A superb jam including 4th of July and Overfloater concluded this excellent show. A group of devil women made their presence felt, Chris made a quick costume change when a fan threw him a Mother Love Bone T-shirt and the voice everyone had come to hear was clear as a bell.

Silence the Voices - Original Fire - No Such Thing - Outshined - Show Me How to Live - Say Hello 2 Heaven - Be Yourself - What You Are - Rusty Cage - Can't Change Me - Call Me a Dog - Billie Jean - Dandelion - Like a Stone - Doesn't Remind Me - Cochise - Ty Cobb - Arms Around Your Love - Pushin' Forward Back - Black Hole Sun - Spoonman - You Know My Name - Seasons/In My Time of Dying - Out of Exile - Slaves and Bulldozers/Fourth of July/Overfloater/The End/Whole Lotta Love

By eddievedder (no, not that one...)

Wow. When Chris came last spring to big D I was blown away at how great his voice sounded. After hearing rumors that he had a sore throat, and seeing what I saw as a struggling performance on Leno a few weeks ago, I did not expect much tonight.

He opened with Silence the Voices, and it sounded a lot like the Leno performance, like it was sortof a stretch to hit some of the notes. But that was it, he got stronger song by song. By the time of his acoustic set he was on fire. WHen he sang Billie Jean I've never heard his voice so clear, it wasn't even raspy. He was hitting everything and jacking up some notes on purpose just so he could go higher, he was obviously feeling it.

thanks to ember for the photo

Early highlight of the show was What You Are, the band and Chris just sounded amazing. After the acoustic set (bj, like a stone, can't change me, call me a dog, doesn't remind me), they hammered Pushing Forward Back. They also played Seasons, and Chris closed it out with a few lines from In My Time of Dying, it was really cool. To close out they played probably the greatest set I've ever heard. Slaves and Bulldozers leading into a jam with Chris singing Fourth of July followed by OVERFLOATER. I Couldn't believe what I was hearing, my all time favorite SG song OVERFLOATER. It was so awesome, and this segued into Whole Lotta Love to close it out. I was so jackedup, it was so high energy, they all sounded so great. That band, they are so tight and they own those songs, those two guitarists are having a lot of fun up there.

After they took their bows, with feedback still blaring, the guitarist (on the left) laid down his les paul on the front of the stage and teased a little In My Time of Dying slide and walked off the stage. Brilliant.

thanks to Steph for the photo

by youralllies

What a great show. One of the best opening bands I've heard in a long time too...great show as has been my experience with all his shows this tour and noticed like everyone else that the band just seems to be getting more comfortable with each other as they play more shows. I have been to three Soundgarden shows and remembered Chris shying away from some of the notes he is hitting now, just amazing.

thanks to Steph for the photo

by steph

The show had so many great things in it I just can't even think of them all. Somebody in the audience gave Chris the COOLEST Mother Love Bone shirt and he took off his cute white Vancouver button-up shirt and put that one on. Some Dallas fans had made cool t-shirts that said "Chris Cornell is my hero", with a pic of Chris on it. Someone threw one to Chris and he gave it to Pete, and told him he was the one who was into fashion, kidding around with him. Pete put it on, too funny.

This is the first time that I made a sign for a show that Chris didn't actually play my request. I requested Blow Up the Outside World because it was the song that I loved the most from DOTU when I met Arthur and Lisa in 1996. During the acoustic set, Chris was looking at all of our signs, Lisa requested Sweet Euphoria and Heidi requested Gun and I had given our new friend Amy a sign card and she requested Call Me a Dog, which apparently is a crowd favorite lately. Understandably so, he absolutey nailed that song when he did it, it was the best version of it I have ever heard, live or otherwise. He looked at Lisa's sign and said that he didn't know that one, even though Terri was insisting that he did. He saw mine and said "I know that one!", but I guess he didn't feel like doing it. But he did do Dandelion, which I would have requested had I thought about it, so no matter to me.

Before he did Pushin Forward Back, which sounded so tight and was maybe only the second or third time he had done that song on this tour, the first was in Portland for sure, he said "Who gave me this shirt?" (the Mother Love Bone one), looked out into the audience, found the person, and said "This song is dedicated to you!"

The House of Blues in Dallas is just the best venue, the sound in that place was just spot on. Chris and the band just sounded absolutely perfect. Which was so good, because even though the Buzzfest set in Houston was great, the sound on the vocals was not right, and Corey's bass was turned up too much, so it was really difficult to hear the vocals. Not so last night. Chris was in such top form, the sound was absolutely perfect, and his voice was perfect as well, it was just unbelievable. And I just can't get over how much the band just keeps sounding better and better together. I have honestly just never seen a better live show than Chris and his band right now. The guys are so playful, it is so fun.

thanks to Steph for the photo

At the end of Slaves and Bulldozers, Chris jumped down right in front of Pete, which was also right in front of me and started doing that thing where he rips Pete's guitar strings from his guitar and plays it with one string. It freaked me out because I wasn't expecting it and Chris was quick as lightning, but I did manage to get it on video. It looked so cool, with that awesome Mother Love Bone shirt he had on and his wild curly hair. And Pete looked pretty surprised too! The drum solo that Jason does at the end of Slaves and Bulldozers and right before Chris goes into 4th of July has evolved into something with a life of its own almost. Just incredible. Fourth of July and Overfloater were much longer than he has done in the closing jam as of late, he did at least two full verses of 4th of July, then two full verses of Overfloater, and then he went back into 4th of July. Then, of course, they ended with the Whole Lotta Love jam and at the very end Yogi got down on the floor with his guitar and did that slide thing on part of In My Time of Dying. I honestly have never seen a better close of a show that what Chris and the guys are doing right now. It is just rock and roll at its very best.

