Chris Cornell | Higher Truth (September 18)

[VinylGuy]

she looks better than Ed´s stalker im sure.

[Jorge]

The best part of that article was the fact that the stalker's mother's name is Robin Robbins.

Hahaha

[bodysnatcher]

never trust a ginj.

[Kevin Davis]

Going to see CC tonight, right here at home. Should be a good time.

[VinylGuy]

Going to see CC tonight, right here at home. Should be a good time.

come back with a review please.

[veddar10]

I saw him a few weeks back and he was solid as always but way too much Higher Truth and it isn't even the few songs you would want to hear. He is mixing it up less than in the past and seems to have two or three different set lists that he rotates where most of it is the same but changes the order and a handful of songs. He sounds great but I have seen five of these acoustic shows of his now and the bigger the venue gets the less I enjoy it. It has gotten larger each time and each time it has felt like the crowd was a little less into it and he seemed a little less excited to be playing. Not too suggest he seemed wasn't into it but it has obviously become more of a routine.

[bodysnatcher]

does he play much material off Euphoria Mourning? (other than Can't Change Me)

[verb_to_trust]

I heard Chris had a stalker try and get at him in Louisville.

[bodysnatcher]

I heard Chris had a stalker try and get at him in Louisville.

Yikes. I'd read his stalker in Florida went missing from authorities a few weeks back. Wonder if it's the same person.

[verb_to_trust]

I heard Chris had a stalker try and get at him in Louisville.

Yikes. I'd read his stalker in Florida went missing from authorities a few weeks back. Wonder if it's the same person.

I think it was. Security got her...the same guy who was banging Heidi klum and got paid a bunch of money not to talk about it. What a life.

[bodysnatcher]

I heard Chris had a stalker try and get at him in Louisville.

Yikes. I'd read his stalker in Florida went missing from authorities a few weeks back. Wonder if it's the same person.

I think it was. Security got her...the same guy who was banging Heidi klum and got paid a bunch of money not to talk about it. What a life.

wait, wut?

[verb_to_trust]

I heard Chris had a stalker try and get at him in Louisville.

Yikes. I'd read his stalker in Florida went missing from authorities a few weeks back. Wonder if it's the same person.

I think it was. Security got her...the same guy who was banging Heidi klum and got paid a bunch of money not to talk about it. What a life.

wait, wut?

Heidi's ex fuck toy is Chris Cornell's head of security.

[verb_to_trust]

http://www.alternativenation.net/photos ... by-police/

[VinylGuy]

I saw him a few weeks back and he was solid as always but way too much Higher Truth and it isn't even the few songs you would want to hear. He is mixing it up less than in the past and seems to have two or three different set lists that he rotates where most of it is the same but changes the order and a handful of songs. He sounds great but I have seen five of these acoustic shows of his now and the bigger the venue gets the less I enjoy it. It has gotten larger each time and each time it has felt like the crowd was a little less into it and he seemed a little less excited to be playing. Not too suggest he seemed wasn't into it but it has obviously become more of a routine.

Go back to SG already!

[Kevin Davis]

does he play much material off Euphoria Mourning? (other than Can't Change Me)

He did "When I'm Down" and "Sweet Euphoria" tonight. He also did "Getaway Car," my favorite Audioslave tune, which I was not expecting.

[VinylGuy]

When im down is great...and getaway car! Cool one.

[Kevin Davis]

Slightly more detailed ramblings: Overall, I loved it. The only other time I'd seen Chris was Audioslave's 30-minute Lollapalooza set in 2003, so hearing him in this environment with this kind of emphasis on his songs and voice was a real treat. There were too many covers, and as with PJ, the choices were predictable and unexciting, though all were performed well (I enjoyed the Prince and Zeppelin covers; by the time he got around to the Lennon tune I'd had enough, though at least it wasn't "Imagine"). He did a rewrite of "The Times They Are A-Changin'" (similar to Eddie's "Here's to the State," a sort of "updated for our times" kind of thing), and this other thing where he sang the lyrics of Metallica's "One" over the chords to U2's "One," both of which felt like open-mic caliber vanity projects unworthy of his set. The "One" thing in particular was a DOA punchline that went on five minutes too long.

