Soundgarden and Mars Volta UIC Pavilion Chicago, IL July 16, 2011

Around 7:30 p.m. the lights dimmed down and Mars Volta took the stage. With a sound that mixes a combination of jazz with fusion with some rock they sound truly unique both in studio and on-stage. It was quite copasetic and rhapsodic. I was grooving and bobbing my head to the music and having a good time. However, I couldn’t ignore the fact that lead singer Cedric Bixler Zavala voice became kind of grating the further they got into their set.

Now, I know being up close near the speakers could distort what I am hearing, but not enough. The lead singer was incredibly hard to understand. Once he opened his mouth, I was struck with a high-pitched sound that I couldn’t decipher as a wailing call or a scream. That made the lyrics of the song incredibly hard to decipher. Although they have a very good musical style with awesome sounds, that was now altered because of unknown and unrecognized lyrics. In studio they sound great but the live show was not his forte as far as vocally. The set ended with them announcing and hoping in five years that they’ll be so famous and they will headline a concert. While I think they have the talent to headline, they still need to work out a few kinks before they can earn the top spot, best of luck fellas.

Around 9 p.m. the lights dimmed and the smell of marijuana and beer grew thick around the arena. Soundgarden made it way to the stage and opens with the fantastic “Searching With My Good Eye Closed.” The group has a large collection of fan favorites in their catalog and they played most of them throughout the night. The audience, always ready for nostalgia, soaked it up with pleasure. Polishing off some classics like “Spoonman” and “Rusty Cage” Cornell played a set that clearly catered to the fans.

It was amazing to see the fans react once the first couple of chords were played. Some people, in the standing room only, started to do some safe and minor moshing to songs like “The day I Tried to Live” while there were a couple of brave men and women who crowd surfed and sat on people’s shoulders.

The set was a trip down memory lane, as the band alternated between their well-known standards and early singles like “Jesus Christ Pose,” that you rarely hear anymore. I can safely say Cornell rocked all the gems and sounded great. There is still a lot of tread on his vocal chords as he wailed out some of the final lyrics of many songs. The highlight in my opinion was about an hour into the concert when they hit their stride with the classic 90s angst song, “Black Hole Sun.” The rowdy head bobbing and crowd surfing stopped. Fans seemed to take a moment to reflected on that time when grunge was the new counter culture and we were all sick of the hair metal that was just about booze and chicks. It was a time of apathy. People were swaying to the melody of the guitar and bass provided by Kim Thayil and Ben Shepherd. Once Cornell got to the chorus of the song, the yellow lights flashed as people’s fists struck the air. People’s hands, cell phones and lighters were being waved in the air as the song continued. It was truly the rock experience that I was anxiously waiting for the whole night. The concert proved to be a great experience.

Like many musical revolutions, not many bands survive them. It’s a moment in time that defines a generation and grunge is no different. Nirvana imploded almost on impact of success and bands like Alice in Chains died a slow death (regardless they are going another round with a new singer). Soundgarden took the path of least resistance and walked away before any of those scenarios. Since then, Cornell has created both a descent solo career and a crack at another band - Audioslave with three studio albums. Now after all these years the boys have a new album in the works. Let’s hope they are making it for the right reasons and not to cash in on the past.

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