Photo © Ross Halfin 2007 used by permission

In what was their longest live show to date, Chris and the band thrilled a packed crowd for well over two hours in London's historic - and soon to be torn down - Astoria Theatre, where Audioslave had played their debut UK show more than four years earlier. Casino Royale composer David Arnold joined them onstage on keyboards for Bond theme You Know My Name and rock legend Jimmy Page and producer Steve Lillywhite were also in the audience, with snapper Ross Halfin on duty in the photo pit. Three encores, a forgotten curfew - and a lot of missed trains home!

Spoonman - Outshined - Show Me How To Live - Arms Around Your Love - You Know My Name (with David Arnold) - Hunger Strike - What You Are - Rusty Cage - Be Yourself - Seasons - I Am The Highway - Scar On The Sky - Can't Change Me - Doesn't Remind Me - Cochise - Billie Jean - No Such Thing - Jesus Christ Pose - Mission - Like A Stone - Black Hole Sun - Sunshower - Loud Love - Slaves and Bulldozers

thanks to Jon Fisher for the photo - see more here

Chris Cornell at The Astoria, London WC2

By David Sinclair, Times Online, May 21, 2007

It wasn’t exactly an Axl Rose moment, but there was a distinct air of the superstar slumming it as Chris Cornell blithely ignored both the start time and the curfew at the Astoria. As the erstwhile frontman of Soundgarden, one of the originators of grunge from Seattle, and more recently of the American supergroup Audioslave, Cornell is an experienced heavy hitter with millions of album sales to his credit. But at the age of 42 he remains somewhat untested as a solo act.

With his second album, Carry On, due in the shops this month, he was keen to showcase his new songs, but under no illusions as to what this audience had come to hear. In a set that lasted well over two hours, he dipped generously into the repertoires of his former groups, beginning with the Soundgarden favourites Spoonman and Outshined. In the hands of Cornell’s generic four-man backing band, these riff-heavy numbers now sounded like staples from an even earlier era, when groups such as Free and Led Zeppelin were earning their stripes.

The comparison was underlined by Cornell’s voice, an instrument of unyielding power and frightening range. Joined on stage by David Arnold on keyboards, Cornell stormed into You Know My Name, the theme that he and Arnold composed for Casino Royale. With Cornell’s voice rising to ever more unlikely heights, the song spiralled towards an ear-threatening climax. And this was only the fifth number.

While Cornell’s ability as a singer were never in doubt, he lacked the expansive personality needed to carry the whole show on his shoulders. He clumped stiffly around the stage, banged his microphone stand on the floor from time to time, but looked more comfortable once he had strapped on an acoustic guitar and had something to do with his hands. A quieter acoustic section, midway through, provided a welcome contrast.

Black Hole Sun was dispatched with suitable gravitas and Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean was given a Vanilla Fudge-style Mogadon-rock workover. But it was the heavy-metal thunder of songs such as Slaves and Bulldozers and a frenetic Jesus Christ Pose that defined a muscular performance – and continued to ring in the ears long after it was over.

Reprinted from Times Online, May 21, 2007

Chris Cornell Astoria - London

by Clare O'Brien, Subba-Cultcha

Grunge innovator rejects reunion fever and gets back together with himself

In this supremely nostalgic age almost every musician who once blazed a trail into tomorrow has now succumbed to the lure of a fat paycheque, made a few phone calls and reformed their old band. Everyone - from Van Halen to The Police to Chris Cornell’s erstwhile bandmates from RATM - seems to be intent on burying the hatchet and digging up the past.

Chris Cornell’s not above a bit of musical archaeology either - but instead of yielding to popular pressure to reform 90s grunge metallists Soundgarden, he’s kind of got back together with himself. Playing without a support act, Cornell and his four-piece touring band powered through a set lasting well over two hours that took in material from every phase of his twenty-year career. Soundgarden classics such as Black Hole Sun and Spoonman were interspersed with edited highlights of Audioslave’s first two albums, though oddly, there was nothing from 2006’s semi-posthumous Revelations. They even played a version of Hunger Strike, the Temple Of The Dog hit which originally featured Cornell’s duet with Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam.

Eddie wasn’t on hand tonight - but film composer David Arnold did join the band for recent top 10 hit You Know My Name, the theme from Bond movie Casino Royale. His keyboards - though sadly under-amplified - confidently supplied some of the horns and strings from the movie’s arrangement of the song.

Despite their perceived status as hired guns, Cornell’s cheerfully ebullient band played their hearts out - contributing layered backing vocals, improving on several of Audioslave’s songs and positively catching fire when let loose on the complex material from Cornell’s previous solo phase. They tackled Soundgarden’s songs with grace and aplomb, though the real revelation here was how much range and power Cornell’s voice has regained since he kicked smoking two years ago. Tonight he nailed the top notes on songs few people ever expected him to sing again, from 1989’s Loud Love to Jesus Christ Pose and Slaves and Bulldozers from 1991’s Badmotorfinger. A naturally authoritative presence, he has little need of circus stage moves or fancy light shows to command the attention of the crowd.

