Soundgarden have released official footage of their halftime performance at the Seattle Seahawks‘ season opener, featuring The Pretty Reckless singer Taylor Momsen and Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready. The video, filmed by the NFL, is now available on the band’s YouTube channel.
The performance took place on Wednesday, September 9, at Lumen Field in Seattle, where the Seahawks opened the 2026 NFL season against the New England Patriots in a rematch of February’s Super Bowl. Seattle won the game 13-10. NBC did not show the halftime set during its broadcast, so the new video is the first official footage fans have been able to see.
Guitarist Kim Thayil, drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Ben Shepherd played a medley of “Outshined” and “Spoonman” with the Seahawks‘ Blue Thunder drumline. Momsen sang in place of the band’s late frontman, Chris Cornell, and McCready joined them on guitar.
Before kick-off, McCready played a version of the U.S. national anthem inspired by Jimi Hendrix. He said: “It’s way scary in a way, because I want to do it right and I don’t want to mess it up, so that’s going through my head every time. I’ve done it a bunch of times; I just want to do it how I do it, and hopefully it means something, and I do it right, so there’s pressure there.”
It was the first time the surviving members had played together since Soundgarden were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in November 2025. At that ceremony, held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, Momsen and McCready joined Thayil, Cameron and Shepherd for “Rusty Cage“. Brandi Carlile led a performance of “Black Hole Sun” with Momsen singing backing vocals, and Cornell‘s daughter, Toni Cornell, sang “Fell On Black Days” with Heart‘s Nancy Wilson.
The induction included Thayil, Cameron, Shepherd and Cornell, as well as original bassist Hiro Yamamoto, who played on the band’s first two EPs and first two albums during his time in the group from 1984 to 1989.
Momsen has often named Soundgarden and Cornell as her biggest musical influences. Thayil and Cameron both appeared on “Only Love Can Save Me Now“, a song from The Pretty Reckless‘ 2021 album Death By Rock And Roll.
Thayil, Cameron and Shepherd are finishing a new Soundgarden album built on unreleased recordings they made with Cornell before his death in 2017. The album is being produced by Terry Date, who worked on Louder Than Love (1989) and Badmotorfinger (1991), and mixed by Joe Barresi, whose credits include Avenged Sevenfold, Slipknot and Bad Religion.
Soundgarden‘s final studio album, built around vocal recordings Cornell made before his death, is in post-production. The band has said the remaining hold-ups are on the label, production and promotion side rather than musical.
