Soundgarden’s three surviving members played live together on Wednesday night, Sept. 9, 2026, for the first time since a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ten months earlier — and only the second time the band has performed at all since frontman Chris Cornell died in 2017.
Key facts
- When and where: Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, at halftime of the NFL’s nationally televised season-opening NFL Kickoff game between the Seahawks and Patriots at Lumen Field in Seattle. Kickoff was 8:20 p.m. ET / 5:20 p.m. PT, and the game was broadcast on NBC and Peacock.
- Who played: surviving members Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd and Matt Cameron, with Taylor Momsen (The Pretty Reckless) on vocals and Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) on guitar standing in for Chris Cornell.
- What was played: a medley of “Outshined” and “Spoonman,” per fan-filmed footage; no full setlist has been published.
- Why it’s notable: only the second time the surviving members have performed live since Cornell’s death in 2017 — the first was the Nov. 8, 2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.
- The game: Seattle beat New England 13-10, coming back from a 10-3 deficit.
The halftime performance
Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd and Matt Cameron took the stage at halftime of the Seattle Seahawks’ season-opening game against the New England Patriots at Lumen Field in Seattle. Taylor Momsen, lead singer of The Pretty Reckless, handled vocals in the role Cornell once held. Mike McCready, the Pearl Jam guitarist and a self-described Soundgarden superfan who played alongside the band’s members in the 1990s side project Temple of the Dog, played guitar alongside them. Fan-filmed footage shows the band playing a medley of “Outshined” and “Spoonman”; no complete setlist has been published, so it remains unclear whether additional songs were performed.
The national anthem and the raffle
McCready had a second job that night. Before kickoff, he performed the national anthem solo on guitar, in a style drawing on Jimi Hendrix. That anthem performance was tied to the Seahawks’ weekly “Spirit of 12” 50/50 raffle, which that week benefited the Washington Innocence Project. McCready’s wife, Ashley O’Connor McCready, is the organization’s board president.
Not the first time
This was not the first time Momsen and McCready had stood in for Cornell. Both joined Thayil, Shepherd and Cameron when Soundgarden was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Nov. 8, 2025, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Jim Carrey and Lilly Cornell Silver, Chris Cornell’s daughter, handled the induction. That night, Momsen sang “Rusty Cage.” Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell stepped in on guitar, and Brandi Carlile closed the tribute with “Black Hole Sun.” Wednesday’s halftime show was only the second time the surviving members have played live in front of an audience since Cornell’s death.
Limited TV coverage
Not everyone who tuned in to the NBC broadcast got to see it. Fans posting on social media said the network showed little to no footage of the Soundgarden set itself. Most of what is publicly available instead comes from concertgoers’ own phones — including clips posted by the accounts @hikerdevon and @1ivea1itt1e — and from a video the Seahawks posted to their own Instagram account. No network statement addressing the coverage has surfaced, so it isn’t known whether that was a scheduling choice, a technical one, or an editorial one.
What comes next
There’s no sign yet of what comes next. As of this week, none of the major ticket sellers — Ticketmaster, Live Nation or Stereoboard — list any further Soundgarden shows, and nothing said around the game pointed to a tour. Momsen and McCready have filled in for Cornell twice now, at the Hall of Fame and at Lumen Field, but neither has been described as joining the band permanently. Separately, and on a longer timeline, Thayil has said the band is working on a new studio album built from vocal recordings Cornell made before he died. He described piecing the material together as “very forensic in nature… We kind of have to tear it all apart and kind of piece it back together.” No release date has been set.
The game it happened during
The Soundgarden set happened at halftime of a football game with its own storyline: a Super Bowl rematch. Seattle had beaten New England 29-13 in Super Bowl LX back in February to win the championship, and the two teams met again to open the new season — this time a much closer one. Seattle trailed 10-3 through three quarters, lost starting quarterback Sam Darnold to a hip injury in the first quarter, and still came back to win 13-10 behind backup Drew Lock, who led both of the fourth-quarter scoring drives that won it. Lock finished 16-of-22 for 187 yards and a touchdown, while Patriots quarterback Drake Maye threw three interceptions.
Sources and further reading
- Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready performs the national anthem ahead of NFL Kickoff
- New England Patriots vs. Seattle Seahawks Live Score and Stats
- Soundgarden | Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
- NBC Sports Opens NFL Season With Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl Rematch in NFL Kickoff Game
- Performing Anthem & Playing With Soundgarden At Halftime ‘Incredibly Special & Incredibly Poignant’ For Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready