WATCH: Prophets of Rage salute Chris Cornell with ‘Like a Stone’ performance at Download Festival
Prophets of Rage paid powerful tribute to the late-great Chris Cornell during their outstanding set at Download Festival yesterday evening (9th June).
The rock-rap supergroup consisting of Chris’s Audioslave bandmates Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk alongside Public Enemy’s DJ Lord and Chuck D, and Cypress Hill’s B-Real, played the searing 2002 Audioslave anthem ‘Like A Stone’ nine-songs into their penultimate Main Stage set.
Dedicating it to Chris, Tom Morello told the Donington Park faithful: “(Chris) was a sweet person and a good friend and we’re going to play this for him now. If you know the words sing along; if you don’t know the words say a prayer for peace.”
A truly spine-tingling moment, the vast crowd sang the lyrics as the setting sun peeked out through the clouds. You can watch the performance in its entirety right here:
Last night wasn’t the first time the surviving members of Audioslave have paid musical homage to Chris Cornell since his death on 17th May.
DJ Lord posted a video of Tom, Tim and Brad playing an instrumental version of ‘Like A Stone’ in the recording studio a week after his death and at Rock in Park and Rock am Ring in Germany last weekend, System of a Down’s Serj Tankian joined Prophets Of Rage on stage to sing the anthem.
Then at a show in Berlin on Thursday night (7th June) they once again performed an instrumental interpretation with a spotlight shining on an empty microphone.
Alongside ‘Like A Stone’, Prophets of Rage’s set featured nine Rage Against The Machine anthems including the closing ‘Killing In The Name’ and a version of ‘Sleep Now in the Fire’ that featured Audioslave's ‘Cochise’ as the outro.
Back in January, Chris Cornell performed with his Audioslave bandmates at Prophets of Rage’s Anti-Inaugural Ball protesting at President-elect Donald Trump.
Chris’s first performance with Audioslave in 11 years saw him sing ‘Cochise’, ‘Like a Stone’ and ‘Show Me How To Live’. He also joined Prophets of Rage on stage for set closer ‘Killing in the Name.’
The Prophets of Rage setlist at Download Festival was as follows:
Prophets of Rage (Public Enemy cover)
Testify (Rage Against the Machine cover)
Take the Power Back (Rage Against the Machine cover)
Guerrilla Radio (Rage Against the Machine cover)
How I Could Just Kill a Man (Cypress Hill cover)
Bombtrack (Rage Against the Machine cover)
Fight the Power (Public Enemy cover)
Harder Than You Think / Insane in the Brain / Bring the Noise / Jump Around
Sleep Now in the Fire (Rage Against the Machine cover) (with Audioslave 'Cochise' outro)
Like a Stone (Audioslave cover) (instrumental)
Know Your Enemy (Rage Against the Machine cover)
Bullet in the Head (Rage Against the Machine cover)
Unf* The World**
Bulls on Parade (Rage Against the Machine cover)
Killing in the Name (Rage Against the Machine cover)