Two years ago, I visited the Tate in London to view the Robert Rauschenberg retrospective and by the end of it I was in tears. A retrospective gives you a linear perspective on the successes and failures of any artist and it was clear by the end that Bob had so much more to say. I was especially touched by how he revisited some of his initial concepts in his final compositions. He knew what he loved. Robert died at the age of 82.

I remember hearing Black Hole Sun for the first time like it was yesterday. I was stunned. Chris Cornell. That voice. Fucking hell. I was hooked and Soundgarden was a welcome addition to my sister and I’s early 90’s alternative repertoire. I followed Chris’ career from Soundgarden to Audioslave and consumed his solo efforts as well. I was numb when I heard of Chris’ death last year. Every year it feels like we’re losing more friends, family, and inspirations to the plague of depression. For someone who loves art and music, losing someone like Chris at such a young age is a sobering reality of the fragility of life and art. Both can come to a halt in an instance.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1–800–273–8255.

Since Chris’ passing, he has been celebrated in many ways. Recently, a bronze statue of Chris was unveiled in his hometown of Seattle and there will be a Tribute Concert in Los Angeles next year. In addition, a massive retrospective of his career has become available covering work from Temple of the Dog, Soundgarden, Audioslave, and solo efforts.

I was tasked with coming up with a simple idea that could pay respect to Chris’ life as an artist while revisiting intimate connections between he and his fans. Chris was a rock legend and being part of multiple projects means he toured a lot. There is nothing quite as intimate as the relationship a fan and artist forge via a live performance. His gigography serves as a sort of physical memory of where he walked among us through the years. I shared these thoughts with my cohort Harold Gutierrez and asked him to come up with a single sentence on what we should build. Harold sent back the following:

Find the setlist from Chris Cornell shows you attended and create a playlist in your Spotify or Apple Music library.

I loved it. The setlist, an arrangement of songs chosen by the artist for your night, is a perfect memory fragment to remind us of that moment spent together. Let’s convert it to a modern format you can take around and make it easy to do so. Check it out here and read on to find out how we tackled it.

Setlists and Songs