Chris Cornell exhorted a packed house at his final gig in Detroit to sing backing vocals and make some noise.
Rolling Stone called it a "muscular" performance - but one reporter in the crowd said Cornell wasn't "mentally present" for his final time on stage.
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Video surfaces of Chris Cornell's last performance
Audioslave and Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell died on Wednesday night in Detroit. He was 52.
Hours after the sold-out gig with his original band, Soundgarden, at the Fox Theatre, Cornell was found by a friend, dead on the bathroom floor of his room at the MGM Grand Hotel. He was 52 years old.
A medical examiner later ruled he had died by suicide.
Cornell had told the crowd during the greatest hits set, "I love you guys up on the top shelf. I have bragged about Detroit crowds for 30 years so get the f--- up and make some noise."
But Ashley Zlatopolsky, writing in the Detroit Free Press, wrote that "something wasn't right" about the show.
"He often staggered back-and-forth across the stage, and seemed weak in his movements. Just one or two songs in, it was as if the energy had exited his body, and what was left was a shell of a man scrambling to do his job.
"It's not that the nearly two-hour show itself was bad, but it seemed like Cornell wasn't mentally present."
Zlatopolsky described Cornell's performance as "lagging" behind the band, and at one point, Cornell left the stage only to return and start the song again.
The band's set list suggested the gig was to conclude with an encore of Behind the Wheel, according to a photo published by CNN.
However, the band's last song was a cover of In My Time of Dying, an old blues song recorded by Blind Willie Johnson, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and others. Its opening lines are: "In my time of dying, want nobody to mourn/ All I want for you to do is take my body home."
On Twitter and Instagram and other social media outlets, peers and colleagues poured forth with reactions to Cornell's death.
"SO SO stunned to hear about Chris Cornell! Such a terrible and sad loss! Thinking of his family tonight! RIP," wrote guitarist Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction.
His former bandmate in Audioslave, Tom Morello, put up the following statement on his Instagram account: "I love you, brother. Thank you for your friendship and your humour and your intellect and your singular and unmatched talent. It was a great honour to know you as a friend and as a band mate.
"I am devastated and deeply saddened that you are gone dear friend but your unbridled rock power, delicate haunting melodies and the memory of your smile are with us forever," Morello continued. "Your beautiful voice and beautiful self will always be in my heart. God bless you and your family."
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- Stuff NZ, Los Angeles Times
Originally published on The Sydney Morning Herald as 'Something wasn't right' at Chris Cornell's final show, says reviewer.