Although it’s not fair to the show or the album, I am going to write my review of last night’s Chris Cornell show at Webster Hall while listening to Soundgarden’s classic Badmotorfinger. My first reason is a fundamental need. I need to hear Cornell scream with a real band behind him. My second reason is a want. I want to forget the lulls of last night’s show which not-so-coincidentally occurred during every song off his new album Scream and his lifeless cover of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” Here we go.

Electronic trumpets start the show off, four guys come on stage followed by Cornell. The first two songs are new. I can tell because the band isn’t making any noise, there’s a computer backstage playing Timbaland beats or some other such nonsense. The vocals are too loud, the guitars are non-existent and that synth is stupid. I was thinking what most sane people in the crowd were thinking: this suffering will be worth it, come on, you get through this, he’s not just gonna play this crap.

Getting through it was harder than I thought. I went in with an open mind to judge the new Cornell songs everyone’s been bashing live in person. I also wanted to hear some Soundgarden, as bastardized as the music side would be. By the time I had heard my third and fourth song off Scream, the Soundgarden songs, the great “Hunger Strike” from Temple of the Dog and even the earlier solo songs off the wonderful Euphoria Morning couldn’t save the set.

The difference between the crowd’s reaction to a Soundgarden song and a song off Scream would probably be best shown on one of those meters judging audience noise. The needle would barely move for a song off Scream, but it would break and start smoking for a Soundgarden song. This is not unlike many other famed singers who keep putting out new material. You don’t cheer for new Neil Young songs, you cheer for “Rockin’ in the Free World.” Bob Dylan the same. The difference for Cornell last night was even solo songs off Euphoria Morning or the Singles soundtrack were spiking that cheer-o-meter. Everything Cornell played that wasn’t off Scream got a huge reaction. Audioslave songs second to Soundgarden. (Other than the fact SG is better, the $44 ticket price leans towards an older crowd).

Was it simply the audience not knowing these new songs off Scream? No. The problem is they have no energy, on record or live. They suck. I did not believe a word of what Cornell sang for any of the eight new songs he played last night.

The Soundgarden songs, all eight of them (cleverly planned out, eh, Cornell?), were great to see performed live. The band was bad, but when you’re playing “Rusty Cage” or Audioslave’s “Cochise,” I am going to compare you to Kim Thayhil and Tom Morello. Obviously, the band could not compare. Watching the guy try to imitate Morello’s effects and Thayhil’s speed was laughable. To the band’s defense, I think they suffered from horrible mixing which boomed Cornell’s voice above every else. I understand it’s a Cornell show, but Soundgarden and Audioslave are guitar bands, you can’t try to hide that. Ironically, the best accompaniment to Cornell was a guy in the crowd who sang Eddie Vedder’s part in “Hunger Strike.” He was damn good. Meanwhile, the band jumped around stage looking like a bunch of guys playing Rock Band that just happened to have one of the best voices in modern rock as their singer.

The most  worthwhile part of the show was when Cornell played by himself. “Can’t Change Me” from Euphoria Morning and SG’s classic “Fell on Black Days” were great. If Cornell ever decides to play an all acoustic set, I’ll be first in line. If he wants to play guitar heavy songs from SG or Audioslave, he’s better off singing karaoke.