those two songs, especially the latter.

I was quite surprised at how full-voiced he sounded on "Beneath the Wheel". No, it wasn't as powerful a wail as it was in the Ultramega O.K. days, and he had to strategically take breaths to get through it. But there was power behind that falsetto, rather than wispiness. For a guy that's pushing 50 that was technically a baritone anyway, to hit stratopheric notes like that is extremely impressive.

He did a helluva "Fell on Black Days" too!

Those are exactly the two songs I would have liked to hear. Aw well. "Fell" was the highlight of the show for me too.

Cornell won me over on the last reunion tour -- all I needed was to hear 'Like Suicide' live again and I was back to full fangirldom

Just bought Screaming Life/Fopp on vinyl and it is really incredible how these two EPs framed my entire way of listening to music. And I'm still hearing new things in both (and in "Ultramega OK," and "Louder Than Love," and "Badmotorfinger," and the Temple of the Dog album too)

uh also how did nobody let me know about the three disc set of b-sides and other rarities that came out last month

you're all fired

;_;

maura i had a tweet where i made fun of the title, that is pretty much the most helpful thing i could have done

i wuz gonna maura but i didn't wanna be that guy that posts shit to someone who would already know perfectly damn well about it so GUESS THIS ONE'S ALL ON YOU

anyway surprised if there's anything on it (except steve fisk apparently) you wouldn't have collected??

i have most of the pre-'93 stuff but idk it's just nice to have it all in one place!

anyway fine you're all rehired

Nothing To Say is the best thing they ever did

ultramega ok is such a fucking tragedy :'(

^ said cuz "flower" and "beyond the wheel" really ought to hold their own with "nothing to say" (along with "hunted down", "hand of god", "hands all over", about half of badmotorfinger, etc). but for the production.

uh also how did nobody let me know about the three disc set of b-sides and other rarities that came out last month

No one told me either, argghh!

There are a bunch of covers on the comp.

the covers are often great, the sabbath cover is better than the original. the first disk of rarities is often great. the third disk? i don't know who would ever want to listen to the third disk.

I thought the covers were almost uniformly awful (particularly that Sabbath tune) though the version of Budgie's "Homicidal Suicidal" is pretty decent, the rarities I could take or leave, and yeah, the third disc is pretty much disposable.

if by 'that sabbath tune' you mean their cover of into the void then O_o

i love their into the void cover

Really don't like it. Mainly because it's one of the best lyrics Sabbath ever wrote, and these clods had to fuck with it because the message wasn't heavy-handed enough for 'em.

are you trying out for bill magill?

The 'Void' cover is exactly what you'd expect (except for some lyric changes). Original is better by virtue of Iommi's tone.

The third disc has 'Karaoke', which is a monster tune, better than anything else they did in the DOTUS era.

ultramega ok is such a fucking tragedy :'(

― Adding ease. Adding wonder. Adding (contenderizer), Sunday, December 28, 2014 5:17 AM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^ said cuz "flower" and "beyond the wheel" really ought to hold their own with "nothing to say" (along with "hunted down", "hand of god", "hands all over", about half of badmotorfinger, etc). but for the production.

― Adding ease. Adding wonder. Adding (contenderizer), Sunday, December 28, 2014 5:32 AM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Just been reading that Kim and Jack Endino have gone in and completely remixed 'Ultramega OK' for release sometime this year, kinda jazzed about hearing a full blooded version of it.

oooooooooooo

Last night's setlist

Spoonman
Kyle Petty, Son of Richard
Outshined
Black Hole Sun
My Wave
The Day I Tried to Live
Been Away Too Long
Blow Up the Outside World
All Your Lies
Ugly Truth
Flower
Fell on Black Days
Jesus Christ Pose
Rusty Cage
Beyond the Wheel

Wow

Yea. Great set. A lot of people bolted when the big hits were out of the way

nice

Can you be more specific about when they bolted?

it was a really lame crowd. the 20k seat arena was maybe a third filled, the floor maybe 40% full, the rest of us in seats, and the intro for Soundgarden only got a meek "yay" from the crowd.

then they rolled off the biggie Superunknown songs and "Outshined" and everybody got briefly excited but once "Been Away Too Long" started, the exodus started slowly. I was surprised that "Blow Up the Outside World" didn't get more of a reaction, it was a fairly popular song when I was in high school. and then the Ultramega OK tunes was enough to thin the place out considerably.

i always love when they end with Beyond the Wheel tho. that's a killer closer.

Wish I had been in one of those empty spaces.

How was Cornell's voice during the show?

Too bad no "hands all over"

xpost he's never going to be the vocalist he was again, but he's getting a little of it back. tbh he's pretty good at the high notes when he stays up there a while (ie "Beyond the Wheel"), it's the flipping between head voice and chest that he struggles more with (but, tbh, that was true to a lesser degree even in his prime - always an inconsistent live singer).

His highs still have surprising potency even if he doesn't make them as dirty as he used to. His mid to low range actually sounds a lot closer to what it did in the 90s than it has in a while.

his yells sound more shrill than they used to, but he's doing them again which is cool. idk overall I was pleased. "Jesus Christ Pose" was kind of painful though. the verse at least - the rest of it he was pretty good.

cornell has sounded great the last few times i've seen him. he's a way more consistent live singer now afaict

he does avoid the highs on Outshined a bit tho. which is weird cos he doesn't play guitar on that one.

"Spoonman" he was actually screaming again, surprisingly.

apparently their show yesterday was same setlist, except no "Ugly Truth" and instead of "All Your Lies" was "Incessant Mace"

they're appraently on right now in Ft Myers. I should be working but I'll be watching setlist.fm to see what the nerds add in real time.

I should know their later albums better than I do, but I got off the boat after Superunknown.