Birmingham Academy. 4 September 2007

Photo By JoJo

Despite mixed reviews for the cross-genre solo album CARRY ON released this summer, legendary rock singer Chris Cornell has been gathering widespread critical acclaim for his current solo world tour. His old problems with drink and drugs now firmly behind him, he’s showcasing a voice which seems now to have regained most of its original power and range.

Cornell avoids the big cheesy rock and roll entrance by sauntering onstage already crooning the solemn, Scott Walker-ish ‘Silence The Voices’. On the new record the song doesn’t quite work; its serpentine melody half-buried under a production that threatens to shade towards progrock. Live, its challenge to political evil hits harder, its stark atmosphere slowly seducing a crowd who aren’t quite sure what they’ve come to see. It’s a bold choice of opener, especially as the song’s subtle grandeur fades only gradually into the riotous stomp of Audioslave’s 2006 single ‘Original Fire.’

Material for the two-and-a-half hour set comes from right across Cornell’s twenty-year career. While he successfully nails grandstanding performances of grunge-metal anthems like ‘Black Hole Sun’ and ‘Outshined’, he also challenges audiences with newer, stranger songs and lends some neglected rarities a new lease of life.

‘Seasons’, from the SINGLES movie soundtrack, starts with Cornell cross-legged on the stage flanked by two acoustic guitars: later, it builds into a kind of polyrhythmic world music, trancelike and sinuous, and incorporates a jam on Zeppelin’s ‘In My Time Of Dying.’ Towards the end of the show, he pays tribute to his late friend Jeff Buckley with the ghostly elegy ‘Wave Goodbye.’

A couple of songs from early 90s side project Temple Of The Dog get a surprisingly warm reaction from the youngish crowd, and Cornell chooses to play his controversial cover of Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ solo acoustic. Done this way, it’s less a blues workout and more a country murder ballad, closer to Johnny Cash or Nick Cave than the King Of Pop.

Photo By Sue Linehan

The Audioslave songs are perhaps the least inspiring of the evening – not because they’re badly played or sung, but because there hasn’t yet been time for them to acquire the kind of distance that allows for reinterpretation. Only their ballad ‘Doesn’t Remind Me’ seems to have transformed itself into something new. It’s acquired swing, a skip in its step which develops into a joyously soulful crowd-pleaser of a finish with Cornell’s vocal ad-libs competing with some commanding bass improvisation from powerhouse Corey McCormick.

The most powerful moments of the night come courtesy of the Soundgarden material, in which Cornell seems to have discovered a new delight. ‘Jesus Christ Pose’ still rouses a perilous energy as he stalks the stage, eyes like welding torches, mic stand slung across his shoulders. The hefty ‘Slaves and Bulldozers’ plays host to a incendiary drum solo from Jason Sutter as Cornell weaves in snatches of vocal rhythm. Finally, the band slips into a full-on cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’ – great granddaddy of Audioslave’s anthem ‘Cochise’ - which probably stands up to anything you’re likely to hear at the O2 arena in November. Through it all, the contrasting styles of guitarists Peter Thorn and Yogi Lonich conjure a complex but gloriously heavy backdrop for Cornell’s reincarnated voice.

Judging by tonight, it’ll be a long time before this particular icon is ready to retire.

By Clare O’Brien