Last night I had a chance to see Chris Cornell perform at the Bank
of America Pavillion in Boston. I'm not going to lie. I was a little
unsure of how great Cornell's performance was going to be.
I'd never
heard of his backup band, and his vocals seemed a bit raspier in
Audioslave's final album, Revelations. Still, I continue to
love Soundgarden long after they've broken up, and I can't turn off
Audioslave when it pops up. Any doubts I had before the show were soon
silenced as the band took the stage.
The buzz that I gathered
from several of the fans sitting near me was that in the time Cornell
had off from Audioslave's demise, he'd been resting his voice and
sounded as good as he did a decade ago. I can't say for sure what
Cornell did for voice workouts, but he definitely seemed to have more
life in him. It was almost like listening to a CD, with the added
excitement and originality of a live performance.
Playing
for almost an hour and forty minutes, the band rocked out a solid mix
of Soundgarden, Audioslave, and solo pieces from Cornell's repertoire,
including "Spoonman," "Show Me How to Live," and "Outshined." Even "Say
Hello 2 Heaven," a Temple of the Dog track, was performed. If you ever loved any of these tracks, you should definitely try to get tickets while you can.
Cornell
will be touring across the United States fora few more weeks before heading to Europe.
