It's nice to know not much has changed since the last time Soundgarden played in Sydney, fourteen years ago. The traffic was still a complete nightmare. It took me over two hours to travel 44km, from the North West to the City. Good to see Sydney's infrastructure is worse than it ever has been. Full points, Australian Government.
Due to the traffic farce, I completely missed the Bronx, which was a real shame because I had not heard them before and I'm always keen to catch a new band. So that takes care of that.
I had been suffering from a pinched nerve which had been giving me back and knee pain. Two days before the show, the pain decided to take over the right side of my neck and down my shoulder. Awesome. But excruciating. Moshing was cancelled for me.
My head was set on grabbing a t-shirt firstly, so got onto the merchandise queue. The line was actually quite short, except for the two complete bitches in front of me who decided it was their own personal fucking fitting room and tried on about six shirts, along with trying to call their boyfriends over to try some on too! The couple behind me had words with them and the result? They dragged things out even longer and one of them (just to be the spiteful moll that she was), turned to us on her way out and said: "Enjoy your night!". I replied in the most sickly, sweet and sarcastic voice I could possibly muster with: "Naww, go fuck yourself sweetie". Her face was priceless. Stick with going to Bernard Fanning concerts and lining up for your dole cheque next time, honey. You're dealing with professionals here.
The strangest thing I found, upon walking into the GA section was that it wasn't anywhere near as packed as I expected by that time. The band were only 30 minutes away and I walked almost directly to the front left-hand side. It was bizarre, normally by that time I'm psyched up to push my short arse through the herd, with plenty of resistance and I normally quite enjoy it. But this time, no such challenge.
The one thing I've always loved about Soundgarden is that they are all about playing the songs. While there was a little bit of audio-visual malarkey going on behind them, you could see they just wanted to bring the noise. They started off with Searching With My Good Eye Closed, which was very welcome from me, with Badmotorfinger being their finest offering in my opinion. I thought the sound was pretty bad and that it was due to where I was standing. I was wrong, the sound technician seemed to be really struggling. It sounded like a bit of "enhancement" was being applied to Chris' voice, which was clearly not needed. They went on with Spoonman, Jesus Christ Pose and then Gun, with the mix not improving. You could see the frustration in Chris and Kim's faces at times and I was getting slightly concerned.
By the time they got to Let Me Drown, something seemed to change and everything wasn't as muffled and it just rocked. Looking up into the crowd at the seats around me though, I wondered why some of them even turned up. Particularly in the sections directly behind me which, judging from the ticket sales at the time they were the "VIP" seats costing $400, so I would have expected SOME people to at least stand up. Maybe they should have stayed home and watched the band on DVD while burning a pile of money. Just a thought.
During the next few tracks (Blow Up the Outside World, Fell On Black Days, Ugly Truth, Hunted Down and Drawing Flies), things really got going with the GA crowd with plenty of people being dragged out of the mosh. A solid and clearly drunk guy was involuntarily pulled out by three security guards for barging people, including a few ladies. As he was being led away, he yelled that he vowed to return and "get you all". Little did he know. But more on that later.
It was fantastic to see some mini-fans there and holding their own - there may be hope for our youth yet. I spoke to a young man who after singing Outshined word for word told me he was born in 1997. There's so much that is freaking brilliant in that, I don't even know where to begin.
By the time they got to Rusty Cage, Black Hole Sun, Burden in My Hand and My Wave the mix seemed to be almost back on track, although I could have done without the drunken neanderthals. I know, I know - I'm an old hat at this and those idiots are a given, but when you are at a gig alone they tend to think you're only there to be picked up - or at the very least, go home reeking of the bourbon they've spilt on you. Hello! Diamonds on my ring finger - do I need to cut you with them? Ugh. Gross.
My favourite song, The Day I Tried To Live was up next. When I heard that little twang, I thought they must be teasing me. It was unexpected because it's not a song you would put up there as a contender. I sang it loud I tell you, especially "the day I tried to live, I wallowed in the blood and mud with all the other pigs" - love that line because it reminds me of all the wretched people I have to deal with right now. Right on.
Next, Superunknown was the disco track of the evening with the geetars shining through - finally! I found myself really trying hard to hear Kim's riffs at times, but this song it was clear as a bell. Time to boogie, kids. The highlight for the evening was definitely 4th of July. It was moody and it downright rumbled right through my neck pain, making it slightly worse. Worth it.
The band went off stage with beers in hand and I really didn't hear the crowd go too wild, disappointingly. Overall, I expected the moshpit to be off the chain, but it really wasn't. I still don't get that. What is it with people who wear the earplugs at gigs? That is the biggest example of "defeating the purpose" that I can come up with. Then there were the pseudo-rock boys in front of me, too busy recording the entire thing, rather than actually watching it. Why bother? Don't get me wrong, I take the occasional photo and video at gigs, but to stand there and film the WHOLE thing, makes no sense to me. If you went to the trouble to get yourself down where the action is, why not get into the action?
When the guys came back, they returned with Room a Thousand Years Wide, which was a belter and it revived everyone. I like to think that the crowd were wanting more of the old, which they got more of with I Awake (another massive surprise) and ended the night with Slaves & Bulldozers. Slaves went for about 9 minutes, it was an absolute BLINDER.
When the ugly lights came on, there was the usual rush on exiting. No more so than the guy who was pulled out of the crowd early on and ejected for being a caveman. As I walked towards the glass doors, he flew past me out of nowhere, nearly cleaned me and a few others up in the process as he was waving his fists around being chased by two cops. They tackled him to the ground, struggling to keep him there and a small crowd gathered directly around. Eventually, the handcuffs were on and they were off. He would have enjoyed his night. Not that he'd remember a thing about it though. Money well spent, tiger.
As I walked back to the car in the rain, I reflected that while this show was really only a blur on the brilliance of the 1993 and 1997 tours, it was still a winner for me. I couldn't help but imagine to myself that they played those extra-old tracks from Louder Than Love just for me. The sound problems certainly did not spoil it, in fact, they made everything dirtier and rougher. Although there were moments where you'd be wondering "what song is this?" The fact they played a monster load of their greatest work to date made it all worthwhile. I do think the venue let the show down, I truly do not understand the logic behind the Entertainment Centre. I've yet to see a show there that was not plagued with sound problems.
Driving home with Louder Than Love blaring from the stereo, Chris Cornell's words promising a new Soundgarden album was more than enough to keep me sane for a little longer. Another triumphant notch to add to my big fat musical belt.
