“Soundgarden will reunite for concerts in 2010, according to a Twitter message from frontman Chris Cornell which directs fans to a new Web site, Soundgardenworld.com. The Seattle rock quartet — Cornell, guitarist Kim Thayil, bassist Ben Shepherd and drummer Matt Cameron — has not played live since splitting up in the spring of 1997.
Although no details have been announced yet, sources tell Billboard the group is weighing offers from several major U.S. and international festivals. But a tour routing is still a work in progress, due to Cameron’s prior commitments to play with Pearl Jam in the spring and summer of next year.
Cameron has been Pearl Jam’s permanent drummer since 1998; that group recently announced its first North American date of 2010 as part of the second weekend of New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (April 29-May 2), and will also play 10 European shows from June 22 in Dublin through July 10 in Oeiras, Portugal.
Also still amorphous are plans for some kind of Soundgarden best-of and/or reissues of its back catalog. In addition, Thayil and Shepherd have long discussed compiling a Soundgarden boxed set, which would include a wealth of unreleased studio material.
For many years after Soundgarden split, the instrumentalists were said to have had little contact with Cornell and reportedly turned down an offer to reform for Sub Pop’s 20th anniversary concerts in Seattle in 2008. Cornell was not on hand for an impromptu live performance on March 24, 2009, at Seattle’s Crocodile Cafe, when Cameron, Thayil and Shepherd played the Soundgarden songs “Hunted Down,” “Nothing to Say” and “Spoonman” with Tad Doyle on vocals.”
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