Indeed you have been away too long, Soundgarden.
Playing its first show in the state of Ohio in two decades, the band ripped through a 90-minute set that included staples such as "Outshined," "Fell On Black Days" and the recent success "Been Away Too Long" to close out Rock On The Range 2013 at Crew Stadium Sunday night. Soundgarden showed little age in support of its latest release King Animal, the band's first album in 16 years.
Whether he's fronting Soundgarden, Audioslave, trading lines with Eddie Vedder in Temple of the Dog or hitting the road as a solo act, Chris Cornell remains one of rock's great lead singers of the past 25 years. Guitarist Kim Thayil still brings heavy, blues-influenced riffs to compliment Cornell's nasal growl and provides a trippy solo here and there when needed despite a little more gray in his signature beard than the band's inital days of success in the early 1990s.
Late in the set, Soundgarden tore into the headbanging favorite "Spoonman" before slowing things down with "Black Hole Sun" to satisfy the crowd's hunger for the band's classics as Cornell and crew saw this year's edition of Rock On The Range off into the sunset.
Giants of their time with Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, Soundgarden's return has assured the band a prominent place on the face of modern rock. As a result, hopefully Cornell and company will grace Ohio with their presence more than every couple of decades.
