Soundgarden at The O2 – Review & Photos

Soundgarden played The O2 Dublin tonight, September 16th.

On Monday the 16th of September grunge and alternative metal legends, Soundgarden, took to the stage in the O2 arena Dublin. The band began their set a bit later than planned but it only added to the building anticipation of the audience. When the guys strolled out on stage to take their positions the arena erupted with screams of diehard fans, young and old, who had turned out for the special occasion.

The boys kicked off their greatly anticipated show with ‘Incessant Mace’, ‘Hunted Down’ and thirdly ‘Ty Cobb’ one of the band’s most popular songs that had the audience members in the pit moshing within seconds! As the concert continued the energy didn’t drop for a moment, a mixture of hard and heavy upbeat numbers mixed and complimented the more slowed down thoughtful ones.

With more than 25 years’ experience (with a 12 year break from 1998-2010) the years of playing together certainly showed in the band’s performance who acted like a well-oiled machine, their stage presence was almost mesmerising to watch. A very technically gifted band, from Thayil’s intricate and powerful guitar solos to Cameron’s mad drumming skills, the years of practising and gigging have made the band an absolute joy to watch on stage and they certainly know how to please the crowd!

‘Spoonman’, ‘Rustycage’ and ‘Outshined’ being the most well-received songs on the night had the audience in the stands on their feet cheering and the majority of the pit audience head-banging in grunge rock heaven. Throughout their entire set the band fed off the energy of the crowd and it was amazing to watch it bouncing between them and the crowd. Undoubtedly one of the best rock bands in the last 25 years, Soundgarden, played an unbelievable gig to their fans in Dublin which Cornell deemed to be “..without kissing your asses, genuinely one of our favourite places to play.”

Review by Miriam McGovern

Photos by Tudor Marian

Here’s the setlist:

– Incessant Mace
– Hunted Down
– Ty Cobb
– Flower
– Outshined
– Spoonman
– My Wave
– Been Away Too Long
– Day I Tried To Live
– Mailman
– Limo Wreck
– Ugly Truth
– Non State Actor
– Burden In My Hand
– Thousand Days
– Fell On Black Days
– Blow Up The Outside World
– Superunknown
—-
– Rusty Cage
– Like Suicide / Beyond The Wheel