Retirement is a time for reflection, relaxation, and….. rocking?

Put it this way. If the careers of Tom Morello, Brad Wilk, and Tim Commerford, (formerly of Rage Against the Machine) had ended with the departure of singer Zack De La Rocha, they still would have ended up at the top of the ‘best-of-all-time’ list.
The same goes for Chris Cornell, former singer for Soundgarden.

Both of these bands were at the top of the game in the nineties. Real music fans know that Soundgarden was one of the first, and more important bands in the whole “Seattle Sound” that took over America, and MTV in the nineties. (Along with Mudhoney, the Melvins, and Mother Love Bone) Rage against the machine, has been copied, covered, and crapped outn in every which way, but no one has ever been able to drop it like they do. Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Kid Rock, and countless other talentless bands wouldn’t even come close to Rage live, if they had set off an atomic bomb in the middle of the set. (which is what rage pretty much did)

So. That being said, lets get back to retirement. Retirement involves a hobby, or something you like to do after your job is done.

Well. AUDIOSLAVE is the retirement collaboration of these four guys. And as far as coming out of retirement goes.. Well, lets just say they fared better than Michael Jordan.

The reason I bring up retirement, is most rockstars are known for, boozing, taking drugs, and sleeping with supermodels.. From what I’d heard. None of this was going on. One of the guys just had a baby, and it’s rumored that Chris Cornell had just gotten out of rehab. So, I didn’t know what to expect. Was I about to see Air Supply? I’d seen both Rage and Soundgarden, in their heyday, and was totally blown away both times.

And let me tell you. The new combo didn’t disappoint this time either.

When they took the stage, they opened up with the second song on their CD, “Burn that gasoline”. You know that scene in “The Matrix’ when Neo is swooping down to avoid the bullets? Well, it seemed like the whole crowd was blown over by the sonic force of this band. The shear power of those three instruments, backed by Cornell’s classic rock pipes, was something out of the early 70’s. I immediately turned to my buddy Eric and said, “Bro, this is like seeing Led Zepplin”. He wanted to agree with me, but the ear to ear smile on his face, held him back from opening his mouth. At one point in time, they ripped into a song, that most people didn’t recognize. A cover of Parliament Funkadelic’s Super Stupid. Later on, they ripped through “Working Man” by Rush.

I cant remember anytime in the show, we’re I said to myself, they’re not a s good as I thought they would be. I didn’t even skip out to hit the bathroom. Bottom line. They were unbelievable.

For an hour and thirty minutes, the ripped through the whole CD. They missed one or two songs, from the disc, but I didn’t notice. Switching from hard rock tunes, with a familiar Rage edge, to more slow bluesy songs throughout the whole show. But most of all, they seemed to be having a blast. No more grunge hype, No political platform. Just 4 guys playing good, old fashioned, balls to the wall, rock n roll.

In my old age of 28, I’ve seen everyone…Metallica, U2, Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Rage, Soundgarden, Rush, KISS, Van Halen, Janes Addiction, Woodstock 94, Woodstock 99 … the list goes on.

I rank Audioslave up there with the best of them.

And I realized one thing.. Retirement, might not be that bad.

Casey