I entered Rock City with a degree of trepidation; as a lifelong fan of Chris Cornell’s various artistic ventures I was a bit let down by his latest album, Carry On. Not that it isn’t good; you can generally rely on his output to be technically brilliant, well put together and sung beautifully, but it seems to lack the same overly haunting, often epic, qualities which made 1999’s Euphoria Morning so good.
After a quick panic that tonight would focus on his new material as the set opened with Carry On’s Silence the Voices, my fears were quickly allayed. A chipper, clearly enjoying himself Cornell announced that tonight there would be a lot of songs performed ‘from history’, and he didn’t certainly didn’t go back on his word.
What followed was more like a career retrospective; from the Soundgarden era we were treated to the likes of Let me Drown, Burden in My Hand, Rusty Cage, and Outshined. From his time with Audioslave, we were given a stomping Cochise, Show Me How to Live, Who You Are and Original Fire. From Temple of the Dog, a wonderful rendition of Say Hello To Heaven, preceded by the announcement that the song was written for Andy Wood, late of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone. Us fans probably all knew that anyway, but it was nice of him to acknowledge it. There were a handful of new songs, a nice surprise being Bond theme You Know My Name which, without the orchestral accompaniment, is as solid a rock song as they come.
After a few more songs ‘from history’ (such as an obligatory Black Hole Sun) Chris and the band left, but not before returning for a surprise-ridden encore. It began with Seasons, a solo effort written exclusively for the Cameron Crowe’s movie Singles, which lost none of its beauty live. Soundgarden’s Slaves & Bulldozers followed, Cornell easily scaling the vocal highs that established him early on in his career.
Finally, as the song ended and the feedback blared, something familiar seemed to be taking shape amidst the cacophony; suddenly we were listening to a kick-ass cover of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love, which went down a storm with vocals Robert Plant himself would have surely envied.
We might not smell like teen spirit anymore, but the rapturous applause made it feel like those heady days of grunge had never passed, and this gig served as a powerful reminder that no matter how many three-chord wonders there are out there filling up today’s ‘rock’ scene, the old pros can still bring the house down when they want to.
What next?More by Chris Cornell? More gigs? More rock, or grunge?