By Geofrey Hildrew

During the weekend of November 15th, one of rock and roll's all-time greats graced New York City with their presence.

Soundgarden embarked on a journey through the hearts and souls of every music fan on the evenings of the 15th, 16th, and 17th at Roseland. Originally slated as a two night event, overwhelming popularity caused the band to expand their performance into a three night extravaganza enthusiastically.

Unfortunately for the ticket-buying crowd, the evening began with the hideous discordance of two bands the world hopes it will never see again, Tender Loin and Rocket from the Crypt.

It seems as if Soundgarden chose these opening bands purely as a means of contrast. In other words, the worse the opening acts sound, the better Soundgarden would be received.

But, in terms of a band whose musical genius and greatness has been tested and verified so consistently over the years, I do not think it was really necessary to punish the crowds with this nonsense.

Nevertheless, Soundgarden finally exploded on the stage with one of their more popular hits off Superunknown, "Spoon-man."

Throughout the evening, the actively moshing crowd received a mix of selections, both old and new, mostly from their latter three albums. After over two hours of musical intensity, the band said their farewells and parted, while the beaten and exhausted crowd began to assess the evening's injuries and recover lost articles of clothing.

One audience member was quoted saying, "this was one of the greatest concert experiences I've ever known."

Indeed, they were three nights to remember. Thumbs up to Soundgarden, may you come this way more often in the future.

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