Soundgarden june 24th at Rockhal

Soundgarden Support : lost in pain at Rockhal Luxembourg 24.06.14  

After a cancelled show in 2012, Soundgarden finally made it to Luxembourg last night for a gnarly gig. A gnarly gig as far as Soundgarden themselves are concerned, the crowd and venue leave things to be desired.

Lost in Pain opened the night, and they played for about 30 minutes, most of which I missed out, but the last track they played sounded as if the music could be good, if supported by a clear and clean sound unlike what the Rockhal offers in its “box” configuration.

So the event took place in the main hall, which was divided by large curtains, so there was a shitload of echo that the Soundgarden sound-tech countered with volume, so the show was pretty loud.

We were back in the room for about 10 minutes when they took the stage around 9:15 pm. The venue was far from packed and even the smaller “box” configuration was not sold out.  So I wonder why not change to their smaller room, have a packed room, with a somewhat better sound, and possibly an atmosphere enticing more people to dance.  Anyhow when they took the stage a noisy intro led right into “Searching with my good eye closed”, which is quite a gnarly opener!  They followed up with a powerful rendition of “Spoonman” but without the spoon solo was replaced by some fine guitar noise.  The next track came from Ultramega ok, which Cornell dated to 1987 with a somewhat grinning comment that some people in the crowd had not yet been born. I guess they are getting older as well, but there is still an influx of new fans, to keep them going, and they bloody enjoy it.  Overall Cornell really tried to animate the crowd, trying to get them to sing the chorus of “Outshined” which also led to a mildly changed version of the track, as the crowd sucked pretty much at singing the chorus, it was doubled up, and Cornell made the second time around sound as it’s supposed to be. Following this changed version, Chris said that they like to change stuff while on stage, which I personally applauded and applaud a lot! At least they don’t get boring! Up next was “Black hole sun” which was probably the only track that the entire crowd knew, so that was heavily applauded, but was certainly not the highlight of the show.  “jesus christ pose” really blew my mind, as they performed it even more powerfully than the album version. By the time they played “been away too long”, finally a small moshpit formed to the left of the stage, this gave me a bit of hope that the crowd could still go wild, but it did not really happen. Unfortunately due to a knee injury I couldn’t jump in, but I had a hard time restraining myself, and ended up dancing more than my knee would have liked, but after all it’s a rock show, so a little pain can’t ruin the fun.

Granted the sound was far from ideal at the beginning but improved throughout the show, so by the end of it, it actually sounded quite alright even though not stellar, overall the concert was very satisfying to me.  My highlights were “outshined” “jesus christ pose” “blood on the valley floor” “superunknown” “fell on black days” “rusty cage” (where most people failed to actually break their cage and dance a bit) and a very heavy and doomy “4^th of july”, which ended the regular show in a soundcloud of feedbacks and guitar sounds. A few minutes later they came back out for 2 encore songs, which made the show clock in around 2 hours. Finally a decent length rock show again!! Kudos to Soundgarden for not falling victim to the trend of 70 – 90 minute sets.

Overall there was very little interaction with the crowd, understandably, since the 4 guys on stage played out their souls, and the crowd gave them nothing in return but applause.  I don’t think I will ever be able to understand how people can stand still for 2 hours at a rock show. I mean if you purely want to see the band, why not pick up a dvd, or log on to YouTube in the comfort of your home.  If you pay 50 € to go see a band, why not really enjoy yourself? Why not let go of your stuck up mentality for even 5 minutes and just go wild? I tried but I just can’t understand it.  Being at this show with an injured knee I could not go completely wild, but even though I was in pain, I could not manage to stand still even for a minute.  The music was/is just too good not to enjoy it with every fiber in your body.  So I look forward to seeing them again hopefully next time around in full health to be able to give back as much energy through dancing and partying as the artists themselves give out to the crowd with their music and performance!

For a full setlist, visit: setlist.fm

WERCHTER BOUTIQUE: Metallica - Soundgarden - Mastodon - Channel Zero - Gojira - Ghost: Werchter, Belgium may 28th 2012.

WERCHTER BOUTIQUE: Metallica - Soundgarden - Mastodon - Channel Zero - Gojira - Ghost: Werchter, Belgium may 28th 2012. We arrived a bit late, so we missed out on Ghost but made it up to the front for most of the Gojira set, which was quite fresh and heavy! Followed by the local Belgian heroes Channel Zero which got the crowd moving a bit, I saw at least one Mosh-Pit that looked right! But Channel Zero is not entirely my cup of tea, so that was not for me.

