rnlugo@aol.com
1,2,3,4 Johnny Ramone wore a badmotorfinger shirt and thanked SG for inviting them to Lolla '96. Matt was Pinhead for a day, I think. The Ramone's were great. SG opened with Spoonman as the sun was going down. then some a**hole thru something and Chris stopped playing and challenged the guy to go up on stage and throw it in his face, where he will be happy to ram it down his throat, it was effective noone threw anything anymore. The set was tight and awesome, about half new and half old material. No list, so the those that are going today will be surprised. mental picture: Ben off to one side in front of the huge red wall playing with only the sunset on him, until they put the spot on. Chris apologized to all of us that survived the Armory shows last time they played NY, saying that it was so hot he thought he would die. The hourlong show was in Chris' own words perfect. Beautiful. We all would agree.

surfpunk@walrus.com
Well when I decided to go see lollapalooza, I had no idea Soundgarden was playing but boy was I glad cause they rock. It was a good to great show but way way to short for me I was just gettting warmed up when they left without even a later to NCY or when they would headline. Outdoors was go amazing for concerts which is another reason I was bummed it was so short about an hour maybe They played some choice old songs "searching with my good eye" "mailman" I was humming that on the way to the concert. Okay enough now. Later Surfpunk

EASY-RIDER@WORLDNET.ATT.NET
SOUNDGARDEN SOUNDED THE3 BEST THERE BUT THEY NEED TO PLAY THE CROWD BETTER

reedm2@rpi.edu
fucking perfect

Bon.Bx@worldnet.att.com
Well, what can I say? Soundgarden kicked ass as usual. Chris sounded fabulous and Kim was on the mark...the sky was beautiful and the day was perfect. It was the fastest hour and fifteen minutes in my life. Chris mentioned the '94 Armory shows. We survived that one. They should have been THE headlining act. First rate!

meredith@csnet.net
July 11, 1996
6:59 p.m.

Now that I m well rested, I can write this lengthy Lollapalooza 96 review. I worked like a zombie from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. today, after getting home at 2:30 a.m. The toll it takes on the average fan seems incomparable to the toll it takes on the performers, who often perform on consecutive days. After the July 10th show at Downing Stadium, Randall s Island, it s hard to believe that everyone can pick themselves up for another huge show at the facility. Between the intensity of the music, thousands of fans with huge expectations, and deluge of garbage, it s hard to imagine a show taking place the very next day. Even though the festival has its shortcomings, many of which were pointed out by former planner Perry Farrell, formerly of Jane s Addiction and now frontman for Porno for Pyros, it is quite an experience. To be listening to such a variety of performers along with 50,000-60,000 fans (by my estimate), is the ultimate high.

Because of my morning job, and my friends other obligations, we left suburban NJ at about 1:30 p.m. (usually only 15-20 minutes from the city). Because of exorbitant traffic and a lack of familiarity with the Randall s Island area, we finally parked in an open field at 2:40 p.m. We were in high spirits as the trek began, tossing pennies at each other (2 vehicles on the road) and salivating over the music of Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, and Metallica (in particular). Unfortunately, we had to stop several times for a friend s car, because we planned on playing cat and mouse on the way to Downing Stadium. Getting through NYC is like finding your way through a maze, and we planned on using the follower technique, rather than sheet instructions. Bad move. As it turns out, we took the wrong route, missing the South Deegan and wound up at 179th street in the Bronx. Fortunately, we found our way back and arrived at our destination.