Tonight’s show also raised the curtain on the next phase of Cornell’s career with five songs from his forthcoming album Carry On. One of the brightest highlights of the night was his slow blues reinvention of Michael Jackson’s edgily paranoid Billie Jean, but unfamiliar new songs such as the vicious No Such Thing or visionary love song Scar On The Sky were seamlessly integrated into a musically diverse set.

Playing a total of three encores for an insatiable Astoria crowd, Cornell looked comfortable, reinvigorated and ready for at least another twenty years.

Photo © Ross Halfin 2007 used by permission

Chris Cornell

Astoria, London

By Betty Clarke, The Guardian, May 21, 2007

In February, Chris Cornell announced that he had quit hard-rock supergroup Audioslave, citing "irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences" - which is a bit like telling an ex that not only do you hate them, but they were bad in bed.

Yet, instead of sailing off into the sunset, Cornell spends nearly two-and-a-half hours picking over the corpse of not just his six-year relationship with three quarters of Rage Against the Machine but also his brief fling with Temple of the Dog and his most lasting union, with Soundgarden.

With one of the most extensive back catalogues in rock to choose from - his latest album, Carry On, is his 13th - Cornell's decision to wander down memory lane is daunting, especially as his powerful voice had sounded decidedly shaky towards the end of Audioslave, a victim of alcoholism and a career spent shrieking and howling like a dying dog.

But Cornell is very much alive. Slinking about the stage like a twitchy cat burglar, he taps his reinvigorated vocal cords to make them work harder, to match the throbbing metal rhythms. The problem is, Cornell is now a sober non-smoker who dedicates songs to his wife and is not very angst-ridden any more. While the punishing power of Rusty Cage and Black Hole Sun is undiminished, new material such as Arms Around Your Love abandons claustrophobic nihilism for sickly sentiment. Even an appearance by composer and DJ David Holmes [Note from webmaster: This reporter should do her research - guest star was actually movie composer David Arnold] can't lift a lumpen You Know My Name. Though the unplugged moments reveal Cornell's melodic influences - from the Beatles to Jeff Buckley - the sudden mood-changes and lack of consistency make for exhausting listening. Not that it stops Cornell striking Christ poses and indulging in three encores. But now he needs to leave his old loves behind.

Reprinted from The Guardian, May 21, 2007

Prince of Grunge Goes Solo

by John Aizlewood, Evening Standard

Having sold 20 million records as the voice of Soundgarden, Temple Of The Dog and, until February, Audioslave, it's little surprise that Chris Cornell has rekindled with the infinitely superior Carry On a solo career that started shakily with 1999's Euphoria Morning.

In his days as the Prince Of Grunge, Cornell was as sullen as the most petulant teenager.

Today, as a 42-year-old he has social skills: he said both "please" and "thank you"; he played songs from all his bands and, to generally amused amazement, he invited a singalong on Audioslave's Like A Stone.

Yet, Cornell still struggled to give - not so much of his time in a set that lasted for well over two hours including three whopping encores and a dreary solo acoustic interlude, but of himself.

As hunched and static as an elderly crooner with spondylosis and terrified of being considered a showman, his was an aloof presence.

What, though, Cornell does have is a fabulous voice.

A mesmeric wail of Robert Plant proportions (curiously, Plant's Led Zeppelin bandmate Jimmy Page took in the first hour) on Soundgarden's grunge epics Black Hole Sun and Spoonman, it was equally adept on the Casino Royale theme You Know My Name (co-composer David Arnold guested on keyboards), the anthemic No Such Thing and a sinister, snail's pace, reinvention of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean.

Curiously compelling.

Reprinted from The Evening Standard, May 17, 2007

Photo © Ross Halfin 2007 used by permission

Chris Cornell: Astoria, London,

Leather-lunged rent-a-gob self indulges

NME rating: 5/10

Mention Chris Cornell, and most people will go 'who?'. Well-informed music fans, however, will probably hit you with a spade

. In-between those two extremes, there remains a huge hump of the bell-curve who evidently still worship the ex-Temple Of The Dog, ex-Soundgarden, ex-Audioslave mega-vocalist. A sold-out Astoria. Two encores. Prior to that, two (two!) hours stuck in Hollywood blockbuster end credits, as 'ole leather lungs' shows off his omnipotent vocal cords, ranging at will between 'overwrought' and 'massively overwrought'.

Ironically, only on Casino Royale theme 'You Know My Name' does he rein-in sufficiently to master his blast, joined on keys by David Arnold - the guy who pumps extra 'double-oh' into all those Bond tunes. And let's not even talk about that 6 million-year-long 'Billie Jean' cover, shall we?

