Chris Cornells friends and family offered up many heartfelt tributes at Los Angeles Forum Wednesday night, but the one that captured his essence best improbably came from Jack Black. Sometimes Chris Cornell would sing a note that didnt exist, he told the sold-out crowd. Sometimes [he] would sing a note that was between two real notes, and it would open a portal into another dimension. I dont know if thats true. Like, maybe it was probably a real note it was probably a C-flat but it was the way he sang it like it ripped a portal to another dimension. You know that wasnt just some studio magic.
Cornells vocal acrobatics and unique magic may have been absent at the five-hour event, officially dubbed I Am the Highway: A Tribute to Chris Cornell, but there were plenty of singers who came close, and many of his former bandmates and friends summoned his quintessence, as they pulled from all corners of his songbook. The core group of performers was a whos who of the Seattle grunge scene enough members of Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Melvins that they could have gone rogue and started their own rival Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on the spot.
Cornells former Audioslave bandmates also played, as did Metallica, Foo Fighters and Ryan Adams. There was also a litany of notable guest singers: Miley Cyrus, Fiona Apple, Chris Stapleton, Miguel and Adam Levine sang a mix of Cornells solo material and works with bands. All I gotta say is it takes some balls to get up there, one fan said mid-show. Those are some hard songs to sing.
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Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christian Bale, Tom Hanks, Courtney Cox and many others showed up too to pay their respects and celebrate Cornells talents, and Jimmy Kimmel served as the nights affable host, keeping the mood light as the production attempted to change between performers quickly. It was the sort of star-studded Hollywood tribute you might expect for Tom Petty or David Bowie, but instead it was honoring someone who was somewhat of an unsung hero.
It was a dark and rainy, Seattle-esque night outside the Forum, but it would have already felt like that inside judging from the sea of grunge T-shirts the audience was wearing, including many Soundgarden shirts (and even one for Citizen Dick). To kick off the evening, the three surviving members of Soundgarden addressed the audience, and drummer Matt Cameron explained how the event came together. When the idea of a tribute concert for my friend Chris Cornell was presented to me, I was torn, he said. I didnt feel like I had the strength required to pull it off. So I went back to the music. I heard his voice, and I found my strength. Chris is here with us tonight. He has the best seat in the house. And during some of the sets, namely the Foo Fighters when Dave Grohl performed Everlong solo in tribute to Chris, there was a spotlight on an empty part of the stage.
Cornells spirit, in all its many guises, was perpetually present. The raving lunatic of his earliest recordings was there in Melvins bulldozing Spoonman and Metallicas crushing All Your Lies. The jokester whod grab crowds attentions in Foo Fighters impish covers-of-Soundgardens-covers like Devos Girl U Want and Cheech and Chongs Earache My Eye. The contemplative troubadour Cornell became during his mid-career turnaround came through in Apples rendition of Temple of the Dogs All Night Thing. The genre-defying songsmith came through in Josh Hommes take on Johnny Cashs version of Rusty Cage. The songwriter-for-the-sake-of-songwriting came through in Rita Wilsons emotional rendition of his soundtrack song, and final single of his lifetime, The Promise. The brooding, depressed artist was there in Ryan Adams Fell on Black Days. The loving father showed his effect on his kids when his daughter, Toni, sang Bob Marleys Redemption Song with Ziggy Marley. The list could go on and on.
The nights best performances seemed to surprise the audience. Of course it helped that someone like Dave Grohl, rocks most indefatigable cheerleader, would play a set with Foo Fighters and then return for a stunning rendition of Show Me How to Live with Audioslave. And Alice in Chains William DuVall and Jerry Cantrell tapped into Cornells early animalistic id with their take on Soundgardens first single, Hunted Down, when they guested with some Temple members.
But while its clear the crowd had its favorites, cheering for the headliners and Chris Stapleton, it quickly came around to some of the pop artists who made appearances. Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine matched Cornells tone better than most singers on his rendition of the solo song Seasons, from the Singles soundtrack, and it was so convincing it got cheers from the crowd midway through.
Brandi Carlile was a perfect rock frontwoman and got the audience to lead a chorus of Audioslaves Like a Stone all by themselves. And the nights true showstopper was perhaps the artist rock fans were most skeptical of: Miley Cyrus. Although she sang a moving rendition of the solo recording As Hope and Promise Fade earlier in the evening, she brought the crowd to its feet when she belted out Temple of the Dogs Say Hello 2 Heaven, pushing her voice to its max and headbanging.
