We got to Red Rocks about an hour and a half before showtime. After we parked the car and started walking toward the amphitheatre, we both realized we’ve been “flatlanders” for too long. So then we climbed these long steps up to the amphitheatre [and that was just to get in the place]. We both thought we needed oxygen by this time. Then we encountered the next set of steps to get to our seats. If you’ve ever seen Eisenstein’s silent movie Battleship Potempkin, you’ll recall there’s a hill with lots of steps that seems to go up forever. That’s what Red Rocks looked like to us, but we finally made it to our seats about 2/3 of the way up. Any seat in the house is good, and this show was no different.
The opening band was The Mars Volta. I’m not sure if I can say anything nice about what I heard from them. If you like them, more power to you. They did nothing for me. I’ve seen a lot of crappy bands open for bands I’ve paid to see. The Mars Volta is now one of them. Granted, I’m not a fan of theirs, I couldn’t name a single song of theirs. They just sounded terrible. The vocalist sounded like a cross-between of Perry Ferrell and 1970s-era Geddy Lee, and that’s not a compliment. Their forty-five minute set felt like it went on twice as long.
After The Mars Volta left the stage, an older woman with her 41-year old son showed up and sat next to us. She asked how the opening band was, and we told her what we thought. She said she was glad not to be sitting next to some 17-year old. I promised her we wouldn’t blow any pot smoke in her face because we don’t do that sort of thing. She asked us if we liked Soundgarden, we told her we did. She asked if it was ‘heavy metal’ and Carol told her ‘not really but it’ll probably sound that way to you.’ She was a great sport about it. I’m not sure I could sit through a two-hour show of a band whose music I never heard. One funny thing about her – there was a guy who was probably a little younger than us who was hitting on her. She was a bit creeped out, but he didn’t persist, especially after her son came back with some water.
A lot of people at the show did light up, and a lot more people got trashed on alcohol. There was a girl behind us who passed out about three songs into Soundgarden’s set, but she recovered to watch the rest of the show. I was just glad that we didn’t get high from all the second-hand smoke from everyone around us. Chris Cornell even made mention of the smoke from the stage. He said something about there being a contest the band has to see which tour stop has the most potent pot, but that the altitude at the Rocks and its lack of oxygen might make it seem stronger. He also advised the crowd to smoke what they’ve got so they wouldn’t get busted with it later. Everybody laughed at that. He commented on Red Rocks awesome scenery: "We played here before, and maybe a little bit was lost on us," he said. "It's f---ing amazing." Indeed it is.
Being back at Red Rocks to see a show 26 years after the last time [Eric Clapton – July 1985] was a wonderful experience. We arrived in daylight and were captivated by all that surrounded us. We never tire of seeing the beautiful scenery around the park. We were seated far enough above the stage where you can see the lights of Denver. There are a whole lot more now than there were 26 years ago. It also helped that the weather cooperated. I felt a grand total of three rain drops. I’ve been rained on at the Rocks before, but not so tonight so all was well with the universe. One thing that Carol noticed was that as the show progressed, everyone who had an iPod updated their playlists so they could listen to the show all over again on the ride home. Such is the time we live in. The last time we went to a concert [January 1999], the iPod was not even a gleam in Steve Jobs’ eyes.
Soundgarden’s set was outstanding – it was everything I hoped it would be. After the opening two numbers [Searching With My Good Eye Closed and Spoonman] Chris Cornell declared "We're Soundgarden, and we're back." Then he commented about Red Rocks’ legendary acoustics - "This big rock over here and this one over there," he said, referencing the two giant stones that flank the seating area, "it acts like a speaker, funnels down to my head. It's trippy." Then they launched into Let Me Drown. When I heard Chris Cornell do the same scream in the middle of the song that he did on the original recording, I knew that it was “game on.” This band was definitely “on.” I have a copy of their Live on I-5 album, and they sounded better during this show than they did on the album. I don’t say that just because I was there – Chris had trouble hitting the notes on the album. He had no such difficulty this time. I don’t know how he does it night after night, or how he even has a voice after a two-hour show. Chris Cornell’s voice is a freak of nature, but in a good way. After Let Me Drown Matt Cameron began the familiar drums of Jesus Christ Pose, which surprised me because I thought they would save it for the encore. But no matter – it was spellbinding, especially when you see 9,400 people striking the same “Jesus Christ Pose” as Chris Cornell. The crowd [and the band] got a chance to catch their breaths as the band went into Blow Up the Outside World. The cool thing about the song – the whole crowd [including yours truly] did the long “Blow up the Outside” fade for Chris. I don’t usually go for singalongs, but this was pretty cool. The biggest surprise of the evening: Mailman. I totally did not expect that one. Another surprise: hearing Chris sing bits of Zeppelin's In My Time of Dying during Slaves & Bulldozers. They played nine of Superunknown’s thirteen songs, six songs from Badmotorfinger, and they also went all the way back with Nothing to Say from their first EP for Sub Pop. Beyond the Wheel was otherworldly.
As for the rest of the band, they were simply amazing. Matt Cameron is a drumming machine, and I mean that in a good way. The man drums like he’s got eight arms instead of two, and he’s perfect. Pearl Jam needs to be careful. If Soundgarden decides they want to step up their pace of recording and touring, they’ll want him back full-time. There were times I thought Ben Shepard’s bass would cause an avalanche. And what can I say about Kim Thayil? If you took a rhino and fed it through stacks of Marshall amps, I think you might get the idea of Kim’s sound. It was quite the audio onslaught. The attack on our senses was complete when, at the end of the final encore song [Slaves & Bulldozers] both Ben and Kim faces their amps and unleashed a humungous torrent of feedback that lasted about five minutes.
The setlist:
Searching With My Good Eye Closed / Spoonman / Let Me Drown / Jesus Christ Pose / Blow Up the Outside World / The Day I Tried to Live / My Wave / Fell On Black Days / Ugly Truth / Big Dumb Sex / Outshined / Nothing To Say / Rusty Cage / Black Hole Sun / Burden In My Hand / Pretty Noose / Superunknown / 4th of July / Beyond the Wheel Encore: Hunted Down / Face Pollution / Mailman / Slaves & Bulldozers
As far as setlists go, I thought it was perfect. I heard everything I wanted to hear. That doesn’t happen too often. How loud was it? I saw The Who in 1982 and Deep Purple in 1985. The Soundgarden show was louder. The winner [and still heavyweight champ] is Dio’s version of Black Sabbath. We saw them in 1992 at Constitution Hall in Washington DC and we heard crickets for three days. Soundgarden wasn’t that loud, but it was close. I think I lost some hearing, but it was worth it. With the passing of Ronnie James Dio, Chris Cornell is now my favorite living hard rock/metal/grunge vocalist. As for Soundgarden, I now have a band I would walk barefoot on broken glass to see again. If you have the opportunity, this show is a must see. Oh, and don’t forget your earplugs – you’ll need them.
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