Last night I saw one of my favorite bands in concert for the first time, Audioslave. I've been following their career and listening to their music for years now including thier previous incarnations as Rage Against the Machine and Chris Cornell's previous band Soundgarden.

In fact, this wasn't the first time I've seen Chris perform live, it was my fourth actually. The first time was on Soundgarden's return appearance to Lollapalooza in '96 promoting their last studio album Down on the Upside and three times in 1999-2000 when he was touring with the band Eleven as his back up promoting his solo effort Euphoria Morning (a very underrated album). To be honest, he's sort of my personal rock god, right up there with Trent Reznor in this mere mortal's book.

Chris' masterful songwriting, guitar playing and untouchable vocal work first hit me "like a phillips head into my brain" when I heard Soundgarden's Badfotorfinger while in college in 1992. Needless to say I was hooked and bought all of their previous releases, EPs, singles and even bootlegs.

A lot of fans think they sold out and went too commercial with 1994's Superunknown but I disagree. Sure you can sing along to Black Hole Sun, The Day I Tried to Live, Fell on Black Days or Spoonman but that doesn't make those tunes any less powerful or resonating and they've proven to stand the test of time. In the years since there have been few songs as hauntingly melodic and rockingly bombastic as Like Suicide, the last track and highlight for me personally of that album.

They may have peaked with Superunknown but you can't dismiss Pretty Noose, Blow Up The Outside World or especially Burden In My Hand from Down on the Upside. Those songs made me wish they had stayed together a little longer.

But last night's show was a great mix of current, old, covers that weren't really covers, and even brand new songs and the energy on stage was infectious. The crowd inside Vet's Memorial was on their feet the entire time, regardless of cushy seats and balcony viewing which has been known to tame lame Columbus, Ohio audiences. The band themselves were even impressed and made special mention of the fact which just made their playing even better. You could really tell they were enjoying it as Chris was more animated on stage than I'd ever seen him before and Tom Morello was jumping, spinning, twirling and smiling the entire time and even came more alive during the RATM songs they played which just surprised and blew away the audience.

Here's the set list from memory, almost entirely in order I believe (I have to write this down somewhere so I can refer to it and remember this show for a long to come):

Your Time Has Come (the first track/second single from their new album Out of Exile)

Set It Off (from their self titled debut)

Doesn't Remind Me (their current single from the new album, one of my favorite songs)

Be Yourself

Out Of Exile

And then, they changed gears - the banner featuring the Badmotorfinger "wheel" from the cover art of that album became their backdrop and they let it rip into -

Rusty Cage (I will always love the original and I really like the Johnny Cash version but Morello played the heck out of this song) followed by

Spoonman! (Amazing...)

Chris walked off the stage as the band played a little quiet dity that segued into a full on instrumental of...

Bulls On Parade! Tom was the star here and Zach DeLaRocha was not even missed I'm afraid to report.

Then they smoothly moved into Sleep Now In The Fire with Chris returning on stage and belting out the lyrics and running up and down the stage and standing on the speakers like madman. It was exceptional.

They followed these oldies but goodies with a new track off their album they "affectionately call" The Worm, a heavy, hard rocking, self loathing tune that you can also sing along too!

Chris slowed things down a bit with a beautiful song (about his daughter) and another track off their new album called Dandelion. Chris mentioned they haven't played this one in concert that much but it was one of his favorites. I was really surprised to hear it myself since I didn't expect for them to include it in their set. But I was thrilled since this was one of my favorites too.

They were so excited and full of energy at this point they decided to play a new song they had *just* written while on the road, getting back from their live concert in Cuba just recently. This song hadn't been played for *anyone* yet, including their managers and studio execs so we were the first people to hear it. I believe the song was called One And The Same, or at least that was the chorus he kept repeating throughout. It was an amazing song though so I hope they release it at some point.

They asked the crowd to sing along to the next one, Like A Stone, which was a pretty popular standout track from their first album.

They wrapped up the set with Shadow Of The Sun, another screechingly powerful song from their first album (which was superbly used in Michael Mann's Collateral).

They left the stage thanking the crowd promising to return, and return they did only a few minutes later but it was Chris and just his guitar as he took a seat at the edge of the stage on a stool.

He began his acoustic set playing Black Hole Sun which rolled into a Temple of the Dog medley of Call Me A Dog and All Night Thing (one of my all time favorite songs) and then an acoustic version of the last track on Out of Exile, The Curse (I really love this song too).

He began the next tune, I Am The Highway, on his own but then the band took the stage during the middle of the song and they played it out which was fantastic and moving.

They picked up speed and drove into Show Me How To Live and whatever Rage naysayers that might have been left were immediately converted during the next song, Chris' amazing vocal rendition of...

Killing In the Name Of! If you're familiar with the song, and Zach's powerful and colorful lyrics, there were hundreds upon hundreds of "one finger salutes" during the finale which were lovingly returned from the members of the band even as Tom took to standing tall on one of the speakers and gave us the biggest bird of them all. That was a pure rock and roll moment

Chris demanded that all of the lights in the auditorium be turned on for the last song of the show which was of course was their usual closer and their very first single, the rock anthem Cochise.

The best 50 bucks I ever spent on a concert ticket.
My ears are still ringing....

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Also, this weekend, October 15th and 16th, I'll be attending the Motor City Comic Con in Novi, Michigan along with my pal and Order 66 survivor Justin from World Famous Comics.com.

Dave Dorman will be there too so bring your Dark Empires, your Tales of The Jedi or RotS comics and get 'em signed! I'll be selling my Star Wars artwork, signing autographs and talking about my latest projects so be sure to stop by and say hi!

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Next weekend I'll be attending an all night horror movie marathon back here in Columbus, OH as well. More on that in my next blog. October is not only my favorite month for all things "horror" but it's also shaping up to be an incredibly busy month for me. I'm currently working on a new comic book series for IDW Publishing that some of you Joss Whedon Angel and Buffy fans might enjoy!