Chris Cornell

With one of rocks most recognizable voices, a few movie themes and almost a dozen albums credited to him, Chris Cornell could very well be the man with the best voice in Rock. During his tenure with grunge heavyweights Soundgarden, Cornell’s voice propelled the band to stardom with albums like Badmotorfinger and Superunknown. After closing that chapter of his life, Cornell moved on to the supergroup Audioslave. Comprised of himself and former members of Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave released three albums. Each album had it’s own style and sound.

In 2006 Cornell was asked to track the theme song to Casino Royale. While this was in the works a solo album was also on the horizon. Cue a Rage Against the Machine reunion and Audioslave was offically done. When all was said and done Chris decided to continue the pursuit of his solo career. Cornells second solo album Carry On was released on June 5th 2007. Boasting the single You Know My Name ( the theme for Casino Royale) and an amazing rendition of Michael Jacksons Billie Jean. The next logical thing to do was to tour. The tour stopped in Detroit on July 22nd. The Fillmore Detroit ( formerly State Theater) played host to the event. A near capacity crowd stood in awe as Cornell played career spanning hits from Say Hello To Heaven to You Know my Name. With three bands worth of material to draw from Cornell played something for everyone in the crowd. Soundgarden fans got treated to Spoonman, Fell On Black Days and Rusty Cage. Audioslave fans were treated just the same. With performances of Cochise, Like a Stone, Be Yourself and Show Me How to Live, everyone in the crowd sang along to something. For those who remember the grunge era, Cornell took us back to Temple of the Dog and sang Say Hello To Heaven, about the late Andrew Wood.

After a high energy opening set Cornell took the stage alone with his acoustic guitar. Can’t Change Me off of 2004's Euphoria Morning kicked off the string of slower songs in this part of the show. The band rejoined the stage for Doesn’t Remind me. Off of Audioslaves 2006 release Out Of Exile. In one of the more memorable points of the show the song went from slow and laid back to hard rocking and energetic. The show raged on as Chris played numerous hits and a spattering of solo pieces like Wave Goodbye.

After leaving the stage briefly Cornell and company came back to do a four song encore including his first post Soundgarden track. Sunshower, which according to Chris is one of his favorite songs even if the movie it came from wasn’t so good. Taking a trip through the movies, we went back to 199_ where the song Seasons appeared in the movie Singles.

The night ended with a modified version of Black Hole Sun. The crowd went crazy as the guitarist shredded through the solo. It’s safe to say that Chris is maintaining being one of the best voices in rock. While no one knows what the future holds, the near capacity crowd proved that the best voice in rock doesn’t need an all star band behind him to have a name.