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I don't know about you, but I had the guy who sang on "Badmotorfinger" pegged as a long shot to show up in Carnegie Music Hall doing solo acoustic versions of Beatles and Michael Jackson songs.

It turns out, there are a number of sides to Chris Cornell, grunge metal god and siren singer for Temple of the Dog, Soundgarden and Audioslave.

His solo unplugged excursions actually date back to around 2006 when he offered a download of an acoustic show from Sweden and picked up again with a 2009 tour. In the past week, he released "Songbook," a live album recorded earlier this year.

You could tell from the minute he stepped out on stage and started joking about the building's well-lit fire exits and our football team ("As a child I watched the Steelers kick everyone's ass") that he was quite comfortable on his own.

With a 25-year catalog and an obvious passion for what he was doing, the 47-year-old Cornell raged on for 2 1/2 hours and 29 songs, one of the longer sets on his tour.

The early entries — "Scar on the Sky," "Ground Zero" and "Can't Change Me" — seemed like busker versions done by a singer, a high baritone, who can obviously hit some amazing notes. "Hope and Promise Fade," introduced as being about "a guy who reaches a point in life when he realizes he shouldn't get hammered anymore" — something he knows about — had a beautifully warm vocal. Despite having seven guitars lined up behind him, Cornell, primarily a rhythm guitarist in all those bands, wasn't showing a whole lot of chops. If he had just strummed chords for the duration and not even played any riffs, it would have gotten old fast.

When he got to "Fell on Black Days," one of the most popular Soundgarden songs, he started to up the sonic quotient, simply by picking out some notes. Temple of the Dog's "Hunger Strike" was one of those opportunities to let his voice soar, as broke into the high harmony vocal as well.

He continued to goof around with the adoring fans, who shouted requests between every song. At one point he invited folks from the back to fill the two empty seats in the front row. A few songs later, a woman showed up to claim one of the seats. He joked, "You're supposed to call me if you're going to be late." Then he coolly moved the other two people to a prime spot on the edge of the stage and found the woman whose friend didn't make it a male companion from another row. It was like he was working the Borscht Belt.

If you've been watching the set lists or YouTube, you weren't surprised his slow, haunting version of "Billie Jean." Soundgarden's "Outshined" was a hard Zeppelin-style blues. He strapped on one of the electrics for Audioslave's "Getaway Car," paired with a howling version of Springsteen's "State Trooper," on which he looped the riff and topped it with feedback. Toward the end, it almost sounded like he shooting for 'Jim Morrison does Springsteen.'

For "When I'm Down," he did something I've never seen before -- outside of Andy Kaufman. He put a vinyl record of the original piano track on a turntable and sang over it a bluesy vocal that was as moving as it was charming.

The later he got into the set -- through "Wooden Jesus," "Burden in My Hand," "Like a Stone" -- the stronger his vocals became. He closed with a trippy "A Day in the Life," replicating the orchestral ending with echo and furious strumming. His honey version of Led Zep's "Thank You," a song perfectly suited to his voice, may have been the highlight of the night. But every one of the encores was brilliant.

A set that started simply and quietly came to a booming finish with "Blow Up the Outside World," when he looped the driving rhythm and then de-tuned to strike deep, distorted bass notes and he hit the ceiling with the chorus.

It was a Soundgarden bomb going off in Carnegie Music Hall.

 

THE SET LIST

1. Scar on the Sky

2. Ground Zero

3. Hope and Promise Fade

4. Can't Change Me

5. Be Yourself

6. Wide Awake

7. Fell on Black Days

8. Call Me a Dog

9. Hunger Strike

10. You Know My Name

11. Billie Jean

12. Outshined

13. Sunshower

14. Getaway Car

15. State Trooper

16. When I'm Down

17. Seasons

18. Wooden Jesus

19. Burden in my Hand

20. Mind Riot

21. Like a Stone

22. Doesn't Remind Me

23. A Day in the Life

Encore:

24. Thank You

25. Black Hole Sun

26. The Keeper

27. Say Hello to Heaven

28. Imagine

29. Blow Up the Outside World

 

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