Mastodon pulled of a very solid, rhythmic, and heavy set, but was largely underappreciated by the crowd, who sadly seemed to be focused solemnly on seeing Metallica, and thus ignored some great and heavy music!

Soundgarden, was a risky move on the bookers side, but one that I for one massively appreciated! And Soundgarden thanked their few fans in the crowd with a really cool setlist that you would not expect as such at a festival show. It was not a best of show, but it was a kick your ass show! They focused on their older albums, which was gnarly, but the crowd, unfortunately did not know what happened to them, and confirmed that they wanted only Metallica, which is sad, looking at the great musicians on stage being ignored by people that for the most part can’t even play an instrument. All I can say is respect to Soundgarden, as my friend B. put it, not only are they heavy, but they also sound good! Here is a link to the setlist: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150978826935600&set=a.496741280599.301895.271730225599&type=1

Metallica started their show with a clip from an old Western, which was a nice intro! They started of their set with ‘Hit the Lights’, and ‘master of puppets’. ‘Ride the lightning’ and ‘for whom the bell tolls’, followed by the newer ‘hell and back’. Then Metallica left the stage, to start a short video with a few facts and figures about the ‘Black Album’, and they opened the show with the last track from the album ‘the struggle within’, and proceeded to play the entire album backwards. Fortunately people got a bit loose with Metallica being on stage, but even though the Black Album as well as Metallica’s performance were still as good as on the “where we may roam” tour in 1993, the crowd has lost just about all of its’ power, its’ rage, its’ readiness to rock! We got a small moshpit going a few times, but there were but a few people joining us. Long gone are the days where there were 4 or 5 different pits at a single show, at the same time, nowadays, you’re lucky if you have 1 or 2 small pits in a crowd of 70’000 people.. Metallica are pros, and they worked the crowed well, getting them to sing here and there, but the crowd was overall relatively lame (at least those in the black circle). My personal highlights were ‘Of wolf and man’ as well as ‘sad but true’ . They ended the show with an all hit encore: ‘Battery’, ‘One’ and ‘Seek and Destroy’. Overall for me still a very satisfying experience, and a great show, but I do miss the madness from the older days.

Here is a link for the setlist, as well as some pictures from Metallica: http://www.metallica.com/tour/may-28-2012-werchter.asp

Guns And Roses – Soundgarden – Faith No More 30.05.1992 Cologne, Germany

Guns And Roses – Soundgarden – Faith No More 30.05.1992 Cologne. This was my first concert ever, and as you can tell from the line up, it could not have been any better! I was a sweet 14 years of age, and had only for a few years been listening more intensely to music. At that time I of course knew all the Guns’n’Roses albums, and they were on the “Use Your Illusion World tour”. Backed by two of the great bands from the 90’s Faith no More who were touring “the Real Thing”, and Soundgarden who were promoting “Bad Motor Finger”!

We were about 20 people and had rented a bus, as most of us being under 18 had no drivers licence. Luckily my brother had joined as well, as otherwise I doubt I would have gotten permission to go. We arrived around 5 pm, and set out straight to the stadium where we realized that unfortunately we had ordered grandstand seats, but wanted to be on the main floor.. We ended up sneaking past the outside fence of a bridge connecting the stands to the floor.. Luckily none of us were thickset, as we would not have made it through that space. A few others found people that gave them a used ticket to access the floor.

I was about 30 cm shorter than the rest of us, but headed out to the front with everyone else, and faith no more sure did get the crowd going already! WOW, the closer we got to the front, the bigger the pressure got, and about 50 m from the stage the crowd was just going left and right, back and forth as one large mass. The others formed a circle around me, as otherwise I probably wouldn’t have survived! But with the protective circle I was able to fully get into the music, bouncing up and down like a mad man !

Soundgarden had “Bad Motor Finger” going, which was mind-blowing as well! I had never heard these bands, but was pretty much sold for life after this show! And the main act had not even started yet! Being that I did not know any of their songs back then, but I do remember that it was one hell of a powerful concert!

Guns’n’Roses was simply staggering! I think they played around three hours, something which nowadays is very rare. The entire show, stage, and performance were Guns’n’Roses at the peak of their career, and what more can one say than it was the “Use Your Illusion Tour”! Those who were there will never forget, and those that weren’t will never know!