I have not listened to "Higher Truth," having been put off by the single, but every song he introduced tonight as being "off the new record" I thought was great. I get why a Soundgarden fan wouldn't like them, but as someone who appreciates Nashville-style popcraft as much as Cornell's standard brand of harmonically complex gloom, I was impressed by his mastery of the tropes. He did another song apparently from a soundtrack to a film about Benghazi that was in this vein as well. No doubt these songs come across better in this setting than on a BO'B-ified studio job, but I'll be giving the album a listen for sure.

Having never listened to any of these shows before (apart from "Unplugged in Sweden" and the odd Youtube video), I was impressed by how fresh and engaged he sounded on even very old, presumably common songs -- the songs have all gained an elasticity over time, with Cornell very comfortable negotiating the melody, harmony, etc. in each chord change in seemingly (I say seemingly because perhaps people who've heard all these shows could recite all these variations in their sleep) spontaneous ways. He is touring with a multi-instrumentalist who moves from mandolin to piano to cello and who really gives shape to the acoustic arrangements of these songs -- songs like "Black Hole Sun" and "Fell on Black Days" especially gained a lot from his presence, in their instrumental bridges particularly (something you don't immediately recognize as such a strength in Soundgarden's music until you hear it in an unfamiliar way). He brought a chamber music element to the proceedings that I felt really suited the songs. Cornell's voice has obviously lost some range to the ravages of time, but it is still a force of nature, and what he has lost in sheer physicality he has found in focus and precision -- the complete opposite of Vedder in this regard. I remember him being a so-so live singer back in the '90's; here, not a single note was wasted.

Of the many highlights, my favorite moments were: "Fell on Black Days," "Say Hello 2 Heaven," "4th of July," "Blow Up the Outside World," "When I'm Down," "Getaway Car," "Seasons," "Black Hole Sun," "Hunger Strike," and "Sweet Euphoria" -- so yeah, lots of great moments. Quite a storied career this man has had.

Props must be given to the typically abysmal Peoria crowd, oftentimes comprised of brutish buffoons who are just so overcome with enthusiasm that there is something to do in Peoria besides drink domestic beer in shitty bars and ogle girls on campus that they buy tickets to shows they're only vaguely interested in (or win them off the damn radio) and then show up and act the fool. But this was a greatly appreciative, "respectfully enthusiastic" bunch. My wife was sitting next to a highly intoxicated young woman who seemed unfamiliar with everything except the Audioslave ballads, during which she would whip her hair around and do that weird finger-pointing-dance thing that people do when they play "We Are Family" at weddings, but disruptions like this were minimal by local standards. It was a great crowd. He got standing ovations after probably 50% of the songs.

[epilogue]

Nice write-up, as always, KD.

Glad you had a good time. Sounds like a really fun show. Hopefully, I'll get the chance to see him one of these days.

The 'One'/'One' thing sounds like fun on paper. But I'm not sure how I would like the actual product, either. I liked the way you described it an open-mic caliber vanity project unworthy of him. That seems right, having never heard it.

[Kevin Davis]

He introduced the "One" thing with a story about how he wanted to close his set with U2's "One," as it would be a nice uplifting finish after a set of mostly dark songs, but then he Googled "one lyrics" and pulled up the lyrics to the Metallica song instead, and he thought it would be amusing to juxtapose the two songs. If he'd told that story and then played 15-30 seconds of it, it would have been funny. But his story was more entertaining than the actual song -- once the novelty wore off (in 15-30 seconds), there was still 5-6 minutes of song left, and there was nothing about it inherently "worked," or sounded like anything other than what it was -- one song's lyrics being sung over another song's music.

Hopefully he can work the Three Dog Night song into future performances.

[epilogue]

Hopefully he can work the Three Dog Night song into future performances.

There you go. Work in every song called 'One' and maybe he' onto something.