Chris Cornell Concert Review
last night i saw Chris Cornell, formerly of Audioslave, formerly of Temple of the Dog, formerly of Soundgarden, presently himself. it was the first time i had seen a show at massey hall and all i can think is that it's the only venue that i was actually in love with. it is a venue created for music shows so the acoustics are perfect, the show is intimate (despite having 2,000 other people with you) and the history is unimaginable. when i first walked in i had to stop. i thought of all the great bands that have probably played here in the past, it gave me a chill. later on michelle and i were talking and i was listening to the conversation the people behind us were having and one guy said, "imagine being here in 1971 for neil young." i feel bad for michelle because at that moment i went silent and transported myself to the concert. this morning i woke up and i put on the neil young live at massey hall album and was like "i was there"
ok enough about the venue, on with the show. the opening band was...i guess the best word is interesting. definitly entertaining but i dont know whether their lead singer (a female that at random parts of the performance started humping the ground) was a singer or just some stripper they found at the strip club down yonge street. the band itself (excluding the lead singer) were pretty good, i just had to block her out of my vision/hearing which took a lot b/c its not everyday you see a girl humping a stage.
when chris came on the place was electric. everyone went crazy, i have seen nothing like it. normally when someone comes on there is one or two drunk guys that just stand up and go nuts, for chris it seemed the whole place went crazy. i dont remember the setlist at all but i do know he did a good job mixing up his new solo stuff with his old soundgarden/audioslave/temple of the dog stuff. he also did a good job balancing his set with a light song then two heavy songs or vice versa. it was like i was on a roller coaster ride, the heavy/rock songs brought me way up while the light songs brought it down a little but made me want more.
the songs that i do remember were great, he really did a good job. i dont really know his solo stuff, but from what i gathered from the crowd, neither did they, but i did enjoy them. i didnt think to myself "shit another solo song, why wont he play his old stuff instead of this garbage" instead i thought "this is good, im going to check it out when i get home"
audioslave was one of my favorite bands b/c it combined the greatness of rage against the machine with the lyrics and vocals of soundgarden. i was really worried because i didnt think the band he had assembled would compare to that of the rage boys, especially the guitar of tom morrello. i left the audioslave 2 years ago thinking i had just seen the greatest guitar player of my generation. i left this show thinking, the guitarist was meh. but how does one compare themselves to tom, its impossible. the band was decent and did an ok job.
i wont go through songs b/c there were just too many. some higlights for me was when he did show me how to live, hungerstrike, outshined, spoonman, and burden in my hand. tho, my absolute favorite part of the night was when the band left and chris grabbed his acoustic guitar and played 4 or 5 songs. that blew me away. if i remember correctly he did, fell on black days, billie jean and like a stone, along with some solo stuff. he finished the acoustic with doesn't remind me. half way through this the band came back with a birthday cake (it was chris' birthday) and surprised him. he managed to play through all this comotion and barely missed a note. after the commotion the band joined in on the song, which was pretty good.
he finished the night with black hole sun. i was kinda disapointed with this because when i saw audioslave he did this song acousticly, and this time he had the band. the acoustic version was much more impressive.
all in all the show was good, i was worried that after seeing roger waters, chris cornell would be awful but he held his own. it was a totally different show and was really enjoyable. was it better then audioslave? no because i am a bigger rage against the machine fan then i am of soundgarden but this show definetly brought back good memories of the show 2 years ago. i was thinking i should start rating my shows but then it would be like comparing them and that is not possible. how can you compare chris cornell to roger waters or roger waters to radiohead. all i do is i think whether i 1) got my moneys worth, 2) had a good time. the answer to both those questions is yes.
look out for my next concert review of the muse show on august 1st
ok enough about the venue, on with the show. the opening band was...i guess the best word is interesting. definitly entertaining but i dont know whether their lead singer (a female that at random parts of the performance started humping the ground) was a singer or just some stripper they found at the strip club down yonge street. the band itself (excluding the lead singer) were pretty good, i just had to block her out of my vision/hearing which took a lot b/c its not everyday you see a girl humping a stage.
when chris came on the place was electric. everyone went crazy, i have seen nothing like it. normally when someone comes on there is one or two drunk guys that just stand up and go nuts, for chris it seemed the whole place went crazy. i dont remember the setlist at all but i do know he did a good job mixing up his new solo stuff with his old soundgarden/audioslave/temple of the dog stuff. he also did a good job balancing his set with a light song then two heavy songs or vice versa. it was like i was on a roller coaster ride, the heavy/rock songs brought me way up while the light songs brought it down a little but made me want more.
the songs that i do remember were great, he really did a good job. i dont really know his solo stuff, but from what i gathered from the crowd, neither did they, but i did enjoy them. i didnt think to myself "shit another solo song, why wont he play his old stuff instead of this garbage" instead i thought "this is good, im going to check it out when i get home"
audioslave was one of my favorite bands b/c it combined the greatness of rage against the machine with the lyrics and vocals of soundgarden. i was really worried because i didnt think the band he had assembled would compare to that of the rage boys, especially the guitar of tom morrello. i left the audioslave 2 years ago thinking i had just seen the greatest guitar player of my generation. i left this show thinking, the guitarist was meh. but how does one compare themselves to tom, its impossible. the band was decent and did an ok job.
i wont go through songs b/c there were just too many. some higlights for me was when he did show me how to live, hungerstrike, outshined, spoonman, and burden in my hand. tho, my absolute favorite part of the night was when the band left and chris grabbed his acoustic guitar and played 4 or 5 songs. that blew me away. if i remember correctly he did, fell on black days, billie jean and like a stone, along with some solo stuff. he finished the acoustic with doesn't remind me. half way through this the band came back with a birthday cake (it was chris' birthday) and surprised him. he managed to play through all this comotion and barely missed a note. after the commotion the band joined in on the song, which was pretty good.
he finished the night with black hole sun. i was kinda disapointed with this because when i saw audioslave he did this song acousticly, and this time he had the band. the acoustic version was much more impressive.
all in all the show was good, i was worried that after seeing roger waters, chris cornell would be awful but he held his own. it was a totally different show and was really enjoyable. was it better then audioslave? no because i am a bigger rage against the machine fan then i am of soundgarden but this show definetly brought back good memories of the show 2 years ago. i was thinking i should start rating my shows but then it would be like comparing them and that is not possible. how can you compare chris cornell to roger waters or roger waters to radiohead. all i do is i think whether i 1) got my moneys worth, 2) had a good time. the answer to both those questions is yes.
look out for my next concert review of the muse show on august 1st