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How important is memory? The ancient Romans knew this well since the worst punishment in their code was not death, but Damnatio Memoriae. Literally, it was the erasure of the memory of those who committed crimes against the State and the Senate: their name was removed from literary sources and inscriptions, their face erased from reliefs, statues and busts portraying them destroyed, and no one could even mention their name. Perhaps at the time, it was really easy to erase someone's memory since there weren't, for example, photos and songs. But photos can be lost and deleted with a click, whereas songs cannot. We all intimately link them to moments, faces, places, and you cannot erase them; at most, you can avoid listening to them. Yet, the Romans must not have been so good if the names and deeds of those condemned to such punishment like Mark Antony, Caligula, Nero, etc., have reached us. Because it's not true that we forget. Memories are tamed, anesthetized. They remain there, diminished in a corner of your stomach, until one day those songs you no longer listened to catch you by surprise and certain memories almost come back to life. In some cases eliciting a smile, in others, you can only shrug.
Live on I-5 is an album that collects some live performances, recorded during the North American tour to promote Down on the Upside in 1996. "I-5" actually stands for Interstate 5, a road that runs along the Pacific coast of North America. The recordings were made with the purpose of releasing the first, and to date only, live album by Soundgarden. But after said tour, the band disbanded, and ultimately the project was released, alongside the band's reunion, in 2011.
I listen to it with my eyes closed and memory teleports me to the Scaligero Castle in Villafranca di Verona in the front row under the stage, crushed against the barriers by hundreds and hundreds of fans but with Chris exactly in front of me, and that was enough for me to endure the painful pressure that, at times, took my breath away but not the happiness of being there. It was July 2, 2014, and Soundgarden was on tour for the 20th anniversary of Superunknown. The setlist was almost practically the same as Live on I-5, which helps me relive that memory intensely.
It must be said immediately that this is not the best album to do justice to Chris's talent and memory, as his vocal performance is often weak and asthmatic. But in the end, this discomfort is nothing more than a reflection of the dark days he had fallen into: his unique vocal ability seemed seriously compromised by alcohol abuse, and indeed at the end of the tour, he underwent a delicate operation on his vocal cords; he struggled to fight his drug and alcohol addiction that would truly bring him to the brink of destruction depressed and anorexic until the saving encounter with the Love of his life Vicky Karayiannis; finally, within the group, an irreparable fracture had formed that would lead to their breakup.
As in Villafranca, the album also opens with the irruption of Spoonman and Searching With My Good Eye Closed and it is immediately clear that the sound is the true protagonist of this live, which compensates, indeed overcomes Chris Cornell’s vocal shortcomings. The songs on the setlist are mainly from the albums in the middle part of their career, with no songs from Ultramega Ok and Louder Than Love, while incredibly dark and abrasive thunders the single Nothing To Say from their very first EP Screaming Life. A strange cover of Helter Skelter darkened and slowed down slowly fades into one of the best tracks, a reverberated and psychedelic Boot Camp. Slaves & Bulldozers, stripped from its original guise, is charged with the propulsive and hard rock force of Ben Shepherd's prolonged solo. The live closes beautifully with a poignant and solitary version of Black Hole Sun which somewhat anticipates the intimate and singer-songwriter turn Chris would undertake later with his solo career, and with the fury of Matt Cameron in Jesus Christ Pose where finally Chris unleashes his legendary voice.
The concerts are over. There will be no more new memories. I will have to make do for life with those I have, even though now they don't make me smile at all.
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