photo by maiden crone
The final date of the Scream tour with Timbaland took place infront of Chris's old home town crowd in Seattle.
Intro - Part Of Me - Time - Sweet Revenge - Get Up - Ground Zero - Never Far Away - Take Me Alive - Long Gone - Scream - Enemy - Other Side Of Town - Climbing Up the Walls - Watch Out - Two Drink Minimum - Hunger Strike - Reach Down
by brandonc
Great show. The new album is different, very different. It's amazing the variety of people that were there...break-dancers, dreadlocks, older rockers, younger rockers etc etc. Standing beside me was a husband and wife in their late 50's, in front of them were two girls in their early 20's - looked around me and saw the "variation" that one might only see standing in line at the polls...I realized that CC's new music is doing something that is rarely done with today's music - pulling together people of all ages, race and cultural backgrounds...it's quite amazing actually and it parallels what is occurring (on a smaller scale of course) with who might turn out to be one of the greatest icons of our time - Barack Obama. 2 drink minimum was off the hook.
by maiden crone
photo by maiden crone
I haven't stood at the wall in general admission
at a concert in 25 years. Last time was at the now non-existent Seattle
Coliseum at a Scorpions show circa 1983. I had the air pushed out of my
lungs by the crowd and swore my good-byes to the wall after years of being
smashed against it as a teenager. But last night I stood in 4" grown up
heels one layer of human smush back from the wall in a small venue in
Seattle called The Showbox SoDo to see a musician I've admired for nearly
the same length of time I gave up the wall.
Make no mistake I went to this odd mix of musical genres concert for one
reason and that was Chris Cornell. I'm not a fan of hip hop or rap. Not
dissing it, it's simply not my cup of tea. I am aware that Timbaland is
a widely respected music producer and if he has the Cornell stamp of approval
that was good enough for me to attend... though I really had no idea what
to expect.
First came the realization that
what was once briefly The Fenix was now this Showbox SoDo and that standing
all night was oh so in the cards. If you are aware of my physical conditions
you can imagine this was an "oh, okay" moment for both Dawn and I.
Then it became clear that the Timbaland folks were the opening act. Now
I've never attended a hip hop show, so I seriously don't know if this
is par for the course or what... but for quite some time while roadies
set up, a guy by the name of Freestyle DJ (I think) played a mish mash
of music and babbled into a mic. He remained onstage when Timbaland came
out who did, goddess help me, at least 45 minutes of his music. It wasn't
lost on him, however, that this was primarily a rock crowd there to see
their hometown rock god Chris Cornell. And to that end Timbaland performed
a raucous cover of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in between promoting
the shit out of his latest record by telling everyone in attendance to
run out and buy it.
Timbaland spoke with people right next to me down there at the wall and
had a laser flashlight thing he would point at people he had comments
about. Again, not something Steven Tyler has ever done and I was so grateful
Timbaland didn't choose to shine that little green light on me as he could
see me and my lack of enthusiasm for his tunes. He did a lot of talking
and much of the sound was sampled, including vocals, which again is not
something I'm accustomed to at concerts.
When Timbaland, bless his heart, was finally through, a seemingly endless
set change began... and during that entire time Mr. Freestyle played music
~ at one point bringing a little 10 year old local girl onstage to sing.
Apparently she's got something to do with the Timbaland production machine
and thus the cross promotion. The young girl actually did pretty well
for not having expected to be brought up onstage to sing. She found her
composure quickly and sang her little pop tunes.
At long lost our boy came out to a screaming loud and enthusiastic welcome
home. Cornell performed the new record, Scream (produced by Timbaland),
front to back ~ smoothly playing one song to the next as if you were listening
to the CD. Very little talking, pausing or breathing between tunes. He
came out for two encores and it was only then that anything familiar to
all was played ~ "Hunger Strike", "Arms Around Your Love" and something
I've forgotten. It was here the most intense of exchange of love from
crowd to artist and back was felt and acknowledged by Cornell onstage.
Home audiences are good to him no matter what stage of his career he may
be in and he knows it in his bones.
photo by maiden crone
For music from a CD I have on pre-order with Amazon because it hasn't
been released yet and I've only heard a couple of the songs from didn't
matter at all for me. I'd pay to hear Cornell sing the phone book - he's
that talented in my mind. He's an ever evolving artist who hasn't disappointed
me with his twists and turns. I know that some people are upset there
was no Soundgarden or Audioslave last night... at least not from Chris.
Timbaland did a couple lines of Black Hole Sun once or twice.
During his main performance Cornell's little girl, with her usual ear
protecting headphones on, came down in front of the stage with her mama
to point at and watch daddy perform. For a moment Cornell reached down
and touched his little girl's hand while he sang. Sadly my most uncooperative
dig cam didn't want to catch this moment even though it took place right
in front of me. Ah well. (but seriously the camera was really having a
mood last night and it's a miracle I got any pictures at all).
