Mad Season was an American rock supergroup[3] formed in 1994 as a side project of members of other bands in the Seattle grunge scene.

[4] The band's principal members included guitarist Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, lead singer Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, drummer Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees, and bassist John Baker Saunders.

Attempts were made in the late 1990s to revive the group with Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan instead of Staley, and material for a follow-up release to Above had been worked on.

During the production of 1994's Vitalogy, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready went into drug and alcohol rehab at the Hazelden Clinic in Minnesota, where he met bassist John Baker Saunders.

[6] Immediately the trio set up rehearsal time together and wrote the music for two songs that would later become Mad Season's "Wake Up" and "River of Deceit", both of which would later appear on the band's album Above.

"[5] The album, Above, which was recorded in Seattle, Washington at Bad Animals Studio (co-owned by Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart) and co-produced by the band and Pearl Jam sound engineer Brett Eliason, featured ten songs.

[11] In 1997, attempts were made by McCready, Saunders and Martin to revive Mad Season,[12] although by this point Staley's health had worsened due to severe drug addiction; he would never perform again after a July 1996 Alice in Chains show.

With Staley now out of the picture, the band recruited vocalist Mark Lanegan (of the Screaming Trees), who had previously guested on the Above album (as well as at live shows) as its new permanent singer.

[16] Lanegan went on to a relatively successful solo career, worked with Queens of the Stone Age, and performed with Isobel Campbell on the 2006 Mercury Prize nominated album, Ballad of the Broken Seas, and as part of a duo with Greg Dulli under the name The Gutter Twins.

[17][18][19][20] A number of songs were covered during the show, including Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven Is a Place on Earth",[21] Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry",[21] and the Rolling Stones' "Dead Flowers" among others[21] however one of the more notable moments came when McCready performed "River of Deceit" for the first time since the breakup of Mad Season[21] with Jeff Rouse performing vocal duties on the song.

[22] In 2012, Martin, McCready and McKagan, along with singer Jeff Angell and keyboardist Benjamin Anderson collaborated on an album called Walking Papers.

[29] The concert was recorded for the live album Mad Season & The Seattle Symphony - Sonic Evolution / January 30, 2015 / Benaroya Hall and was released August 28, 2015.

[37] "I Don't Know Anything" is a heavier, blues-influenced track,[2] while "Long Gone Day" takes considerable jazz influence, combining the use of samba-style bass, xylophone, and saxophone.

Vocalist Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees contributes guest vocals on "I'm Above" and "Long Gone Day"; he is also credited for co-writing the music to those tracks along with McCready and Martin.

Lanegan also wrote the lyrics for the three bonus tracks on Disc 1 of the deluxe issue - "Locomotive", "Black Book of Fear", and "Slip Away".

guitarist Peter Buck is credited for co-writing the music to "Black Book of Fear" along with McCready, Martin, Saunders, and Lanegan.