Chris Cornell: genius at work.
When an artist requests that no one in a tiny, intimate venue like the Uptown Theatre be allowed to use technology of any kind (cameras, smartphones, etc), it makes sense. It means that everyone will be paying attention to the music they’re sharing with you, and there are no rude distractions. True, it makes my job harder, as it’s rare that I have to scribble notes (pen-and-paper style) in the dark. But, when that artist is the phenomenal Chris Cornell, I’m happy to “suck it up” and do my best to take technology-free notes. Last week, that’s exactly what I did…
The night began with opener Bhi Bhiman, whose wit and talent are equal, making him a thoroughly enjoyable warm-up act. He began with the comedic “Kimchee Line,” followed by “It’s Cold Out Here” and one whose name I couldn’t get. After “Time Heals” came a song he wrote for the woman who would become his wife: “Equal in My Tea,” which was full of unexpected humor. “Guttersnipe” came next before Bhiman closed his set with a cover of Dire Straits’ “Walk of Life.”
Bhi Bhiman may not look it, but he’s hilarious.
After an intermission between acts, Chris Cornell took the stage. He was dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt with an army green jacket; he was completely comfortable and unpretentious, despite the volume of cheers he was met by. He began with a Tom Waits cover, “House Where Nobody Lives,” after which he sang “Silence the Voices” over a vinyl backing that sounded fantastic, despite his insistence that his equipment was outdated. A cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Thank You” was next, after which Cornell asked the crowd, “what are we doing?” and admitted, “that’s all I had planned…” Predictably, the crowd shouted all kinds of requests, running the gamut from solo selections to songs from Cornell’s group projects (Soundgarden, Audioslave, and Temple of the Dog, for those who aren’t familiar). Cornell chose an Audioslave song next, “Dandelion,” which he dedicated to his wife, who was under the weather. The song turned out to be one of my favorites of the evening: it’s one he wrote while his wife was pregnant with their child, and as I was with my brother and his pregnant girlfriend, it was a special moment.
Another Audioslave tune, “I Am the Highway,” was up next, after which Cornell asked if “weed” was “more or less decriminalized here,” saying that it was “weird” that in the seventies the venue would have been thick with haze, but now that smoking marijuana is less criminalized, no one even tried to light up. Audioslave song “Original Fire” came next, after which Cornell took off his jacket and thanked the crowd for its patience while he was experiencing some technical difficulties with one guitar. “If you wanna be impatient, that’s fine too… ‘This is bullshit…hacks!'” Checking to see if the malfunctioning guitar was fixed, he shook his head, dismayed. “I broke the guitar! I fucked it up! The guitars are now gonna decide what songs I play,” Cornell announced, simply switching to another one. While his guitar tech came to take the guitar and try to fix it, Cornell explained that the next song had been featured in two movies, both using the same version he admitted had been recorded in his closet. The song was “Seasons,” and when he had finished, he tried the “broken” guitar again, to see if it had been fixed. “Nope!” From the audience came more requests, but Cornell went with a cover I’d heard but never expected to be treated to live: Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” Cornell’s version is brilliant, and was a highlight of the evening, at least for me. He joked that Jackson had been smart, writing the song about the experience of one of his brothers, rather than himself. “I don’t know which brother,” he quipped. “Marlon? Maybe Tito. Tito got someone pregnant!”