Truthfully, Downing Stadium is a shithole. Except for a mini-golf course and driving range, the area s seen better days. The stadium is overlooked by a highway. Personally, if I was driving by, I would stop and jump in to see the show. All you need is a wire or bungee cord to lower yourself down, and you re in the concrete donut for the time of your life. After chilling in the parking lot (we were convinced that the shit acts would be on or the Shaolin Monks), we walked down to the entrance. Damn, we were herded like sheep or fucking cattle into these 7 rows where metal detectors were. It was such a ridiculous system that we waited for 40 minutes, finally landing in heaven at 3:40 p.m. In the meantime, I was dying a slow death during ôDying Days,ö the Screaming Trees awesome new song. I missed Lanegan and CO s entire set, anticipating a 5:00 performance, instead of an early start. I mean, these are the Screaming Trees, arguably the 3rd best act to be seen at Lollapalooza 96. They actually were placed behind the Shaolin Monks in the rotation. I enjoy seeing flips and knife fights, but come on! The stupidity of the situation is easy to understand -- the officials finally decided to can the metal detector idea after everyone with a belt or metal plate in their head caused it to beep uncontrollably. Only bags were checked. In all honesty, the thousands of fans came for music, rather than a cheap shot at a musical artist. There are assholes out there, who throw their shoes on stage and get in fights, but who would bring an Uzi to this festival? Too much paranoia going around these days, I guess.

Once you enter, you know that Lollapalooza is cool, but overly commercial. Money is the number one concern, and planners have developed a sure fire cash pit. The only area where water was available free of charge, was at the very entrance, where a truck was set up. This truck supplied a few fountains, many of which had little or no water pressure because of a poor design. However, the three or four rain rooms were a good idea, considering how easy it is to become dehydrated when it s 80 degrees out and some metalhead just chucked your head to the turf. As for food, smuggling is highly advisable. Sneak your own food in, or submit yourself to the will of the robber barons. Want a nice personal pie, that would normally go for $3-5 at your friendly neighborhood pizzeria? That will be $8, sir. How about a 16 oz. cup of lemonade that is actually 75% water, 25% lemonade (I think?)? That will be $2, sir. After being herded like cattle through metal detectors and paying $6 for a gyro, we were all pretty fucking pissed. Of course, the musicians soothe the savage beast inside. I think the officials intentionally caused all this hardship to turn us into raging beasts. The mosh pits reflected this untamed rage. The first act I really paid attention to was Rancid, the new wave punk band. I m just getting into punk rock, after being a fan of Alice in Chains, the Foo Fighters, Neil Young, Smashing Pumpkins, and Soundgarden. Coincidentally, I just bought the Sex Pistols first album, and am beginning to like this sort of music which coincides with my anti-establishment sentiment and liberal rants and raves. Rancid incorporated some new elements into their average all out attack, using some jazz musicians to mix dance with punk moshing and crowd surfing. I was troubled by the number of kids in the pits during Rancid s performance. I know that teen rebellion begins at either age 12 or 13, but I saw these little brats in the pits, and many got hurt. I think that moshing is ok when it is regulated to certain songs (not every song, because not every song is tremendously uplifting), and people are courteous and know their own limits. What happened in Dublin (Smashing Pumpkins 5/11 show) is a tragedy. Truthfully, the same thing could ve happened at Lollapalooza if not for the fans who would pick each other up and show concern for one another s well being. As Dave Grohl said (not an actual quote, my paraphrasing) during the April 6th Foo Fighters show at Roseland, ôYou guys can have fun and everything, but just be responsible. If you see somebody fall down, pick them up. We don t want to stop playing on account of some asshole.ö Thankfully, the moshing dynamics changed tremendously during the much anticipated Ramones performance (an older, beer belly group). As was the case during Rancid s performance, I stayed on the fringe of the action, preferring to listen and admire. I m not a big fan of either of these groups, but the Ramones played some good old stuff (not all the preppy, Z-100 groupie ôHey Ho, Let s Goö stuff) and Rancid had tremendous presence. Of course, both bands played popular singles and all the groupies went crazy. If I hear that song ôSedatedö ever again, I swear I ll go ballistic (it sucks to begin with). Anyway, I think both bands were good, but I just don t share the same passion for their music as I do for Soundgarden and Metallica. My main concern during this portion of the show was a 1 foot partition, which was placed upon the ground at a 60 degree angle to the stage. I don t know what the purpose of this black slope was, but it became covered with beer, and often divided the masses from the moshers. Thus, it was a slippery hell hole, where people would constantly lose their footing. I would advise the Lollapalooza planners to chuck this nefarious structure.