I kept my headbanging to a minimum, which again if you're aware of my
maladies you know this is really something I should adhere to but am sometimes
caught up in the moment at concerts and do anyway... which I pay for dearly
the next day... so I'm a little stiff and groggy today, but no complaints
whatsoever cuz, dude, I got to see Chris Cornell play to a sold out house
at home last night... and as I always say, there's just something so special
about seeing Seattle's own play on home turf... and for the first time
I was close enough to him to look him in the eye... not to mention find
out that he wears Calvin Kleins.
photo by maiden crone
The Chris Cornell Controversy
There were break dancers battling in the beer garden during Chris Cornell's set Sunday night at Showbox SoDo in Seattle. As if you needed anything else to underscore just how weird it is that the “Outshined” guy has teamed up with Justin Timberlake/Nelly Furtado/Pussycat Dolls producer Timbaland for his forthcoming third solo album, “Scream.” B-boys replacing crowd surfing at Cornell's shows? Head spinning. World ... no longer ... making sense.
As worlds collide, some of Cornell’s fans are pissed, as indicated by a vocal minority at last night’s show illustrated. “Chris, you suck!” one guy to my left shouted out as Cornell delivered his new pop album in its entirety. And during his opening set, super-producer Tim "Timbaland" Mosley took a moment to address the controversy bubbling up through the blogosphere.
“I can fit myself in a fan’s shoes, so I can understand,” he said. But “it’s 2008. That tired, same grunge sound needs a change,” he added. (No disrespect to grungesters. Later on, he perpetuated a cliche repeated by many a hip-hop band visiting Seattle by including "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in his set. And his version was actually kind of interesting with some synth in the arrangment.)
Mosley went on to call “Scream” “one of the best pieces of work I’ve done in my life.”
The new songs actually
went over better than I expected, with a disgruntled minority keeping
its heckling to a minimum. There were no cries of "Judas!" And one of
the coolest things about the performance was the melding of subcultures,
with aging gen-xers with grunge goatees bobbing their heads alongside
KUBE fans in Wu-Tang tees.
As far as the music is concerned, the new aesthetic bridges the sweeping,
cinematic rock of “You Know My Name,” Cornell's James Bond theme from
a few years back, and the sort of synth and breakbeat-driven pop you’d
expect from Timbaland. For the record, I think the new record will be
quite good, even as it gives Cornell's most reactionary fans conniption
fits. Muddy sound left a bit to be desired Sunday, making it impossible
to form an impression on lyrical content, among other things. And there
were moments that recalled Timberlake or Timbaland’s other buddies, One
Republic -- which aren’t exactly what want from Chris freaking Cornell.
But the guy’s honey drawl, one of the greatest rock voices of our generation,
is totally suited for pop and R&B. Honestly, if he'd grown up in Orlando
instead of the hard rockin' Northwest, who knows what direction his career
would have taken.
My overall impression of the new material was good, even if I couldn't wrap my brain around the transition. And I'd downloaded the four tracks available through iTunes out of morbid curiosity, and once I got past who was singing, I liked them a lot – especially a hip-hop flavored number called “Ground Zero.” But, hey, I’m a guy who grew up listening to Run DMC, Prince and Metallica and may not be typical of Cornell’s core demo.
Disgruntled fans will accuse Cornell of selling out, but I think quite the opposite. If he were being cynical, he’d record an album with 15 variations of “Black Hole Sun” on it. This is a bold if baffling move, and Cornell seems energized.
Is the guy going through some kind of musical mid-life crisis? But I think he’s sincere in his enthusiasm for trying something new after 20 years in the spotlight. I've tried to keep an open mind, since I've talked to several artist over the years who wanted to express themselves in different genres but felt they couldn't. Ne-Yo, who once told me he'd like to write a couple of country songs and work with Faith Hill, comes to mind.
If making a pop record makes Chris Cornell happy, he should go for it. Hell, nobody got mad at Faith No More's Mike Patton, who's been putting out great hip-hop and pop tracks for years. And what’s the worst that could happen with Cornell? If the new disc flops, so what? The guy's surely got enough money. And pissed off fans will forgive all 10 years from now when he takes a page out of Sting’s book, patches things up with his old band(s) and goes on the ol’ reunion tour. Right?
On a final note, I was bummed that he didn't playing any Soundgarden stuff, like he did last fall at the Paramount. But he did throw a couple of bones to the old Temple of the Dog faithful with an encore that consisted of “Hunger Strike” and “Reach Down.”
- Ernest Jasmin, Tribune.com
Reach Down (extract) - thanks lucyfur
Chris Cornell Fan Page © Clare O'Brien 2008
