thanks to the beetler for the photo

The Irishman in Chris came out as he won over the Aerosmith crowd in Dublin's Marlay Park - the "home of his ancestors".

Spoonman - Outshined - Show Me How To Live - You Know My Name - Say Hello To Heaven - What You Are - Rusty Cage - Like A Stone - Doesn't Remind Me - Arms Around Your Love - Cochise - Black hole sun - Jesus Christ Pose

by thebeetler

What an awesome show!

Chris arrived onstage a little late, but didn't waste any time jumping out from behind the drumkit and bursting into Spoonman, an abolute blinder of an opener & most definitely the heaviest thing to come through the speakers thus far in the day.

Chris was extremely energetic & showed an extraordinary charisma from the second he appeared onstage. I had always believed that he felt a little awkward at times onstage without a guitar, but after seeing it with my own eyes I have to say he had all the attributes of a commanding frontman. He literally took the crowd by the neck from the tip of the walkway, the feral screams turning heads of the majority Aerosmith fans who didn't seem to know who he even was, but minutes after his arrival, it was clear we were down to business with a Rock God.

thanks to the beetler for the photo

Outshined was thunderous, the rhythm spread in a wave across the crowd and his voice was piercing, hitting every note. The song ended to roaring applause as he addressed Dublin, 'the home of his ancestors', and mentioned how he hadn't been here in a while (we had noticed). Show Me How To Live was so heavy, it's one of those songs that sounds much better with 2 guitars. Although I knew recent setlists contained the lighter songs from his career, at this point I was left wondering was the carnage going to end, only 3 songs into the performance and I thought my head was going to come off. You Know My Name followed, to much cheer, you could tell people were starting to put 2 & 2 together and the response to the music kept growing.

It's at this point it was finally taken down a notch. 'Say Hello To Heaven' was absolutely incredible, the vocals sounded amazing, a perfect song to throw into the set to showcase his wide vocal ability.

The next couple of songs he introduces as songs that were written about becoming 'liberated'. What You Are & 'Rusty Cage' follow, again his vocals spot on, the feral screams in 'What You Are' must have echoed for miles.

The band take a time out and Chris dons the acoustic guitar towards the front of the walkway and gives us 'Like A Stone' & 'Doesn't Remind Me'. DRM was, for me, the best part of the show - he toyed around with the guitar intro a little & when the band re-joined it was a moment of magic, finishing the song with an impromptu blues-riff guitar-off between himself on the acoustic and Yogi/ Peter. Chris seemed to win and the crowd cheered the playful antics as he finished with the final vocal in a crescendo.

thanks to the beetler for the photo

With a brief introduction of the next song as a 'new song', we get Arms Around Your Love, probably the most subdued moment in the setlist, but it sounded great nonetheless. We were then reminded that we weren't here to fool around and as Cochise burst through the speakers, the place erupted with, by far, the best response the day had seen, it was anthemic.

Black Hole Sun finally re-assured some of the audience who they were dealing with and encouraged a greater response again before we were finally graced with 'Jesus Christ Pose'. It was quite a finisher, by far the most in your face and heavy assault of the whole evening, it probably left some people wondering what the hell had just happened. It was like Satan coming through the speakers!

thanks to the beetler for the photo

All in all, he was extremely well received, and put on an amazing show as a frontman. Peter & Yogi seemed a bit shy - at one point Chris had to drag Yogi out onto the walkway for one of the solos which was quite amusing, but other than that they seemed pretty much happy with being in the background, but I'd have to commend the guitar playing & sound. I think they all worked as a great unit and would hope to see them stay together, at least long enough for Chris to come back to Dublin and give us a solo headline gig!

by neascan

I am still on a high. The setlist was fucking fantastic. I thought Chris was amazing. Lucky me also got to meet him thanks to my sis who won the meet and greet. Six of us were brought backstage where the band came out and had a chat with us and took photos and signed autos. Chris said they would be back for a solo gig. YAY . They said they really liked the venue for the scenery when on stage. I owe my sis big time.....

thanks to the beetler for the photo

by littlemsminx

...although this is proberly sacrilege I must admit I only went because I was given free tickets. I didn't even know who the line up were. But boy oh boy am I glad I went!!!! I had totally forgotten how much I used to love Soundgarden and thanks to Chris my passion for great music has been re-ignited!!

by J7

"...Say Hello To Heaven was personally my highlight of the night. It was such a hard hitting ass kicking setlist! Amazing show ! Well worth the money, even tho Ionly knew three Aerosmith songs. His voice sounded as it did circa 1990, especially on Say Hello To Heaven. Oh, and Jesus Christ Pose was such a good way to end the show. It was so loud and heavy, probably my favourite soundgarden song of all time! Hope he comes back..."

thanks to the beetler for the photo

Like A Stone - thanks romagol100

Black Hole Sun - thanks holyspacemonkey2

Chris Cornell Fan Page © Clare O'Brien 2007