photos by Henri Lassander for plaza.fi - see more here

Chris had played the Jäähalli at least twice before, with Soundgarden and with Audioslave. By all accounts (not to mention the circulating bootlegs) he was in particularly fine voice - and in playful mood, hence the aborted You Know My Name and an unusual alternative ending to Doesn't Remind Me.

Intro - Let Me Drown - Outshined - Show Me How To Live - You Know My Name - No Such Thing - Say Hello To Heaven - What You Are - Rusty Cage - You Know My Name (intro only) - Billie Jean - Fell On Black Days/Blow Up the Outside World - All Night Thing - Doesn´t Remind Me - Cochise - Arms Around Your Love - Black Hole Sun - Spoonman - Encore - Silence the Voices - Like A Stone - Slaves And Bulldozers - Whole Lotta Love

photos by Henri Lassander for plaza.fi - see more here

by Eriica

Unbelievable, awesome, fantastic...just beyond words. Chris´ voice was crystal clear, even better than in Berlin...Yogi really killed the solos and Corey was jumping all over the place. They had fun, they were fooling around and threw picks and teased each other. In the beginning of the show, I think it was Outshined, Chris looked me straight into my eyes and pointed at me. That was so cool. My mom said that he remembered me...I would like to think that way too. Chris was really crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!! He said that he has been here at the same venue before with Soundgarden but he remembers only the soundcheck because he was so drunk...anyway he had fun.

photos by Henri Lassander for plaza.fi - see more here

In the acoustic set he started playing You Know My Name, probably because the crowd went totally crazy when they started playing it, and joked that he makes another version of it...but he only played a tiny part of it. While he was playing Doesn´t Remind Me the rest of the band came in front of the stage to watch him:) They just started jamming Doesn´t Remind Me and that was super cool. Awesome!!!!!!!

Then he said that in church people have to stand up at times and he asked everyone to stand up. Then he ask everyone to sing along. They started playing Black Hole Sun. WOW!! THe crowd was totally crazy too. I have never seen anything like this. So many people...it wasn´t sold out but I would say there were at least 5 to 6 thousand people. And the whole band really had fun. Chris was so energetic...he was running all over the stage and he even broke his microphone stand. My little bro laughed that it was almost like Soundgarden days, only the hair was little shorter. Holy SHIT!!

Eriica with the band at the meet-and-greet

...after the show we lined up for the m&g, I was the first one in the line:) I went inside and luckily I didn´t faint and I was able to speak. I had Carry On, the promo pic and my Berlin ticket. Peter and Jason were first in line. I told them that I was in Berlin too and they were so interested. Then Jason said that your shirt is different, where did you get it. And I told that I bought in Berlin and then Peter and Jason said: "Hey that´s cool!!" Oh gooosh. I thanked Jason for the solo´s and he was so cool:) Then it was Chris. Jason gave the Berlin tic to Chris and he signed it. Then asked him to sign the other stuff and he just said sure and smiled at me. Hahaaa, My mom was behind me and told Chris:"Hey this is my mom, she is super cool and we went to Berlin to see you." Then he said " Hi mom". He was so sweet and so handsome!!!!!! Yogi and Corey were so awesome too. They signed the tic and I just said that it was awesome. Yogi smiled and asked:"Did I like the show?" Oh yeahhhh. And Corey...he was so great. They are so nice. Then we took the pictures. Some man took them and as I showed him how to use the camera I couldn´t press the button because my hands were shaking and he just said to me:" It´s alright. Just take it easy."

photos by Henri Lassander for plaza.fi - see more here

by Nickson

See Nickson's report of the concert and the meet-and-greet - written in Russian - as well as his great video of the acoustic set below.

Nickson with Chris at the meet-and-greet

Free! Magazine

Chris Cornell: Jäähalli, 29 August 2007

thanks to Nickson for the photo

With no break Chris Cornell left Audioslave and resumed his solo career with a new album (Carry On), a hit (You Know My Name, from the Bond movie) and a new tour.

Last week, Cornell and his band stopped in Helsinki and offered a two-hour career-spanning show at two thirds full ice hockey arena. I was curious to see what kind of crowd a 43-year old Chris Cornell could draw to his show when the nineties and his Soundgarden days are long gone. So I arrived early and hang around the venue. There were, of course, a few Soundgarden t-shirts, and some more of Audioslave ones too, but mostly it looked like a adult and laid back crowd. Many of them looked like a grown up version of the cast of Singles.

Cornell delivered a solid set of hits spanning his whole career that almost equally included Soundgarden and Audioslave songs and equally divided seemed the audience. Half of the crowd reacted to the Soundgarden songs and the other half to Audioslave and Cornell’s solo songs. The concert started with Let Me Drown, the opening song of the multi-selling Superunknown (1994). It followed with another Soundgarden song Outshined and then Audioslave’s Show Me How To Live. It was a strong start that made clear that there would not be much room for the pop mood of many songs from Carry On.

But of course, songs from the new album were played and so You Know My Name, which was (unfortunately) one of the most acclaimed songs of the night. It is embarrassing that a Bond song causes a better audience response than Rusty Cage, which was out of place in the set list between two new songs.

The first electric part of the concert ended with one of the best Cornell’s compositions: Say Hello 2 Heaven from the masterpiece recorded in 1990 by Temple of the Dog, that band that reunited Cornell with Pearl Jam members Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament and Mike McCready and Soundgarden’s drummer Matt Cameron.

The acoustic part of the song was fun with Cornell playing solo with his guitar. He teased playing You Know My Name again and he played his particular version of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean. It’s really interesting the transformation of this song. It sounds like a mournful ballad written by a lonely outlaw singer rather than a song by the King of Pop.

After another Temple of the Dog song (All Night Thing), the band joined Cornell during Doesn’t Remind Me Half. The band started jamming and they all seemed to have fun throwing guitar picks to each other. Before the classic Black Hole Sun, Cornell made everybody in the seating section stand. He should have done much earlier because the audience suddenly seemed to be much into the show. Before the encore break, another classic: Spoonman, which this time had a drum solo.

The concert ended with a heavy note: Slaves And Bulldozers, one of the heaviest Soundgarden songs. It had another drum solo and some improvisation that led into Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love which was a nice surprise and the cherry on top for a good show.

The band was ok and Chris Cornell’s voice is fine, although it’s not the wild and powerful voice that it used to be many years ago. In any case, it sounded clear. It helped reviving an outstanding part of the legacy of the 1990s, exciting decade of music when the Black Hole Sun video seemed to be on MTV every half an hour.

- Eduardo Alonso, Free! Magazine (Finnish Culture in English)

You Know My Name (extract) - thanks jerranyad

Acoustic set - thanks Nickson

Fell On Black Days/Blow Up The Outside World (extract) - thanks slatva

meet-and-greeters waiting to meet Chris and the band after the show - thanks Eriica

Chris Cornell Fan Page © Clare O'Brien 2007