thanks to ziff00 for the photo - see more here

It was the last night of this leg of the US tour. Chris did requests, wowed the Californian street team by wearing one of their famous bracelets onstage and whipped his shirt off for a finale which included the road crew and - in response to the inevitable cries - yes, Freebird.

Let Me Drown - Outshined - Show Me How To Live - No Such Thing - Hunger Strike - You Know My Name - Rusty Cage - Billie Jean - Fell on Black Days - All Night Thing - Be Yourself - Doesn't Remind Me - What You Are - Spoonman - Like A Stone - Black Hole Sun - Jesus Christ Pose - Sunshower - Slaves and Bulldozers

by Brenda

I am so happy and grateful and lots of other emotions that I don’t understand right now. Chris just put on the best show I have ever seen from him, and I have seen a lot of his shows. He gets better every night it seems. I didn’t think it was possible to be more moved by his brilliance and grace, but I was wrong. Tonight was the 3rd show in 3 weeks, and the 2nd night in a row. For me to try to write a review is truly doing him a disservice because I don’t have the skills to put into words what he did tonight. I can tell you it was absolutely beyond dazzling, amazing, wonderful, perfect, etc., but that doesn’t describe it like it deserves to be described.

Except for a few morons who talked all through his acoustic set and a few other morons who kept getting up to get beer, everyone was touched. After the show people around me just kind of sat down in shock and said how incredible the show was. This was my first “assigned seat” concert this tour. The sound was spectacular. The band was on fire. Chris, well, Chris was Chris at his finest...

...Oh yeah, I almost forgot…NOT!!!!!!!!!! He took his shirt off during Slaves and Bulldozers, sang some Free Bird during S&B, let the roadies join the band for S&B, and did all kinds of other special, amazing things.....there is just so much more to say. He played Out of Exile and dedicated it to "his wife and child, when these 2 ladies were one, they saved my life." Then he closed his eyes, went deep, very deep, and sang it for us.

thanks to ziff00 for the photo - see more here

by Arik

Puddle of Mudd started pretty much right on time with a awesome hour long set. The band played very tight and sounded great, with good live presence. I was very impressed with their performance to say the least, THEY ROCKED!

After waiting 45 minutes, Chris Cornell finally came out to raucous applause. The front man of three solid modern rock bands, he took the stage with a swagger that electrified the air.

A dizzying array of Temple of The Dog, Soundgarden, and Audioslave hits that span 13 albums were performed along with material from his new solo album "Carry On". Some of the songs were performed by him solo with just an accoustic guitar, and brought an amazing new insight into his talent and the power of his voice.

All in all, Chris and his awesome band banged out a marathon 2 hour set. It was everything you could expect from a rock show and more. He truly is an amazing talent, as a songwriter, performer, and a vocalist. I've been a big fan of him and the bands he was in ever sice Temple of The Dog back in 1990, but I'd never seen him perform, and I'm so happy I finally did.

CHRIS CORNELL FUCKING ROCKS!

thanks to ziff00 for the photo - see more here

by dharma69

Last night’s show was pretty deep...with and without the shirt. But something else struck me on the way home: rock and roll has many elements that make up its unstructured structure. Some are of those elements are technical, some emotional, some attitude, some artistic. But one element that seems like its woven into rock and roll’s DNA is the element of danger and unpredictability.

In the days of Soundgarden, AIC, Nirvana, etc, if you went to their shows, yes the music was there, but so was the electric feeling that “it” might go off at any minute. That for better or for worse, something just might happen on that stage that may result in a good time had by all or a trip to the hospital. You took your chances. I’ve seen Cornell & crew 3 times this year and the shows were incredible. But last night, last night’s “Slaves & Bulldozers/Free Bird” with the 3 random guys on stage getting their guitars on, with Cornell twirling his finger telling them to keep it going, with 3 gents naked from the waist up…last night was the first time that I felt the possibility that some shit might happen With no concrete definition of what “some shit” is, but that’s the point. It was all a matter of feeling and I felt.

thanks to ziff00 for the photo - see more here

by Kyle

Cornell and band hit the stage at 8:45pm and finished at 10:40pm. A 115-minute set.

Finally, I get to see CC in concert, hearing that voice rock out on any songs he feels like singing. Any set of music he puts together for a show is alright by me. It's all good - great! It was a beautiful night out in Costa Mesa for a great show at the open air theatre that seats 8500.

