The Hundred-Buck Amp Challenge

They got so out of hand in general that the last big festival that I attended was Lollapalooza 96 in West Palm Beach Florida. This was back when Lolla was a touring festival that ran for a whole day on three stages at each stop. The lineup was as diverse as the crowd. Metallica, Soundgarden, Rancid and the Ramones were all in the same show. The punkers played in the afternoon heat and the loud rock / metal came after dark.

There I got to watch a Sovtek MIG 50 go down in flames. Yes, some Russian made guitar amps were sold in the US under the Sovtek brand. They weren't around for long, so I don't know if they all flamed out, or this was a one off crash landing.
Very jealous. '96 was probably a great year. Halcyon days of my youth, best decade of music I have lived through.

I've only been fortunate enough to see Matt Cameron of Soundgarden play locally with members of other bands such as Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees), never got to see Soundgarden live.
I see Eddie Vedder is still playing Lolla every now and then.