thanks to Steph for the photo

I'll have to say that I have just been having the most fun with Corey at the shows of late. He is just so energetic and fun. He threw me a pick during the show, directly at me, and I caught it! First pick I've actually caught in my hand at the show, although one fell in my purse that I gave to Lisa and usually there are some on the floor behind the rail. But the security guards pocketed all of those and wouldn't give them to us, the jerks. I did get a setlist, or Arthur got it from Amy's boyfriend, hey a meet and greet for a setlist, sounds like a good trade to me! At the end of the show, I threw my devil horns I had been wearing onstage and Pete picked them up and put them on. Then he handed them to Corey, who put them on. It was hilarious. Then they all took a bow. Wow, what a show.

thanks to Steph for the photo and Corey's devil horns

by terri

This is the 3rd time I have seen CC & the boys this year & let me tell you, the band has improved 100 times better since April. OMG! They absolutely blew me away. The guys seemed rested & relaxed & happy. A lot more than at the Buzzfest Sunday. (maybe it was the jetlag)

Again, they all threw guitar picks at each other. The roadie, Dave, seems to always start it. Early on, I felt something go across my head. It was a pick that Dave threw! Someone in the audience threw a tee shirt onstage. It was red w/CC's pic on it that said 'Chris is my hero'. (I would love to have that tee!) Chris picked it up & gave it to Pete & said 'you are the fashion guru, I want you to have it'. Later, a girl threw another tee to Chris. Chris looked at it & said to Pete, 'I'm keeping this one'. It was a Mother Love Bone tee! So after he finished his song, he walked back to the drumset, unbuttoned his white shirt & TOOK IT OFF! But, he immediately put on the MLB tee & wore it the rest of the night. Later, he asked who gave him the shirt & then dedicated Pushing Forward Back to her.

At some point in time, all of a sudden, a security guy was running real fast in the space between me & the stage. I looked up..........a blonde had managed to get on stage. She never got to Chris. Security was too fast! Chris made some kinda comment like, "wow, she thought she was at a Springsteen concert". He just laughed it off.

I swear, this is the BEST concert I have been to. The BEST one I have seen w/Chris, including Audioslave!

thanks to Terri for the photo

A Doctor, A Lawyer, and A Priest

Chris Cornell is nothing if not a survivor. The venerable 43 year old lead singer of the now defunct bands Soundgarden and Audioslave has been making music at a high level for nearly 20 years, scoring a popular hit at regular intervals along the way. I have always been a big Soundgarden fan, and think they are extremely underrated as band. Audioslave (Cornell + the musical members of Rage Against the Machine) was great while it lasted. Recently, Cornell has ventured into solo work that is solid, if not quite as good as his work with those bands.

After Dentist provided me with a copy of a great acoustic performance of his featuring all of his hits, plus covers of Billie Jean and Cry for Freedom [Bob Marley's Redemption Song? - webmaster], I put this concert on my list. Appraiser joined me for a surprisingly good show at the very pleasing House of Blues. Its nice to go to a venue that was made for rock concerts, not shoehorned into a warehouse or a theater.

Thanks to steph for the photo

Cornell walked out unpretentiously right at 9:00 looking like a tall CBGB Bob Dylan, with too-tight jeans, big boots and a Blood on the Tracks hairdo. There was no stage decor, save a small "Cornell Ave." street sign that looked like it had been stolen from the street of the same name in Highland Park. The first 2 songs were from his new album, and were good, but the crowd didn't get into it until the third song, the Soundgarden classic Outshined. I was especially pleased with this song, since it was criminally omitted from the show I attended in 1994 at the Fair Park Music Hall. After that song, Appraiser and I looked at eachother with sort of a 'whoa' expression, because Cornell's voice was amazingly strong after so many years of singing. More about that later.

The next few songs were Show Me How to Live (Audioslave), Say Hello to Heaven (Temple of the Dog), Be Yourself (Audioslave), and Rusty Cage (Soundgarden). This patch was some of the best live music I've heard in years: real, authentic rock and roll played well and straightforward. Cornell then donned a Mother Love Bone t-shirt someone had thrown on stage and played 3 or 4 new songs, and then Doesn't Remind Me and Like a Stone (both Audioslave) and then Billie Jean.

Thanks to steph for the photo

This was the most impressive stretch because of Cornell's voice. The range and strength is truly amazing. It is clear, never off pitch and forceful, all seemingly without any effort. During his acoustic set it was just him and a guitar and he was overpowering the room (in a good way). The closing set and encore were a little too loud and 'thrashy' for me, except Black Hole Sun and Spoonman (Soundgarden). All in all, the concert was great, and my respect for Cornell as a musician is exponentially higher than before the concert.

- Lawyer

See the original entertainment blog from which this review comes

Call Me A Dog - thanks steph

Pushing Forward Back - thanks steph

Seasons/In My Time Of Dying - thanks Steph

Chris rips the string off Peter's guitar - thanks steph

End of jam (Overfloater/The End/Whole Lotta Love) - thanks steph

Live audience recording available here (thanks Warren)

Chris Cornell Fan Page © Clare O'Brien 2007