Backstage Before His Palais Theatre Show, Chris Cornell Ponders Playing Theatres Post-Bataclan Attacks

"I heard the news today, oh boy..." Chris Cornell, accompanied by Bryan Gibson on cello, launched into A Day In The Life by The Beatles during his show at Palais Theatre on Friday 4 December. Our thoughts drifted toward Scott Weiland's family and friends since news of the 48-year-old singer's passing was reported earlier that day. But Cornell's actual dedication to the esteemed singer who fronted Stone Temple Pilots (and later Velvet Revolver) didn't come until the final song of his set in the form of Higher Truth, the title track from Cornell's latest solo LP.

"Basically the same people, you know, that might be here sitting there and just watching the band and enjoying themselves - it's fuckin' NUTS!"

The following evening, during a backstage interview with Cornell at this same venue, he reveals, "I think at some point in the set it occurred to me that I'd passed a few [songs] that would've been good ones [to dedicate to Weiland]... I had a few different songs that I sorta thought about after the fact, but I think there's something about the song Higher Truth as I continue to play it live. And so much really bad stuff has been happening internationally — and the thing that happened, the shooting that happened in the theatre in Paris; the only time I've done an acoustic tour in Europe I played that venue [Bataclan]. And the idea, sort of the notion of it; it's almost been hard to really address in a show and I dedicated that song to the victims of that tragedy - particularly the victims inside that theatre - the other night. And one of the reasons why I've sort of been reluctant to bring it up is 'cause it's kind of a weird thing to bring up in the exact same environment. I mean it's sort of a little bit too, 'Do we really wanna think about that right now?' Because this was a slightly smaller room, but basically the same people, you know, that might be here sitting there and just watching the band and enjoying themselves - it's fuckin' NUTS!"

Palais Theatre's interior is similar to Bataclan in that it's a multi-tiered venue and Cornell is right; being an audience member post-Bataclan attack is a tarnished experience. We're interested to hear how it feels from a performer's perspective. "You know, I don't think about it when I'm performing but I've been hesitant to mention it to an audience that's there. It's just kinda weird."

During Cornell's performance last night, a fan walked down the aisle to place a soft toy on the stage and then returned to her seat. Even though we could see what it was, alarm bells went off in a way that they wouldn't have before the Paris tragedy. Cornell eventually noticed the soft toy, the fan yelled out that she'd like him to sign it for 'her kids' and then wandered back down the aisle holding out a pen. He obliged, which was touching, but we still felt insecure in a 'what if?' sense.

"Well I came into - I think it was it must have been Brisbane, it was after the show and I had a jacket that's sorta ripped-up looking, and I sometimes put ice packs on my shoulder after a show. So I had these two ice packs on my shoulder and I put the jacket over the top of that, was kinda holding it together in the middle [demonstrates] and, you know, I had ripped jeans on and these boots [gestures toward worn-looking footwear] and I walked into the hotel; it probably was around midnight, after the show. And [I] just kinda walked in looking more or less like a homeless person or something, and I noticed the guy behind the desk kind of jumping - he had really odd 'emergency' body language like somewhere in him he was thinking, 'Should I react to this guy coming in here?' And I haven't seen that much and there's been plenty of times when I've walked into a hotel, or a restaurant or a public place, looking like maybe I don't necessarily look like the average client [laughs] and didn't see that.

"[I] just kinda walked in looking more or less like a homeless person or something, and I noticed the guy behind the desk kind of jumping."

"So I think that there is a sense of people being on edge. And the point of me bringing that up is, you know, in that song particularly [Higher Truth] I think there was a lighter meaning to it initially and it's sort of grown limbs now in terms of what it feels like when I'm playing it. There really is sort of a strong internal desire that I have that we - you know, people as a species - maybe somehow figure out a way to be a little more enlightened and not have to have our lifetimes filled with this kind of shit, or for our children to look forward to it."

Cornell has three children and we discuss how hard it is to not adjust your usual behaviour in the face of such atrocities. "There's a lot that plays into it and media plays into it a lot," Cornell posits, "and I'm not saying so much social media, but just regular old media; television news, for example, and particularly, like, cable news. They really kinda play into it. They're almost in a way sort of unwitting partners to any kind of a terrorist act because of the way that it's presented. They don't present it, ever, in a way where, you know, 'Relax, we're not sure what's going on here but this happened,' and everyone that they interview, everyone that they talk to - and the way that they will keep sort of revolving a particular piece of footage over and over and over and over; it's designed to get people freaked out so that they sit there in front of the screen and watch the stupid news channel... And I think they almost become unwitting agents of a terrorist group in that particular act when they do that. And I dunno how you approach it but maybe, you know, not overemphasising the fear factor or putting on hysterical people in front of the camera that wanna sort of talk about how much danger we're all in, you know? Maybe just stick to reasonable people, haha."

Cornell returns to his own dressing room. A meet and greet is set up. We pause while some kind of handheld metal detector/explosives detection device is brought up the stairs and waved through the hallways, beeping continuously in varying pitches.