By the start of 2005, Audioslave had established that they have been rather more than a novelty coming-together between two of the most important rock bands of the 90s after which some. The group, uniting ex-Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell with former Rage Towards The Machine members Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk, had blown up large with their 2002 self-titled debut, a multi-million-selling hit that contained a few of the fiercest and anthemic rock songs of the early 00s.
For his or her subsequent transfer, although, they did one thing rather more daring, introducing their second document Out Of Exile with one of the vital traditionally vital exhibits in rock historical past. Different bands of their ilk would possibly embark on a small membership present to ramp up a frenzy forward of a brand new document, or possibly placed on a guerilla gig in the course of city. Not Audioslave, although. No, they set their sights on a momentous one and in early Could, 2000 – 20 years in the past subsequent week – caught a flight all the way down to Havana, Cuba to play an enormous live performance and turn into the primary US rock band to play an open-air live performance within the nation -at the time the band believed they have been the primary US group to play there full-stop however there have been a handful of gigs from their compatriots within the late 70s and early 80s.
Nonetheless, although, this was a efficiency of some magnitude. It wasn’t simple to type, both. Because of the long-running United States embargo in opposition to Cuba, there was a labyrinth of purple tape to untangle, with Audioslave requiring particular approval from each President George W. Bush and Cuban President Fidel Castro to make the journey occur. In a uncommon instance of collaboration, the gig was made to occur with joint authorisation from the US Division Of Treasury and the Cuban Institute Of Music.
There was a nervous wait from the band for the inexperienced gentle. “Fidel Castro hadn’t determined if it was going to work for him or not, and so they have been reviewing our music and the tone of it,” the band’s late frontman Cornell informed Billboard in 2016. “From the American facet, there was positively lots of warning. They informed us that our rooms would possible be bugged, they informed us we might possible be adopted… and to not speak to any strangers.”
“Once we bought phrase that our journey to Cuba had been okayed, nobody might consider it,” wrote Morello in a diary for Spin journal on the time. “There had been so many bureaucratic hurdles that when the ultimate sure got here from the U.S. Division Of The Treasury and Fidel Castro himself, we have been amazed.”
Permission for the jaunt, Morello revealed, solely got here 36 hours earlier than it was time to depart and the band and crew chartered the personal jet of Florida basketball group Miami Warmth to make the journey. One quick, one hour and 20 minute flight later, Audioslave have been in a world far faraway from their very own.
“There have been no billboards of Paris Hilton, no Starbucks, nor the omnipresent face of KFC’s Colonel. As an alternative, there have been billboards that includes Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and “Cuba’s George Washington,” José Marti,” defined Morello.
Filming the journey for a subsequent DVD launch titled Stay In Cuba, the band visited galleries, radio stations, vacationer sights and town’s well-known public squares while in Havana however solely had the cameras rolling when the federal government official enlisted to accompany them gave her say-so. “She was answerable for ensuring it was OK,” Cornell recalled. “If she mentioned ‘Sure’, the digital camera was on. We didn’t attempt to sneak something.”
The day earlier than the present, Audioslave hosted a press convention and sought to get their level throughout to the world’s media as to why they have been there. “All 4 of us emphasised that whereas the main target of our journey was cultural alternate, one level was sure: The rock’n’roll embargo in opposition to Cuba was over. We vowed to play the longest live performance of our careers and requested solely that the Cuban individuals go completely fucking nuts in return.”
Either side held up their finish of the cut price. Some 50,000 Cubans turned up for the free gig at La Tribuna Antiimperialista José Martí, an occasion area reverse the US Embassy in Havana that was purpose-built for protests in opposition to the US authorities, with Audioslave responding by enjoying essentially the most epic set within the band’s profession, a 26-song, two and a half hour cracker that included Rage Towards The Machine and Soundgarden classics alongside the band’s personal materials.
“From salsa dancing to go banging, from tears of pleasure to shouts of rage, the Cubans have been clearly rocked,” Morello remembered. “the place got here completely unhinged. The stage was showered with notes, all with the identical theme, “Thanks, we’ll always remember this.” We felt precisely the identical manner.”
Trying again on the gig in 2016, Cornell mentioned it left him without end modified. “I actually didn’t suppose the identical after I left,” he defined. “I actually understood what music is and the way it’s that language that everyone speaks it doesn’t matter what different audible language you communicate.”