Strangely enough, it wasn't a sell-out, but it was a Sunday and the last concert booked for the Orange County Fair. There was just under 6000 people there, so that was pretty good considering the size of the venues he's been playing on this tour...the sound of the show was good overall, and Chris's voice had no problem cranking up. The only difference is, you don't walk out of the venue after the concert with your ears ringing for the next 24 hours. I wouldn't consider that being a bad thing, but with a heavy rock show like this, you want to break a sweat and have a good time, stand up, dance, groove, whatever makes you feel good, and sometimes that does require the music to be turned up loud. I'll suffer the consequences, thank you!

It was a great show though, and I wouldn't have missed it for anything, but I won't be going down to the Pacific Amphitheatre anymore to see shows, not with its unfortunate sound level limitations, due to the people on the other side of the park who can't seem to locate a pair of earplugs when they need them. Go to dinner and a movie or something while the concert is going on, for Christ's Pose! Jesus wouldn't interrupt, for the Gods don't stay at the Ritz. Only overly-righteous humans who think God is on their side would do something so pathetic as to hinder the enjoyment of thousands of others, instead of simply getting out of the way for a while. But they're followers and ass-kissers, not leaders, so what do you expect. I expect City Hall not to cave in ! It's an open-air music venue, afterall . . .

thanks to Shantasa for the photo

by Christine

I thought I would start off by saying the show was absolutely amazing, it was definitely one of the top 3 Cornell shows I've been to!

The show started off nicely with Puddle of Mudd as the opener. As the seats started to fill up, people were getting anxious for Chris Cornell to come out, finally it was time, about 9pm Chris' band walked out on stage and grabbed their interments and began to play a light smooth intro to the first song on the set list which was Spoonman. I caught a sight of Chris off to the left side of the stage, I saw Chris come out from behind the black drapes, he stood there for about 3 minutes watching the band play then it was his cue to come out and get the show going, which he did perfectly! I could tell that the whole band was in good spirits, they all had a silliness to them, Chris was making faces and playing around with the band such as stepping on Yogi's feet and singing in Peter Thorn's face. It was obvious that they are all comfortable with each other, and that ventured out to the crowd. The whole crowed was in a great mood everyone was into the songs, singing along, cheering and dancing.

The show ended after an encore of two songs and as the crowd left satisfied and talking about the great show it was almost time for the meet and greet. I waited for the staff members queue on where to go for the M&G while talking to a few friends that I've made though the street team. It was finally time, about ten of us waited off to the right side of the venue for about fifteen minutes or so. The group manager came out and gave us a little pep talk on how the M&G was going to go then he guided us into a room the size of a master bedroom where Chris Cornell, his band, and some friends and family were. The whole group greeted us when we walked in and started signing autographs and taking pictures. The M&G was very short but a great moment, all the members including Chris are exceptionally nice - they do not have the "rock star" attitude that you might expect from musicians in their position, that was one thing that stood out.

In conclusion the whole night was great from first arriving to the venue to saying goodbye to the fellow Cornell fans and friends made at the show; it was a night I wished would not end.

Orange County Register

Through Chris Cornell's past, quietly

thanks to Shantasa for the photo

Review: One of hard rock's greatest voices offered a superb career overview at Pacific. Too bad it was nowhere near loud enough.

This much was evident before Audioslave called it quits: Chris Cornell, one of the few grunge gods of the '90s still active and vital, has joined the ranks of the new veterans of hard rock and heavy metal.

His credentials make his case. As the roaring, soaring voice and Zeppelinesque melodist of Soundgarden, he was a crucial part of the darker third element (the Unholy Spirit, shall we say) in a enduring Seattle trinity with Pearl Jam and Nirvana. And as the still-roaring, still-soaring voice of Audioslave – the supergroup that split up as this year began, three-fourths of it resuming as Rage Against the Machine to ecstatic response that has all but deafened people to Cornell's solo return – the 43-year-old mightily reasserted himself in a becoming role: new elder of the modern heavy.

