Guns N’ Roses Offer Chris Cornell Tribute ‘Black Hole Sun’ at Slane Castle Gig
Guns N' Roses were back onstage Saturday (May 27) for the start of the latest leg of the "Not in This Lifetime" tour at the historic Slane Castle in Ireland, and like many of their peers, they used the stage to pay homage to Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell. In the middle of their performance, the band played a cover of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun."
"This one's for you Chris, 'Black Hole Sun' live from Slane Castle," the band's Twitter account posted shortly after the performance. As you can see, Axl Rose did a pretty solid job of tackling the Chris Cornell vocal while a darkened silhouette of Seattle's Space Needle appeared in the background. And in the midst of the performance, Slash unleashed a powerful guitar solo. Footage from the performance can be viewed at the top and bottom of this post.
As has been stated, it is a close community in the Seattle scene and Duff McKagan had crossed paths with Cornell on multiple occasions. He had even performed with him at a Mad Season reunion show. McKagan posted a photo of himself onstage with Cornell at that Mad Season show and tweeted, "Truly sad for his children and family ... and the rest of us. A good man." Meanwhile, McKagan's GN'R bandmate Slash posted, "Shocked and saddened by the news of Chris Cornell's passing. RIP." See each of the postings below.
A private service was held Friday for Cornell, with Tom Morello, Jeff Ament, Josh Brolin and Soundgarden's Matt Cameron and Kim Thayil delivering eulogies. Linkin Park's Chester Bennington performed the Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah" during the ceremony, while the Cornell song "The Promise" and Audioslave's "Like a Stone" played prior to the start and Temple of the Dog's "All Night Thing" concluded the ceremony. Aside from the aforementioned speakers and performers, Dave Grohl, Perry Farrell, James Hetfield, Krist Novoselic, Courtney Love, Lars Ulrich, Gavin Rossdale, Dave Navarro, Billy Idol, Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, James Franco and others were among those who attended the funeral. After the private service, Cornell's burial site at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery was opened to the public.
Guns N' Roses are currently on tour in Europe and will continue through mid-July. They still have two North American legs and one brief trip to South American on the schedule. See all of their dates here.
See More Fan-Shot Video of Guns N' Roses Performing Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun"
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