Soundgarden Reunite For Gig Without Chris Cornell... But With Tad Doyle

BY Brock ThiessenPublished Mar 26, 2009

Last summer, rumours were flying everywhere that grunge pioneers Soundgarden would reunite for Sup Pop's SP20 festival. Seriously, it seemed no matter where you went some flannel-wearing kid was going on about how the now-defunct grungesters were going to emerge as some "secret guest" and cap off the event in true old school Seattle style. And while that never ended up happening, this week fans finally did get their wish to see a Soundgarden reunion - or at least a partial one.

On Tuesday night (March 24), patrons at Seattle's Crocodile Cafe got to witness 75 percent of Soundgarden play their first show together since 1997, with Soundarden OGs Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd all pairing up with none other than Tad Doyle, of grunge legends TAD. The large-and-in-charge Tad took over for former Soundgarden vocalist/wannabe pop star Chris Cornell, lending his voice to a short but awesomely sweet three-song set as TADGarden.

Performed as part of Tom Morello's Justice Tour, the one-off set by the band included ramped-up and sludgy-as-ever renditions of the Soundgarden tracks "Nothing to Say," "Hunted Down" and, best of all, the band's '90s alt-rock classic, "Spoonman." There was also a hugely excited Morello, a well-placed "Fuck Cornell!" and Tad lifting up his shirt and saying, "That's half a Cornell right there."

If you were there at the Crocodile, you've probably been bragging about it non-stop. If you weren't, thank the glory that is YouTube.

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