Wu Tang Clan was the mystery guest, and they came on stage around 5:30 p.m. Truthfully, I will have to listen to this shit in the future, in order to be an objective journalist. I m writing this review as a fan, with the casual language of a young ruffian. My friend Serko and I passed on this ôWhoop There It Isö type debacle, and waited to meet Screaming Trees lead singer Mark Lanegan. He had already met Van Conner, the bassist for the band, and had hopes of getting a backstage pass through some contacts. Serko s a visionary, for sure, but he didn t wind up back stage. We did manage to see Rancid s lead guitarist and bassist, who are pretty down to earth in my opinion. I didn t know what to say to these guys, so I decided to chuck the phony, ôBoy, you guys rockö routine. Jason Newsted, bassist for Metallica, became visible for a brief period of time, but did not converse with the fans. I still have a ringing sensation in my right here, which was probably caused by the bass boom of Wu Tang Clan. I was nowhere near the speakers, but the repetitive thumping annoyed the shit out of me. I used to listen to rap, which I still can t fucking believe. All the clan does is say ôWu,ö and the crowd retorts ôClanö like a bunch of brain dead zombies. Then they all give peace signs to one another and shout ôBetter not fuck with me, booooooyyyyyy.ö As if I have not seen this before. Sounds hackneyed and boorish? Indeed it is. Supposedly, the crowd became very raucous during this crap, and a naked lady emerged. I m kind of upset I missed that, but the music was annoying enough to keep me away. I guess Lollapalooza has to attract a rap audience, too. I guess if I liked rap, I d be pissed off with Soundgarden. This brings me to one of the festival s strong points: a diversity of tastes. Whoever says that Lollapalooza 96 is metalpalooza is both right and wrong in their assessment. True, the festival has gone in a different direction with Soundgarden and Metallica headlining, but diversity is still the name of the game. Where else would one see the Shaolin monks, who combine music with amazing physical feats, that require years of dedication and practice? The bottom line is that no matter what music you like, you will be accommodated. This holds true unless you re a classical fan, because Mozart is not performing this year. It s bad enough that I have to listen to classical stuff in Humanities class -- I can only tolerate Vivaldi s 4 Seasons.

I was in the perfect position to see Soundgarden -- my main reason for coming to Lollapalooza 96 . My friends and I were about 30 feet away from Kim Thayil, the subdued, amazingly cool lead guitarist for Soundgarden. The band came on stage and immediately began playing ôSpoonman,ö and all hell broke loose. A few of my pals could not breathe, so they got out of the area. I m tall and lanky, plus I m used to the crushing feeling. Thus, I never felt queasy, until my shoulders began to give out during ôRusty Cage.ö The setlist is here, but not in the right order. I do know that the band played ôPretty Nooseö near the beginning with the characteristic wah wah, and a crazy version of ôLet Me Drownö as its third track. I crowd surfed during this song and went all the way to the front, where I was dragged down. Unfortunately, I was dropped during ôOutshined.ö I wasn t hurt, but it pissed me off because it was the 3:30-4:00 part of the song when Cornell screams and says ôOh yeah.ö That is perhaps the best segment of a Soundgarden song, in my opinion. Here s the setlist, with a few comments:

Badmotorfinger
Rusty Cage -- Total chaos. We killed each other out there, during this fast paced riff.
Outshined -- Second song during which I crowd surfed. Cornell s voice was shrill during the screams, perhaps because of fatigue, but it was still unbelievable.
Searching With My Good Eye Closed -- Haven t listened to this song in a long time, so I didn t recognize it by name. Cool, though.
Drawing Flies -- Same as the above.

Superunknown
Let Me Drown -- One of my top 3 Superunknown songs, which is unusual when juxtaposed against the taste of other Soundgarden fans. I crowd surfed during the song and it was an intense performance.
My Wave -- The song is still a bit repetitive (should be 3 minutes long, in my opinion) but it rocks. The crowd started to fatigue during this riff, which was either the 8th or 9th track played.
Fell on Black Days -- I just remember being dazed and confused for about 10 minutes. I was hit in the mouth, but it didn t start bleeding. I think they played this song. As I said before, I was completely out of it.
Mailman -- Great version of this song, which caused the crowd to sing along more than usual.
Black Hole Sun -- Cornell allowed the band to rest during this eerie, moving solo performance. It was a great version, and my pal Mike Baglivi had that glazed over look in his eye, that one gets when something is tremendously powerful. Ben Shepherd, always the kidder, ran behind Chris during the song and made a funny face. He seemed like a dark character at first, but I m beginning to really appreciate his participation in the band. He made a few funny comments during the May 14th interview and debut broadcast, and hasn t missed a beat since.
Spoonman -- As I said before, it was crazy. It would have been better with that spoon guy in the video. Of course, I m not complaining.

