Chris Cornell steps to a microphone and says, simply: ‘My name’s Chris and this is Brian. It’s good to see you.’ The room erupts. What follows is not a stadium rock event but something closer to a conversation between a singular voice and a quietly stunned audience, a rare acoustic performance that proves how little Cornell ever needed between himself and a listener.
Chris Cornell – Pro Shot – Acoustic Live – HD Sourced Pro Shot (Compilation via @TheSteved111 on Youtube)
00:00:00 1. Scar On The Sky – Walmart / Soundcheck Series – 2011
00:03:37 2. Before We Disappear – KROQ Acoustic XMAS – LA, CA – 12.13.15
00:07:50 3. Can’t Change Me – KROQ Acoustic XMAS – LA, CA – 12.13.15
00:11:48 4. Like A Stone – KROQ Acoustic XMAS – LA, CA – 12.13.15
00:16:12 5. Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart – SiriusXM Sessions – 9.17.15
00:20:06 6. Fell On Black Days – SiriusXM Sessions – 9.17.15
00:25:08 7. Nothing Compares 2 U – SiriusXM Sessions – 9.17.15
00:30:08 8. Wooden Jesus – Santiago, Ch -11.12.2011
00:33:42 9. Hunger Strike – Santiago, Ch -11.12.2011
00:37:55 10. Josephine – 91X Session – San Diego, Ca – 9.23.15
00:41:56 11. Call Me A Dog – Hollywood Bowl, CA – 10.14.10
00:46:54 12. Imagine – Hollywood Bowl, CA – 10.14.10
00:50:22 13. The Promise – CBS This Morning Sessions – 4.22.2017
00:54:38 14. Black Hole Sun – CBS This Morning Sessions – 4.22.2017
00:58:54 15. Higher Truth – CBS This Morning Sessions – 4.22.2017
01:03:43 16. When I’m Down – Troubadour – LA, CA -1.29.10
01:08:41 17. Sad, Sad City – Austin, TX 3.12.11
01:12:31 18. Doesn’t Remind Me – Paulinia, BR 11.13.2011
01:17:02 19. Be Yourself – Paulinia, BR 11.13.2011
01:21:01 20. Peace, Love & Understanding – Santiago, Ch -11.12.2011
01:24:21 21. Wide Awake – Santiago, Ch -11.12.2011
01:28:07 22. A Day In The Life – Santiago, Ch -11.12.2011
01:33:13 23. Billy Jean – Paulinia, BR -11.13.2011
01:37:30 24. Blow Up The Outside World – Paulinia, BR 11.13.2011
When the guitar is the only thing left in the room
The set opens in a place that feels almost geological, with imagery of gold graves and crowded skies washing over the room before Cornell has barely settled in. He moves through material that spans the full arc of his catalog, from the early solo work he describes as coming out of Soundgarden ending and feeling like a strange new beginning, to songs that CBS Saturday Morning once had to remind viewers he would eventually come back and finish.
One of the set’s most arresting moments arrives when Cornell introduces a song from what he calls ‘an album called Euphoria Morning.’ He explains it was probably one of the first solo tracks that K-Rock played relentlessly, delivered with the dry ease of someone who has never needed to oversell a room. The song itself, about a woman with the power to change the world but not quite the power to change him, gains something raw and direct without a full band absorbing its edges.
He covers ‘Nothing Compares 2 U,’ crediting Keaton Simons by name mid-performance, and turns Sinead O’Connor’s aching benchmark into something personal and searching, landing on the line about going to the doctor with a quiet, slightly wry gravity that no arena could contain.
The song that was always supposed to be performed this way
Perhaps the most candid moment of the evening comes when Cornell pauses before one song and admits the truth of its origin: ‘This next song actually was written to be performed this way and it was never done because once I started recording it, it seemed a little weird. Soundgarden had just ended, it was the first solo thing I did, I was like okay, I’m just singing a song to a piano.’ The audience recognition is immediate. The stripped performance, just voice and keys, lands exactly as he says it was always supposed to.
He covers Nick Lowe’s ‘What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding,’ stopping to note with a slight laugh that it is ‘a long title,’ and the room laughs with him the way a room only laughs with someone it completely trusts.
A John Lennon cover Imagine and an Audioslave deep cut sit in the same set without friction, the kind of range that only makes sense coming from someone who genuinely inhabits every register he touches.
A guitar left ringing on the word ‘anything’
The last notes of the set dissolve into applause the way acoustic shows always do, a little messier and warmer than anything produced, the sound of people who were not entirely sure what they had just witnessed.
Earlier in the evening, Cornell had introduced ‘Before We Disappear’ from what he called ‘an app called Higher Truth,’ the casual phrasing of a man who had long since stopped needing the full vocabulary of self-promotion. The song’s title, offered in passing, hangs in the air long after the guitar goes quiet.
Toni Cornell Brings Her Father’s Voice Back to Life at the Rock Hall 2025 Induction