What became evident throughout the evening was just how complex and nuanced Cornells songs were. As Black noted, not everyone can open a portal into another dimension, but the producers did a good job of finding singers who could try. It took R&B singer Miguel to nail his soulfulness on Temple of the Dogs Reach Down, a performance that benefitted from Nikka Costas harmonies (as well as Miguels secret talent at grunge swaying during the guitar solos). And while Soundgarden performed their set of hits and deep cuts for diehards (I Awake!), you could see some of the singers struggle ever so slightly; surprise guest Taylor Momsen had to find the groove on Rusty Cage, a song in a funky time signature, and Taylor Hawkins jokingly renamed The Day I Tried to Live The Day I Tried to Sing.
But the whole evening, which Cornells widow Vicky masterminded to benefit the Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundationand the Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation, had a bit of a loose, party vibe more of an Irish wake than a solemn tribute that made it fun. The only downsides were that not all of Cornells bandmates were there (absentees, at least onstage, included Audioslaves Tim Commerford, Temple of the Dogs Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready and founding Soundgarden bassist Hiro Yamamoto) and that it perhaps ran too late on a school night to keep the audience there into the wee hours to witness the nights finale, a rendition of Black Hole Sun sung by Carlile that featured Peter Frampton on guitar trading off licks with Kim Thayil. By the time the lights went up at the end of Thayil and bassist Ben Shepherds ritualistic, nine-minute feedback session, about a third of the crowd had exited.
Those who stayed though witnessed the full magnitude of Cornells brilliance and a unique insight into what made him special. Its something that Pearl Jam and Temple of the Dog guitarist Stone Gossard captured perfectly in his address to the crowd. The way I see it, Chris was a bluesman, he said. He got the blues. And he turned those feelings into songs that made us vibrate, and they made us move. All of our lives are still tumbling along without our leader. So the question is now what do we do? What would Chris have us do? I think this concert is a step in the right direction.
I Am the Highway Set List
The Melvins (Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover, Steven Shane McDonald, Jeff Pinkus)
- Kicking Machine
- With Yo Heart (Not Yo Hands)
- Leech
- Heart of Honey
- Spoonman
Rita Wilson
- The Promise
Nikka Costa and Alain Johannes
- Disappearing One
Chris Stapleton
- The Keeper
Foo Fighters (Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett, Rami Jaffee)
- No Attention
- Earache My Eye
- Girl You Want
- Everlong (Acoustic)
Josh Homme
- Rusty Cage
Adam Levine, Jesse Carmichael, and Stone Gossard
- Seasons
Miley Cyrus
- Two Drink Minimum
Audioslave (Tom Morello and Brad Wilk)
- Cochise (withGeezer ButlerandPerry Farrell)
- Be Yourself (with Geezer Butler andJuliette Lewis)
- Set It Off (withChris Chaney, Sam HarrisandTim Mcllrath)
- Like A Stone (with Chris Chaney andBrandi Carlile)
- Show Me How To Live(withRobert TrujilloandDave Grohl)
Toni Cornell and Ziggy Marley
- Redemption Song
Metallica (James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo)
- All Your Lies
- For Whom The Bell Tolls
- Master of Puppets
- Head Injury
Ryan Adams (Daphne Chen, Richard Dodd, Eric Gorfain, Leah Katz, and Don Was)
- Dead Wishes
- Fell On Black Days
Temple Of The Dog
- Preaching The End Of The World (Nikka Costa, Alain Johannes, Stone Gossard, Brendan OBrien,andJosh Taylor)
- Cant Change Me (Nikka Costa, Alain Johannes, Stone Gossard,Eric Avery,andJosh Freese)
- Hunted Down (William DuVall, Jerry Cantrell, Stone Gossard,Jeff Ament,and Josh Freese)
- All Night Thing (Fiona Apple, Brendan OBrien, David Garza, Jeff Ament, andMatt Chamberlain)
- Reach Down (Miguel,Nikka Costa, Stone Gossard, Brendan OBrien, Jeff Ament, andMatt Cameron)
- Say Hello 2 Heaven (Miley Cyrus, Brendan OBrien, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, and Josh Freese)
- Hunger Strike (Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton, Stone Gossard, Brendan OBrien, Jeff Ament, and Matt Cameron)
Soundgarden (Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd, and Matt Cameron)
- Rusty Cage (withTaylor Momsen)
- Flower (withMarcus Durant)
- Outshined (with Marcus Durant and Stone Gossard)
- Drawing Flies (with Taylor Momsen,Buzz Osborne,Matt Demeritt, andTracy Wanamae)
- Loud Love (with Taylor Momsen,Tom Morello, and Wayne Kramer)
- I Awake (withTaylor HawkinsandBuzz Osborne)
- The Day I Tried To Live (with Taylor Hawkins and Buzz Osborne)
- Black Hole Sun (with Brandi Carlile,Peter Frampton, Tim Hanseroth,andPhil Hanseroth)