Down on the Upside
Pretty Noose -- A song that every attendee was familiar with, much like Burden in My Hand. I don t like groupies, and the song brought out the worst in them. The uneducated fan came out for this riff, but it was awesome, after all. Epitomizing the ignorance of the groupies, someone threw a shoe at Kim Thayil and it hit his third fret. Unfazed, Thayil continued playing and Cornell issued a warning to the asshole at the end of the song (once again, paraphrased). ôI don t know about you, but most people came to hear the music.ö Everyone cheered after his forceful, authoritative statement.
Ty Cobb -- The most up-tempo, out of control song played. It s a punk song and all the crowd s hidden hostilities were released. A great song allows the audience to relate, and I could hear people chanting ôHard headed, fuck you all.ö I think Generations X and Y were made for this song. I moshed on adrenalin alone, and that doesn t happen often. Hell, I usually don t mosh, but Soundgarden just transformed me.
Burden in my Hand -- I was too tired to cheer or move. It was another Disney sing along, and that annoyed me. Oh well. I had the same beef here, as I had with ôPretty Noose.ö

I m tired of writing now, but I ll finish the review tomorrow (July 12th). Then I m off to see the Pumpkins on Saturday (MSG) and Sunday (Continental Arena -- home to the lowly Nets)

Checking out
8:59 p.m.

Note: I m home writing this because I have to watch my 9-year old brother. I do have a life -- just not tonight. Pardon my casual jargon and excessive cussing. I m just trying to duplicate the mood of Lollapalooza. Remember that the almighty dollar is all that matters in the grand scheme of things. Sorry if I let the movement down, but I bought a t-shirt. Hell, it looked cool, even if it cost $23.

Metallica Add-On

July 13, 1996
1:07 p.m.

I m bummed that the Pumpkins aren t playing, but understand their decision. I had tickets to tonight s MSG performance (Section 7, right behind the GA area), and for the Meadowlands on Sunday (nosebleed heaven). Anyway, here s what I remember about Metallica s performance. I m not familiar with the names of a lot of their old songs, but I ve heard all of them on the Cross Country team bus. I do know that they either opened with or played ôAin t My Bitchö second. James Hetfield s vocals were perfect and there were no feminist groups to complain about the song (BTW, the word bitch is used as a synonym for ôcomplaintö -- I m surprised Tipper Gore hasn t caused a ruckus). Metallica also played a brilliant version of ôKing Nothingö and ôUntil It Sleeps.ö Preceding the latter song, Hetfield asked the crowd what it wanted to hear. About 100 different songs were mentioned by the audience of 60,000, so Hetfield gave a signal to everyone to play the popular single. My favorite performances came during ôNothing Else Mattersö and ôOne.ö The special effects were incredible and Metallica s performance almost made it sound as if the albums were actually playing. In other words, no luster was lost because of the live performance. There were fireworks, flames, synchronized lights (amazingly in sync with the nature of the music), and Hetfield s characteristic spitting every 30 seconds. Hammett looked pale as hell, but his guitar work was phenomenal. Even though I m a huge Soundgarden fan, I felt that Metallica was equally impressive. Lars must have thrown out 10-14 drum sticks, which really riled up the crowd. Unfortunately, he looked like a wuss with those gay bicycle shorts. The only Metallica album I actually own is ôLoad,ö but that should change. I used to hate these guys, but I guess I had a closed mind ôback in the days.ö

Checking out
1:17 p.m.

