Hard Rock Calling: Soundgarden, Iggy and Rain…

Soundgarden – live at Hyde Park’s Hard Rock Calling Festival

Without a doubt, the best thing to have come out of the dreadful weather that the UK has nearly drowned in during this ridiculous excuse for a summer (or as it will become known, the Great Hosepipe Ban of 2012) is the cancellation of Wednesday’s Hit Factory gig in Hyde Park. Although Nathan from Brother Beyond appears inconsolable at the thought of his career being stalled once more, I have been turning cartwheels of joy at the thought that an accident of weather may have prevented the UK’s airwaves being clogged up with a Stock Aitken and Waterman revival. To my mind, it’s the finest act of divine intervention since someone mentioned they had run out of wine at a wedding and J.C. popped up to keep the party going…

Even better, they cancelled it so the ground would be pleasant for Soundgarden fans to stroll across on Friday. Wouldn’t have wanted to trip over a Lycra headband or a discarded, muddy shoulder pad. Or the 12″ mix of Especially For You. Very thoughtful of the organisers, that. According to reports in London’s Evening Standard, the Hyde Park organisers dumped eight thousand cubic metres of wood chippings on the park to prevent it turning into a big muddy puddle. (If you need mulch for your garden, bring a wheelbarrow and speak nicely to a security guard…). It worked, by the way…

So it was that I found myself outside Hyde Park on Friday buying a ticket outside the gate for the bargain price of £15 from a chap with a spare. Result.

I’ll talk about the wonderful Iggy and The Stooges (and Cold Chisel) in separate posts. For the vast majority of fans last night 2012 has been the first opportunity to see Soundgarden for fifteen years since the band split up in 1997. I went with a friend who had travelled from the Middle East just to be there last night, so it is clear Soundgarden is a band that means a lot to many people. They didn’t let anyone down.

Pulling out classics from Louder Than Love as well as crowd pleaser Black Hole Sun and (for me the highlight) a great version of Superunknown, the band played with smiles on their faces all night. About an hour in, frontman Chris Cornell told the crowd “that was the warm up: now let’s start playing. We’re going to play for three hours tonight” (they played for two). The crowd just lapped it up.

Cornell is every inch the rock star. Good looking, great voice and a decent support for lead guitarist Kim Thayil who cuts an imposing presence onstage, whilst slightly resembling comedian Bill Bailey in a beanie hat. Together with bassist Ben Shepherd and drummer Matt Cameron they produce a winning brand of trippy Sabbath riffs.

Inevitably it rained pretty hard throughout the set, but I’m not sure many in the 50,000 crowd noticed.  Soundgarden are back. There’s a new album promised later in the year. At a time when Black Sabbath are doing more squabbling than recording, that’s no bad thing…

Record #69: Soundgarden – Superunknown