- Gavin Haynes, NME

by clairenorden

"Still trying to proces it all. Sunshower was absolutely beautiful but Seasons was my personal highlight. To hear so much of Badmotorfinger was great. Did anyone else actually prefer the Audioslave songs minus the Rage guys? I was loving Audioslave songs that previously did little for me. I know there was no Say Hello To Heaven or DOTU stuff, but the thing is, he played for over 2 and a half hours, so you couldn't ask for more. He'll be back! And hopefully we will hear them then. Loved all the new songs live, Scar On The Sky is gorgeous! He is clearly in the best form of his life right now, both personally and professionally. He certainly didnt sing that well on the Audioslave or last Soundgarden tour and I'd go as far to say he's on better vocal form than Euphoria Morning as well. If you haven't seen him this tour, hesitate no longer...."

By defsteve

I have been going to gigs since 1979 and have seen literally 100s of shows. Last night was Top 10. Excellent show. Chris has NEVER sounded so good. I have seen him with Soundgarden 3 times, Audioslave twice and solo. Last night was the BEST he has ever sounded. Excellent mixup of songs as well. Great songs, great venue + great crowd = top show.

Thanks to serena sundai for the photo - see more here

By allybally39

"He was on stage for about 2 hrs 15 mins and did a grand total of 3 encores. I thought the band were tremendous and Chris is better than I have ever heard him - but hey - most of you have seen the shows already so know exactly what I am talking about, eh? He said he wanted to see if he could break the record for the longest show without doing Preaching the End of the World!"

"I would have to rate this in one of the top 10 gigs I have ever seen... I thought he would be performing more of an acoustic show with more of his solo work, but when he started off with Spoonman, I was proven wrong. The night was sprinkled with songs from Badmotorfinger, and even Loud Love which was so AMAZING to hear live. Who would have thought that 11 years after last seeing them I would finally get to hear songs like Jesus Christ Pose, Slaves and Bulldozers, Hunger Strike, Outshined and Seasons LIVE. I had to fight back the tears from how spine-tingling some of the moments were. He played for over 2 hours and looked sincerely like he was enjoying himself. Ahhhhh... sweet, sweet music....”

By cazpj

"Last night was ridiculously good! Was at the front, right in front of Yogi. I had a cool moment during Like a Stone where Chris was getting everyone to sing along. Yogi was singing the chorus as obviously was I and we caught each other's eye and exchanged a grin, and then he threw his pick to me - which I caught as a complete fluke, I just reached up for it in the dark and caught between my fingers! Sunshower was amazing - but the whole thing was great. I couldn't have enjoyed it more."

"I was at the gig last night and it was INCREDIBLE!! I've seen Chris on many occasions in all his different bands, including at Shepherds Bush, but last night he simply blew every other gig away.

The setlist was a perfect mix of old and new, more old than new. Yeah, he could've played SG songs all night which would've suited me, but he's got fans there that like the newer stuff too so he's gotta play some of it, and he picked the good tracks to be fair. The whole thing was awesome but highlights for me were all the Badmotorfinger tracks, Seasons,which was a real treat and Billie Jean, well what can I say? Probably the best cover ever!

I swear his voice is better than it was ten years ago. Made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when he hit them big notes! WOW! Great crowd at the Astoria too. Chris, you are a GOD!! Oh, and you got a great band! Please come back soon!!"

Photo © Ross Halfin 2007 used by permission

"The concert last night was pure heaven! (In fact, that's exactly how I picture heaven... but with cocktails that have umbrellas & cherries). I still can't quite believe that I was there & so close to such a Rock God Legend.."

By tiernan1

"I was lucky enough to get tickets last minute and drove down from Southampton to see CC. I was disappointed with the AS split up but having got Euphoria Morning I was very keen to hear his new solo material and also some from said albun.

Yes, he's got an awesome voice and is party to some amazing songs and the place was rocking, but I did feel a bit short changed in that he covered lots of Audioslave tracks (a band I know he decided to leave because of musical differences). The band on the night were very good but did not match up to Audioslave standards, I would have preferred to hear more of his solo stuff and see him entering a new time in his musical career, however he opted to stick to tried and tested songs, which are band songs, not CC songs and for that I was dissappointed.

Not being a grumbler though, the Soundgarden tracks and Temple Of The Dog ones were amazing to see live, it was good to be around so many likeminded fans considering all my friends/family don't have a clue about music other than what's on Radio 1 !!!

Well done CC, hope to see you again doing more solo stuff soon!"

Thanks to spida1998 for the photo

Hunger Strike (video -thanks csaroldi)

Be Yourself (video with lovely Yogi intro - thanks csaroldi)

I Am The Highway (video - thanks csaroldi)

Outshined (video - thanks so02see)

Jason's drum solo from Slaves & Bulldozers (video - thanks Jason & Emma)

See the Chris Cornell Concerts site for an audio recording of this show

Ross Halfin - onstage and backstage photos here

Rear View Mirror: fan photos here

Jon Fisher: fan photos here

Serena Sundai: fan photos here

Photo © Ross Halfin 2007 used by permission

Chris Cornell Fan Page © Clare O'Brien 2007

after the show....L to R, Steve Lillywhite, David Arnold, Corey, Jason, Peter, Chris

thanks to Steve for the photo