Note: Anyone else pissed off with the freaky spectacles? They re so cheesy. The headless woman? It s probably just a plastic Resuscitation Annie Doll without a head. Then I saw this setup for the 4-foot long, 100 pound rat. The guy working the booth said, ôYou ve never seen anything like this in your entire life.ö I retorted, ôHell man, I had to bring stuff out to the Burger King dumpster. I probably saw rats that are bigger than that one. Besides, I know that you just dressed up a possum to look like a rat. I m not an ignoramus

cromano567@aol.com
hey.....what else can you say about soundgarden???? they definitly kicked ass....i just wish they could've played longer cuz the time went by in a second. it was definitly worth going to see. i went mostly cuz i won tickets from 92.3 but i was planning on going anyway cu of soundgarden...and metallica, of course. they sounded great, chris did a great job on black hole son, he sounded awesome.....it was definitly worth spraining my ankle from crowd-surfing. -cromano567@aol.com

nickd@escape.com
The show was exelent, they played very well. I, however, have two complants: 1. They didn't play anything from "ULTRAMEGA O.K.", "SCREAMING LIFE", and "LOUDER THEN LOVE." 2. I was kinda far away and this chick was sitting on her boyfriends sholders and she was blocking my vew. I had to bob my head up and down just so I could catch a glips of Chris Cornell. One cool thing happend. People kept throuing shit on stage, so in the begining of "PRETTY NOOSE" Matt Cameron through his sticks when the drum part kicked in. -Dimz

gva@concentric.net
I want to here soungarden please

gva@concentric.net
I thin k soundgarden kicked some major ass except the only thing I hated was that they didn't play as long as I wanted them to. The real cool part at the end was when Chris Cornell threw the microphone in the speaker and it got stuck

hessler@nvnet.k12.nj.us
SOUNDGARDEN KICKED ROYAL ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PERFORMING AFTER WU-TANG WAS THE BEST IDEA SO THAT THEY WOULD MAKE UP FOR WU-TANG'S SUCKINESS!!!

delgadjo@lanmail.shu.edu
Lollapalooza was probably the highlight of my summer this year. Rancid and the Ramones fuckin kicked ass!! Needless to say so did Metallica. But, I gotta say that out of all the bands Soundgarden blew me away. I've been listening to them since 93 (badmotorfinger) and hadnt had the chance to see them live until this summer. I gotta say they were amazing. They opened with "Spoonman" and before I knew it the pit was going!!!! Other songs included in the set were "Let Me Drown", "Fell on Black Days", "Mailman", "Dusty", "Burden in My Hand", "Pretty Noose", and what blew my away the most was Cornell's solo version of "Black Hole Sun". Chris did this one all by himself!!!! For me this was the best part of their set. They closed with a kick-your-fuckin-ass version of "Drawing Flies" and right after Cornell fininshed singin' he tossed the mic up in the air and got it all tangled up in some pole abover the lights. It was fuckin hysterical to watch the roadies come out and pull it off!!! Overall a great set and a great show!!!

delgadjo@lanmail.shu.edu
I made a mistake in my review, actually they didnt play "Dusty" they played "Ty Cobb" Sorry!!!!!

rpalmer@wam.umd.edu
Soundgarden kicked asss!!! hey opened the set with Spoonman, Searching With My Good Eye Closed, and Let Me Drown. I was very impressed by the live Let MeDrown (great song!). They played no songs before Badmotorfinger, but they played a diverse set. I was in the second row of fans, between Cornell and Thayil. It was so unreal. It was really uncomfortable and I crowd surfed out during Rustty Cage. Some memorable momments: Someone threw something on stage, which Cornell responded to by saying "Why don't you come up here so I could ram it down your fucking throat" Chris also used some humor by playing a little solo ditty, singing something about a flower, to which he said, "What's the matter? Don't you like my song? Well fuck you then!" He also said, "You guys wanna hear some songs? Well listen then..." Lwastly, duriing the last song (Drawing Flies), Chris was roaming back and forth on stage, and at the end, he threw the microphone in the air and it got caught up in the rafters or catwalk, butidn't know it, and it was funny to watch the raodies try and get it down. Overall the set kicked ass, especially Outshined, Mailman, and Let Me Drownn.