This’ll be a big one! Seattle will pay homage once again to many of those who were instrumental in getting the grunge scene going.

Chris Cornell, of Soundgarden, will join the remaining members of Mad Season, as well as Pearl Jam shredder Mick McCready and Duff McKagan, from Velvet Revolver during a special night of music in Seattle on January 30th that will acknowledge, for the fourth consecutive year, the city’s important place in the birth of an array of musical movements, most prominently of which is grunge, spearheaded by Nirvana in the late 1980s. The reappearance of Mad Season onstage is especially poignant in this year’s incarnation of the concert which will also feature compositions performed by the Seattle Symphony.

The lead singer of the supergroup Mad Season, Layne Thomas Staley has been credited as being one of the most important and influential proponents of the grunge scene, foraging world wide fame with his band Alice in Chains.  Their first single “Man in the Box” established their sound and put them in the spotlight as a unique new band whose capacity to create emotive rock music was just beginning to flower. In 1994, their second EP, Jar of Flies, hit the charts at number one, which made it the first EP to ever do so. There was, however no tour, on account of Staley’s increasing drug related health issues, which were ultimately to become his downfall many years later, when he passed away in 2002. Mad Season was comprised of Mick McCready, also of Peal Jam, Barrett Martin on drums, who also played for Skin Yard and The Screaming Trees, as well as John Baker Saunders who played with The Walkabouts.

The fact that the concert will feature both the Symphony and Mad Season, and include members from other important and influential Seattle trailblazers suggests an extremely engaging event. The symphonic pieces will run the first half of the night, and will exhibit three unheard compositions by an eclectic trip of composers. Yann Robin, from France, will debut his piece “Ashes” which was apparently inspired by Nirvana. “Beyond Much Difference”, inspired by Pearl Jam, and written my Angelique Poteat, is a new realization of an older piece commissioned to be played in New York City years ago, called “Much Difference”. “Waking the Horizon”, which is a piece that was at first the brain child of Mike McCready, and was arranged by Scott Teske, will close the first half of the concert.

Barrett Martin will return with Mike McCready as the surviving members of Mad Season to play the second half of the show. Chris Cornell, of Soundgarden, and Duff McKagan, bassist of Guns N’ Roses, will fill in for John Baker Saunders and Layne Staley. It’ll be a night of remembrance, as well as a night to remember. Below is the program for the show.

Yann Robin: “Ashes” (World Premiere)
Angelique Poteat: “Beyond Much Difference” (World Premiere)
MIKE MCCREADY/arr. Scott Teske “Waking the Horizon” (World Premiere)

MAD SEASON/arr. Scott Teske “River of Deceit”
MAD SEASON/arr. Scott Teske “I Don’t Know Anything”
MAD SEASON/arr. Scott Teske “Long Gone Day”