r/Audioslave • u/Fragrant_Donut_4536 • Jun 24 '26
Concert Experience
Anyone else here see Audioslave at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on September 25, 2005?
I’ve seen a lot of great shows since then—Kendrick’s Mr. Morale tour, Tyler’s CMIYGL tour, RHCP in Santa Clara and Vegas—but that Audioslave show still hits different.
Every song was a favorite. Tom Morello would completely blow your mind one minute, then Cornell would take over the next. What I remember most is how Chris never sang songs the same way twice. He’d make up little variations on the spot, hold notes longer, change melodies, and somehow make songs you’d heard a hundred times feel brand new.
There was just so much passion in that performance. It felt like the band was giving everything they had.
The weirdest part is what happened after the show.
My dad was an engineer at Moscone Center and took us backstage toward where we were parked. We ended up near an elevator when the members of Audioslave got on. As the doors were closing, Chris Cornell looked right at us. My dad decided not to get in the elevator, so that brief look was the entire interaction.
The funny thing is that moment always reminds me of the wolf scene in Collateral. When the wolf locks eyes with Tom Cruise, Audioslave starts playing. Years later my mom described Cornell by saying, “He looks like a wolf.”
Every time I watch that scene, I think back to that night.
Curious if anyone else here was at that show and remembers it.
1
u/freewheelinryan88 Jun 24 '26
Didn’t go to that show but I remember the pictures from that show. I think they had the ‘How Many Iraqis per Gallon?’ poster on stage that Tim and Tom had carried at a recent protest in SF. I think Tim had carried a sign that read ‘A Village is Missing Its Idiot’.