Chris Cornell, Matt McHugh @The Sydney Opera House, Sydney(22/11/11)

Tue 25th Oct, 2011 in Gig Reviews

It would have been hard to imagine back in 1992 that grunge icon Chris Cornell would ever play a venue like the Sydney Opera House, but his career that spans over 20 years has been far from predictable. Armed with a slew guitars and a red telephone, Chris showed that you don’t need to make a lot of noise to give a powerful performance.

Relegated to the side of stage it’s easy to imagine, had the house lights not dimmed, people may not have notice opener Matt McHugh take the stage. The Beautiful Girls front-man’s set proved to be a laid back affair, mostly made up of chilled out acoustic songs and reggae tunes. His soft voice carried around the room wonderfully and there was a shimmering clarity to his guitar picking.

Using a loop station to layer up percussive rhythms and helped ad some variety to a set that was toeing the line of sounding all too similar and a cheeky coda of Pearl Jam’s Black at the end of his final track certainly helped win over neutral members of the audience. His style may not have tickled everyone’s fancy but his skilful and earnest performance ensured his time on stage wasn’t a waste.

The tone for the night was set as soon as Chris Cornell took the stage, spending the first five minutes of the performance shaking the hands of everyone lucky enough to have front row seats and chatting to the room before even picking up one of the many guitars laid out on the stage. Cornell finished his impromptu speech by letting everyone know that they should yell out any songs they would like to hear; and just like that it stopped being a high class concert in the Opera House and became the night our mate Chris came around and happened to bring a guitar.

The Opera House concert hall was built for huge voices like Cornell’s. Whilst his voice has had a patchy history it was in fine form tonight and the first appearance of his iconic scream during When Hope and Promise Fade drew hysterical cheers from the audience. The opening riff of Fell On Black Days, the first Soundgarden song of the night, drew a similar response before the audience fell into reverent silence.

Chris’ good mood didn’t drop all night, happily taking requests from all eras of his career and not adhering himself to any structured set list. Cuts from his records with Soundgarden and Temple of the Dog unsurprisingly proved to be the most popular, with Black Hole Sun and Burden In My Hand making an appearance from the former as well as Wooden Jesus and Call Me A Dog from the latter.

Whilst not all his songs translated to the acoustic environment perfectly, heavy metal anthem Outshined seemed to drag without the power of a whole band, other rockers such as Wide Awake sounded fantastic, with only minor adjustments to help them fit the stripped down environment. A few times Cornell would drop out of time or forget to tune his guitar but it never took away from the performance and only added to the relaxed vibe that was created in the room.

A slew of cover songs also populated the set, adding to the casual and friendly feel of the concert. The main set was closed with a faultless cover of The Beatles A Day In The Life and an encore including Billie Jean and John Lennon’s Imagine were treats atop a set list filled with highlights. The biggest of these highlights came when he sang When I’m Down to the late Natasha Schneider’s original piano recording on a turntable. His voice echoing over the ghostly presence of the turntable was haunting and beautiful; more powerful than any screams or distorted guitars.

Chris Cornell’s performance showcased not only the wealth of songs he’s accumulated and his astounding voice, but the close relationship he cultivates with his fans to break the fourth wall of live performance. His happiness to be playing infected the audience and had them salivating for his swift return in January.