Stars Pay Tribute To
Chris Cornell
1
Brad PittMatt Cameron Ben ShepherdI
Am The Highway: A Tribute To Chris
Cornell. Did I like it? Yes and no. It was
bittersweet to photograph and hear
bands playing Chris’s music.
Backstage was like rush hour at
Victoria Station, you couldn’t move.
Which was amusing as most of the
acts normally wouldn’t let anyone near them.
I met Lily Cornell, Chris’s eldest daughter. I took
Dave Grohl to meet her and photographed them
together [1]. Tom Morello and Toni Cornell hanging
out together in Audioslave’s dressing room was
another nice moment, as was Toni Cornell with
Ziggy Marley.
Dave Grohl doing Everlong with tears in his eyes
[6] summed up the event, while Juliette Lewis [5]
with Audioslave was a highlight. Miley Cyrus withPete Thorn [4] was good, and after she came off
stage I took a photo of her with Lars Ulrich [2].
Jimmy Kimmel was great as host, and Brad Pitt was
good too. Oddly there were more A-list actors there
than at the Oscars.
Metallica playing For Whom The Bell Tolls sort of
went over everyone’s heads but it was still great to
see them play it. The highlight of the night for me was
Soundgarden, who were magnificent. I wanted
them to play all night with Peter Frampton [3] and
Wayne Kramer. The show ended with Ben and Kim
feeding back the guitars in true Soundgarden tradition,
with Kim plugging in Chris’s Gibson, turning it up
full and leaving it making a cacophony of noise [7].
I couldn’t think of a better ending.(Turn to page 108 for our full review of the show.)Photographer Ross Halfin with just a few of his photos and
observations from an evening celebrating his friend Chris...76 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM