See Soundgarden’s Surviving Members Reunite at Seattle Benefit Concert

The surviving members of Soundgarden — drummer Matt Cameron, guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Ben Shepherd — reunited onstage Saturday to perform a set of the band’s music at a Seattle benefit concert.

Billed as Nudedragons — the word “Soundgarden” scrambled up — the trio were joined by Seattle-based singer Shaina Shepherd, who filled in for the late Chris Cornell. The performance at the 2024 SMooCH benefit concert raised money for Seattle Children’s Hospital.

The six-song setlist featured cuts from Soundgarden’s early catalog — Ultramega OK’s “Flower” and “Beyond the Wheel,” Screaming Life’s “Hunted Down” — plus Badmotorfinger’s “Outshined” and Superunknown’s “Kickstand,” with Guns N’ Roses bassist and fellow Seattleite Duff McKagan joining in to sing the latter.

Nudedragons’ set at the sold-out Showbox concluded with a cover of MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams.” McKagan also performed his own set at the benefit show, which also boasted performances by Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch and the first Sebadoh gig in five years.

The gig marked the first time “Nudedragons” had taken the stage since 2010, when the trio and Cornell performed under that moniker at a surprise show (also at the Showbox) that launched the band’s then-reunion.

Cameron, Thayil, and Ben Shepherd last performed together live when Brandi Carlile brought them out at her Gorge Amphitheater concert in 2021, soon after she re-recorded a pair of Soundgarden classics — “Black Hole Sun” and “Searching With My Good Eye Closed” — in the studio with the band for a Record Store Day single. Carlile and the trio first played together live at the Cornell tribute concert I Am the Highway in 2019.