March 2, 2003:

The Avalon, Boston, MA – a dark, dingy and raw rock n’ roll room in the middle of Lansdowne Street that eventually transformed to the House of Blues. Four months earlier, the super-group Audioslave released their self-titled debut.

Lost in the City:

It was a cold, yet unusually clear Monday New England night. A bus, subway ride and then full sprint took me from my college dorm to the intimate venue that was “the” Avalon. There was this burning inside that I envision looked just like the Audioslave logo, as truly back then, I relied on music to light my way. To some degree, not much has changed. The Avalon stage was in the back of the venue with a bar adjoining the sides. For rock shows, it was always 50 shades of black inside. Stairs just feet away from the drum riser would take the artist from the green room to the stage.

Suddenly, the dark room gets darker. I recall there being an atypical silence as Audioslave took the stage. One-by-one you heard the clanks of marching down the stairs. Tim Commerford, Brad Wilk and Tom Morello grab their instruments (*all sounds made by guitar, bass, drums and vocals). Then comes Chris Cornell. Sporting black boots up to his calves, cut blue shorts and a white tank top, he looks stone-cold and perfectly determined. There was no intro music and no hoopla. Cornell lifts his head by the center mic. His eyes pierce through the crowd like the spotlights above as he takes the scene in for the first time. Mind you – it’s still quiet amongst the packed house, not your usual screaming and adoring frenzy before the show starts. It was like a welcomed take your breath away, or the judge just walked into the courtroom feel. Cornell then nods to Morello over his left shoulder. Boom… burn that gasoline.

I Put Millions of Miles Under My Heels:

This was the first time I saw Chris Cornell live. He was larger than life to me – like the Godfather of rock. He reminded me of a group of musicians who would go down “the path” in the parking lot of my high school sporting nothing but Dr. Martens, ripped jeans and band shirts. Teachers thought they were mischievous and suspicious, I thought they were fascinating. Cornell in my mind, was the leader. There was an unmatched intrigue that was both intimating and enlightening. All of this rushed to my head that night as I was overcome with awe that after all this time, the mysterious Cornell was just feet away. The embodiment of Soundgarden, the thoughtfulness of Temple of the Dog, the mastermind behind the life-changing masterpiece that was Euphoria Morning and now the force of Audioslave – in the same room as me. In that moment it dawned on me that if it wasn’t for the initial break of Soundgarden ultimately allowing the creation of Audioslave, perhaps I would have never had the opportunity to see Cornell in such a small space.