Soundgarden at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis
Soundgarden returns to Minneapolis for first time in nearly two decades
Soundgarden, the legendary Seattle, WA based grunge-rockers returned to Minneapolis, MN for the first time since the mid-90s. After a breakup in 1997 which saw singer Chris Cornell join with several members of Rage Against the Machine to form the band Audioslave, and drummer Matt Cameron joining Pearl Jam, Soundgarden finally reunited in 2010. In 2012, they released King Animal, their first new album in sixteen years.
On Saturday, February 2, 2013, Minneapolis was a snow globe scene, and the gorgeous Orpheum Theatre downtown was the perfect venue for a marathon performance by Soundgarden. As the curtain raised, the mostly forty-something crowd stood and watched singer Chris Cornell step under the curtain and croon away to the 6/4 swinging “Incessant Mace” from the band’s debut album Ultramega OK. Cornell perused the front edge of the stage giving out hand shakes those those of us lucky enough to be in the pit.
“Hunted Down”, the first single ever by the band, that was also re-released in 2010 on the compilation Telephantasm, was up next. Fuzzy power chords have never sounded so good. The third was “Flower”, another from Ultramega OK, and the only single released from that album. Unfortunately for me, I had to leave after this song as the band didn’t have enough media tickets to cover photographers. I walked out as the band powered through one of their biggest singles ever, “Outshined”. By the looks of the setlist, the crowd got more than their monies worth. Soundgarden sounded absolutely awesome. It is so good to have them back.
Photos taken for Twin Cities Daily Planet.
Soundgarden – Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis, MN 2.2.13 setlist:
Incessant Mace
Hunted Down
Flower
Outshined
Let Me Drown
Jesus Christ Pose
Gun
By Crooked Steps
Rhinosaur
Hands All Over
Been Away Too Long
My Wave
The Day I Tried to Live
Blood on the Valley Floor
Blow Up the Outside World
Fell on Black Days
Zero Chance
Non-State Actor
Eyelid’s Mouth
Drawing Flies
Ty Cobb
Fresh Tendrils
Superunknown
Encore:
Spoonman
Rusty Cage
Slaves & Bulldozers