Audioslave’s “Getaway Car” was next, after which Cornell paused to give Bhi Bhiman a well-deserved shout-out: “thank you for being so nice to him, but let’s make some more noise for him!” As the crowd obliged, Cornell shook his head and lamented that he’d ruined the whole flow of his set. Even if that were true, I didn’t notice. The next song he chose was a Temple of the Dog tune, “All Night Thing,” and then he told a little story about an experience he had around the time of his first solo album. He’d thought he was “all grown up,” he explained, until he realized he was “not that different from when” he was eleven. He divulged the feeling of “she’s trying to change me!” when he was first “married with a kid,” which came out in the form of a song, appropriately titled “Can’t Change Me.” Another Temple song followed, this time “Wooden Jesus.” As soon as he began the next song, the room erupted in whistles and cheers: it was Temple of the Dog’s “Hunger Strike,” and the crowd could be heard singing along throughout. “You can sing along!” Before he began the next song, Cornell said, “someone asked me what it’s about… It was so long ago, but the short answer is, bad things happen. It’s about waking up and realizing you’re not happy.” The song was Soundgarden’s “Fell on Black Days,” and once again the crowd joined in. Speaking of the crowd, it was a fun group: they were fairly mellow, but it was obvious they love Cornell. That is, in my mind, the perfect balance for an audience, and is always fun to witness.
Finally, Cornell tried the “broken” guitar again. This time, it worked. As it turned out, he hadn’t broken it at all: “I wasn’t rockin’ it so hard that it broke… I just turned the volume all the way down and was just too stupid to turn it back on!” Soundgarden tune “Bones of Birds” was next, which Cornell said he hadn’t done before (acoustic, he meant), but “I think it’ll work.” (It did.) Next came another delightful and unexpected cover: this time, it was the Beatles’ “Dear Prudence,” and it was wonderful. When it finished, someone shouted, “‘Seasons!'” from the crowd. “I played ‘Seasons,’ buddy!” As the crowd laughed, Cornell began “Sunshower,” which was met with excited cheers of recognition. “I’m gonna annoy you with something,” Cornell insisted, continuing by saying that he doesn’t “really rehearse,” but that he goes “into the bathroom so I don’t annoy the kids.” One day, he “Googled ‘One’ lyrics,” looking to cover the U2 song. Apparently, he clicked on the first link that came up, and as a result? The cover song he played was a hybrid of U2’s “One” and Metallica’s song of the same name (Metallica’s lyrics to U2’s music). It was fantastic and interesting, and Cornell said it was “not meant to make fun of either song; I love both of those bands!” It was, he insisted, meant as a tribute instead. Cornell solo song “When I’m Down” was next, once again accompanied by music on vinyl. When it concluded to huge applause, he explained, “that song and piano is why I started having a record player.” His friend, the piano player, had passed away and he couldn’t imagine singing it with anyone else or a computer.
“Never Far Away” came next, accompanied by guitar tech Stephen. After Cornell introduced him, someone from the crowd sassed, “who’s your phone tech?” because there was an old school red phone on Cornell’s stage set. Without missing a second, Cornell picked up the phone, put it to his ear, and then set it back down. “That was your daddy, so shut the fuck up!” he said, and the crowd went crazy. For the next song, Cornell donned his harmonica, saying that he’d written it over the summer. “Sometimes in the middle of a song that takes me days, I’ll write on in a few minutes,” adding that some songs that take five days “suck, and you’ll never hear ’em.” The new song, “Bend in the Road,” was one of those that he’d written in a very short span of time. He followed with “Ground Zero” before finally shutting up the persistent fans behind me who’d been shouting a request all evening long for “Like a Stone!” To be fair, I understood their tenacity: it was another highlight of the evening, and definitely one of Cornell/Audioslave’s best songs.
After Audioslave’s “Doesn’t Remind Me,” Cornell said, “thank you very much, see you next time!” and vacated the stage. When he returned, he confessed he’d “played too long” and only had time for “one more really quick.” The song, “Misery Chain,” was from the upcoming film 12 Years a Slave, which Cornell insisted was important to “recognize that it happened, and that it still happens.” The song isn’t in the movie, but will be featured on a soundtrack of songs inspired by the film, compiled by John Legend. It was a somber end to a fantastic evening, but that didn’t make it any less awesome.
Before that evening, I don’t think I owned more than five songs total of Mr. Cornell’s from any project. I still don’t own any complete album, but this show definitely made me download a handful of songs I didn’t know before and now enjoy. I can’t wait to see him next time he’s around!
(This review originally published by Spinning Platters – thanks for sharing!)
