Soundgarden at The Orpheum Theatre (1/20/13)

Soundgarden. No opener. Just Soundgarden for two and a half hours. All aspects of their career were covered. The hits were played, of course: Spoonman, Fell On Black Days, Burden In My Hand, etc., as well as a handful of songs off of King Animal. But a shit-ton of deep cuts and lesser played songs were aired, and this was the payoff. Fourth of July AND Mailman? Yes, please, and thank you. Head Down, Drawing Flies, Hunted Down, Ugly Truth… hell, I could go on and on and on. Just when you thought they had exhausted everything they would launch into another one of their classics and you’d be like “Oh yeah, I forgot about this song,. It rules!”. This set was really a tale of two bands; on the one hand you had the hit making machine, cranking out songs tailor made for radio and singing along to. On the other hand you had the totally out-there artrock version of Soundgarden, who would veer off into a blissed out shoegazey section during Ugly Truth for a few minutes, abandoning the song altogether. Or just play one of their mindfucks like Head Down.

Chris Cornell’s voice was in top form, and it only got stronger as the set went on. He nailed all the high notes in Loud Love and Ugly Truth from his barechested banshee days with ease. He joked around with the audience a little bit, receiving a bouquet of flowers from a gentleman caller and making a crack about it. Ben Shepherd laid down his bass lines like he fucking meant it, and I’m pretty sure he did. Kim Thayil just played the living shit out of his guitar. During the encore version of Incessant Mace, with Cornell putting his guitar aside and just singing, Thayil was allowed to solo untethered, and the band came as close to prime Led Zeppelin as any band is going to nowadays. And last but not least, I need to give a shout out to the secret weapon, Matt Cameron. Rock solid the entire time, unwavering during all of the odd time signatures and weird changes, he is the unsung hero of this band, the driving engine of Soundgarden that propels it onward.

The encore consisted of the aforementioned amazing version of Incessant Mace, a supercharged Rusty Cage, the Beatles-on-downers anthem Black Hole Sun and finally a heaving and writhing Slaves & Bulldozers, which dissolved into Cornell and Thayil making an impressive racket with their axes for a few minutes, until Cornell walked off and left Thayil alone with his guitar cranked, coaxing sounds out of it that would’ve made Thurston Moore green with envy. And then that was it. Kim walked across the stage, waving to the audience as his guitar fedback into the ether, and it was over. Two and a half hours. An epic set by any measure. Thank you.

Cult 45 at Radio (1/14/13)

This was the CD release show for Cult 45, who were bestowing unto us “On High”, their new collection of hard rock gems. The show was packed and I’m pretty sure that every single person there knew every single other person, which made it seem kind of like an awesome family reunion but without a punch bowl for Uncle Ralph to wear on his head while making inapproriate passes at your sister.

Slim Lizzy, Boston’s own Thin Lizzy cover band, kicked it off in fine fashion. Instead of a black bass-playing Irishman up front, you got the singing drummer. Andy pretty much nailed it on the vocals, and the dual guitar players put on a Gorham/Robertson workshop, nailing the solos with ease. It’s hard to go wrong with a set that included Are You Ready, Bad Reputation, Don’t Believe a Word, Emerald, Rosalie and a bunch of other classic Lizzy songs. Bassist Bob Maloney held down the bottom end in fine Lynott fashion, kicking on the “awesome” pedal a couple of times.

White Dynomite, a new Allston supergroup consisting of members of Roadsaw, Cropduster and Wrecking Crew, tore it up next. Decked out entirely in white (duh), they slammed through a set of short, catchy punk rock. Kind of like if you dropped your bubblegum in your bourbon, said “the hell with it”, and slugged it back anyway. John Darga’s mustache peeled off some tasty solos and lead Dynomiter Dave Unger strutted around the stage like the drunk bastard offspring of Joe Cocker and Iggy Pop. The Riggs/Catz rhythm section held it all together like rock ‘n roll duct tape. Their new album “White Dynomite” is out now, if you like music you should hunt it down.

It had been ten years since Chelsea on Fire played live but you never would have known it. Completely emotional music played with passion and total heart is what they’re all about. Absolutely no irony here, ladies and gentleman. The closest comparison I can possibly even try to come up with would be the original PJ Harvey band, back around the time of “Rid of Me”, but even that doesn’t do them justice. I’m horrible with song titles, but during the last number Josey Packard’s voice left this earthly realm and soared somewhere out into the cosmos, it was a force of nature. Simply stunning. Hopefully there will be some more action from them in the future as there is really no band in Boston that sounds like Chelsea on Fire.

After everyone picked their jaws off the floor, Cult 45 hit the stage running and closed out the night with a solid set of future hard rock classics. Lead singer Tai Heatley has chops for days, she possesses an incredibly powerful and melodic voice, which is needed to keep up with the band. Lead axeman Jeffrey Fultz shredded a few solos, and bassist Bob Maloney and drummer Pepe Anzalone rumbled along, providing the foundation. Their sound isn’t metal, but there’s a little of that in there for sure. A shit-hot cover of “The Mob Rules” leveled the club, and they also do a mean cover of UFO’s “Can You Roll Her”, so those songs should give you a signpost of pretty much where you are with these guys and gal. Their brand new CD “On High” is out now, featuring the top shelf artwork of bassist Maloney. A solid set from start to finish, and a great night all around. Boston’s still got some life in it yet.