Chris Cornell - The London Palladium - 18th June 2012 (Live Review)
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Written by Sadie Walton
Chris Cornell has been touring North America, Canada and Europe for two years on the 'Songbook' tour, and this was his first solo visit to London. After a storming festival performance at Download this year that saw Soundgarden reunited for the first time in 15 years, expectations for this solo, acoustic tour were high.
The London Palladium may have seemed a slightly unusual choice for an ex-grunge frontman, but the amphitheatre style was a perfect pick to showcase Cornell’s unique, spine-chilling vocal talents. As we entered the venue (seated, all very orderly – a stark contrast to last months’ mud soaked Download), attendees were met with numerous signs politely requesting that there be no photography, owing to “artist request due to the intimate nature of the gig”. This was a little unusual in a venue of this size, as although the Palladium is no O2 arena, it is a far cry from being what I would call intimate.
Show time on the tickets was set for 7.00pm, and at 8.15 the support act wandered onto the stage. Paul Freeman, best known for folksy, acoustic self-penned Paul Simon-style tunes, was the solo “special guest”, and treated us to five average acoustic guitar tracks. Freeman, a Welsh born songwriter currently residing in America, has previously supported Roger Daltrey and played guitar for James Blunt. His voice was average, reminiscent of an open mic night down the local pub, his attitude downright cocky, his set punctuated by swearwords every two minutes, which gave the impression of a public school boy let out of class early. The highlight of the set was him bringing on vocalist Georgia Herd, and them performing a beautiful duet together. More of this would have been palatable, but alas, she only featured on one track.
However, Freeman seemed to impress the crowd – as this was an acoustic evening to be fair his musical style did fit the brief, but it just seemed his performance was too arrogant and his voice too average considering the musical icon he was warming up for.
Cornell finally appeared to a wildly enthusiastic crowd at approximately 9.15. Looking around, the crowd seemed to represent a definite cross section of fans gained over his 20 year career, and the venue buzzed with excitement at the appearance of the rock legend treading the boards at the Palladium that night.
Cornell’s stage layout was simple, with just a mike stand, chair, rug, plus seven guitars and an old fashioned red telephone which he did not reference at all throughout the night. As he entered the stage and was handed a guitar by his roadie, I did wonder if Cornell would actually performing chord changes himself that night. Rock legends can be tricky – they know their audience love them, that they command high ticket prices, and they tour irregularly, and as such can grow arrogant and difficult, with their main raison d’etre often being to please themselves, not the fans.
Luckily this was not so with Cornell. Throughout the gig he was engaging, entertaining, cracking the odd joke here and there, and interacted with the audience to such an extent he actually listened to requests and played them accordingly. Naturally, this thrilled the crowd, and he soon had them eating out the palm of his hand. His voice was utterly captivating throughout the night; with a range rivalled by few other frontmen or solo artists. His ability to seamlessly flow from smokers’ chiselled gravelly melody to a pure rock and roll scream remains utterly remarkable.
He opened the show with solo track 'Scar on the Sky', and continued with his newer solo material for the first half. For me, his solo material is his best – showcasing the full range of his immaculate voice alongside songwriting skills which have an unwavering ability to inspire emotion. Self-penned therapy track 'Can’t Change Me' and Hurricane Katrina tribute/Bush Administration lament 'Wide Awake' are stand out tracks, not only on the acoustic album 'Songbook', but also as live performances. 'Ground Zero', from second solo album 'Scream', was another stand out live track, with Cornell’s powerful voice reverberating through the walls so that I wonder if the rest of London could hear him.
However, fans of his older material were left far from disappointed, with welcome tracks from his Temple of the Dog days plus a smattering of Soundgarden classics, all slightly reworked in order to be fully appreciated as live tracks. 'Outshined', 'Follow Me' and 'Call Me a Dog' were performed to rapturous applause by the extremely appreciative fans in the stalls.
Cornell referenced his ill-fated Timberland collaboration album several times throughout his show, and whilst the album was a commercial let down, it was clear not all his fans disliked his experimental technique. Indeed, Cornell has clearly learnt some valuable production skills as a result of this collaboration, with the most breathtaking performance of 'Blow Up The Outside World', where he looped guitar riffs with lyrics and a light display to create a finale which was visually and aurally stunning. Indeed, for the first time that evening, his audience were hushed as he worked on stage, on the edge of their seats as he built to the dramatic and unique crescendo – with deafening applause and a standing ovation.
After leaving the stage, he then returned with not one, not two, not three but SIX finale songs, including 'Songbook' exclusive 'Cleaning My Gun' and Soundgarden anthem, 'Black Hole Sun', leaving the stage at 11.30 after an incredible two hour plus session. One thing was for sure, we all got value for money out of Cornell – and left knowing we had been unbelievably lucky to be part of this incredible musical experience, led by a true rock legend.
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The London Palladium may have seemed a slightly unusual choice for an ex-grunge frontman, but the amphitheatre style was a perfect pick to showcase Cornell’s unique, spine-chilling vocal talents. As we entered the venue (seated, all very orderly – a stark contrast to last months’ mud soaked Download), attendees were met with numerous signs politely requesting that there be no photography, owing to “artist request due to the intimate nature of the gig”. This was a little unusual in a venue of this size, as although the Palladium is no O2 arena, it is a far cry from being what I would call intimate.