Is he his generation's Paul Rodgers, the Free and Bad Company and Firm and most recently Queen vocalist who, coincidentally, will bring his own career overview to Pacific Amphitheatre Aug. 11, just a few days after Cornell shared his Sunday night, in a performance that felt like some sort of comeback? Probably not – Cornell's distinct howl is nowhere near as journeyman flexible as Rodgers' soulful feel. Plus, I suspect the Paris-based Cornell wouldn't be much interested in forging bonds with other spare parts from the early '90s rock boom, most all of which live on this side of the pond.

Never say never regarding a Soundgarden or Audioslave reunion at some later date – neither seems imaginable at the moment, but who can say what any of those guys will want to do at 50? But, in the meantime, why shouldn't Cornell strike before the memory embers of Audioslave completely die out, and try once more to establish himself as his own attraction?

He's certainly got the legacy to cull from now. With a chops-smart and nimble band doing the lion's share of sonic re-creation for him, and with so many songs to choose from, the only way he could really screw up his current tour is … well, to do what he did the last time he tried to be a solo artist – run too far away from himself.

"Euphoria Morning," his 1999 solo debut, is an album well worth hearing, recommended to those who love how ethereal (and downright pretty) Cornell's voice can get. But what that assortment isn't is heavy – precisely what tends to bring out the best in Cornell. The recently released "Carry On," then, is an encouraging step forward, something more characteristic; even his cover of "Billie Jean" takes on properties of sludge.

He took a dare throwing that one out at this cheering crowd of devotees – and to start an acoustic segment, no less. It worked, though – arguably better than it does on "Carry On," primarily because the focus was less on sledgehammer rearrangement and more on how powerfully Cornell can deliver a very recognizable yet easily fouled-up melody.

Yet pretty much everything Cornell offered up connected remarkably well, his set list ideal no matter how many tracks it left me wanting to hear. From 1991's "Badmotorfinger," for instance, he revived the opening four cuts, including the trickily timed yet locked-in thrash of "Rusty Cage" and "Jesus Christ Pose" and a closing tear through "Slaves & Bulldozers," a bit overdone by a drum solo (the second of the night) but rescued by a telling fragment from "Free Bird" tucked into its middle (a logical choice for such a lifelong self-analyzer to quote).

From Soundgarden's brilliant 1994 work "Superunknown" – which I'd now upgrade from one of the best of the '90s to one of the best hard rock albums ever – he gathered another quartet: "Let Me Drown" as a seizing kickoff, "Fell on Black Days" perfect for the unplugged portion, "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman" both starting a tad ragged but finishing potently.

Would I have loved to have heard "Searching With My Good Eye Closed" from the earlier album, or "My Wave" or "Head Down" or the sex grind "Mailman" from the second? Of course. But I wouldn't swap the two Temple of the Dog tunes he dug up ("Hunger Strike" full band, "All Night Long" acoustic) for any of them, nor begrudge Cornell the opportunity to play his best-known Audioslave songs ("Be Yourself" full band, "Like a Stone" acoustic, plus four others, mostly from the band's first disc).

The whole shebang, delivered with a more robust and agile voice than he ever exhibited during his hoarser Audioslave days, was a testament to his torch-holding past. (Carry on, indeed.) All of this aside, however, I would rather have seen Cornell's catalog overhaul almost anywhere but at Pacific. Even at the Greek or the Grove – venues he's more apt to fill – the volume would have been appropriately overwhelming. From 15 rows back at Pacific, it was only as loud as it should have been at the top row – and from back there my wife and I could carry on a conversation during the encore without shouting.

Rock simply shouldn't be so quiet.

Puddle of Mudd, the Missouri band who made its name in 2001 with the alt-rock smash "Control," is attempting to carry on as well, with a new disc originally due this week but now pushed back to "late August, September … ish," as frontman Wes Scantlin put it during the band's warm-up set. It's regrettably titled "Famous," for though that may (I hope) be ironically intended, it sure leaves these also-ran Nirvana wanna-be's wide open to potshots.

Just how Nirvana-lite has the ridiculously reverential Mudd become? Once these guys merely recycled everything about Kurt Cobain – his riffs, his nasal sneer, his loud-soft dynamics, his hair. Now they actually cover "Breed." That's de-evolution if I've ever seen it.

- Ben Wener, Orange County Register

Watch Amy Wilkins' channel on Youtube - stunning high-quality footage of this show

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

Chris Cornell Fan Page © Clare O'Brien 2007