If reunited ’90s grunge merchants Soundgarden were the only reason you were considering going to the Walmart on the Lake that is Lollapalooza, you’re in luck: The band has announced that it will play the Vic Theatre the night before the festival starts, on Thursday, Aug. 5.

The interesting twist here: The Vic is owned by Chicago-based Jam Productions, which has been battling Lollapalooza promoters C3 Presents since the massive festival started decimating the local company’s summer concert business. And Jam–along with the local offices of the giant national concert monopoly Ticketmaster/Live Nation–appears to have been one of the local entities whose complaints about Lollapalooza’s nine-month, 300-mile radius clauses triggered the ongoing investigation by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

Is C3 trying to buy off Jam with this superstar-level sanctioned pre-show? (C3 was booking these kinds of shows into the similarly sized Congress Theatre in the past.)  Ah, the serpentine ways of Chicago politics!

In any event, at the moment, tickets apparently will only be available through the band’s fan club. Here’s the 411 from its Web site:

Click here: http://bit.ly/sgregister to sign up as a member of Soundgarden World. Members will be given the chance to purchase a
pair of tickets to this once-in-a-lifetime show. If selected, you’ll be sent an email with a link to purchase a pair of tickets. If you already have an account, login and update your profile.