2010 has been the year of Soundgarden‘s reunion, though it still feels reasonable to ask when that is going to happen? Though Chris Cornell got the ball rolling with a New Year’s tweet (“See, we’re not old, we use Twitter!”), it was April by the time the band played a reunion show. This wasn’t to the more-obvious Coachella crowd, but to a small gathering of die-hard fans in Seattle. Since then, the band hasn’t capitalized and headlined arenas across the globe. They have only played on a hadful of occasions, most notably Lollapalooza and, now, Conan O’brien’s new TBS show, Conan.
It turns out the lack of performances haven’t had much of an effect though, as Soundgarden seemed as polished and professional as ever last night. Chris Cornell and Kim Thayil looked like cast members from Sons of Anarchy who got lost in the upper-regions of cable T.V. (“See, we’re not old, we have really long hair”) and Matt Cameron showed off why he is one of rock’s legendary drummers in the effortlessness he displays when behind the kit. The band hammered out not one, but two songs from the still-shiny Conan stage: their “comeback” single “Black Rain” and, for the web only, their first-ever single, 1987’s “Hunted Down”. Cheers to them for keeping their reunion fresh and for pulling out new and rare songs from the archives and cheers to them for playing by their own rules. But, it’s time to do the big tour while it still seems special and before Pearl Jam asks for their drummer back. Until then, just wait patiently and enjoy the clips.