The last hours of Soundgarden

This was originally posted a year ago upon the death of Chris Cornell. Some facts have been clarified in the time since

Many thoughts have been swimming through my head since I attended the Soundgarden show shortly before the death of Chris Cornell.

It was the middle of the night when I first heard Chris Cornell had died, it seemed nonsensical. He was there, he was alive, I just saw him. A CBS News producer had sent me a message to ask if they could use a video I had posted around midnight. It was bizarre.

He'd left the stage briefly in the middle of the set. Was he unwell? Had he suffered a heart attack? Did this happen at the Fox? On the bus? Did he overdose? I couldn't fall back asleep.

This being Detroit, the police wasted little time in letting the press know what happened, suicide. Found in his room, band around his neck.

But we just saw him. He said the crowd was great. It was - it was loud and intense. One of the last things he said that night was that he'd see us again soon. It was magical.

An early report said he was found around midnight in the bathroom of his suite at the MGM Grand. The show had ended after 11 p.m. How had this happened so fast?

The Detroit News has helpfully obtained the police report, and I have the time stamps of photos and videos I took during the night. His wife also released a statement about what happened. Here's a timeline based on those sources:

May 17, 2017

• 8:00 p.m.: Doors open at the Fox Theatre in Detroit for the sold out Soundgarden show with special guest The Pretty Reckless.
• 9:15 p.m. Soundgarden takes the stage and opens with Ugly Truth.
• 11:15 p.m. The show ends after Slaves & Bulldozers and feedback
• 11:30 p.m. Cornell is in his room at MGM. His bodyguard is fixing his computer and reportedly gives him two Ativan and leaves.
• 11:35 p.m. Cornell is on the phone with his wife. She says he was slurring his words, but was not when she spoke to him before the show.

May 18, 2017

• 12:15 a.m. Cornell's wife contacts his bodyguard. She asks him to check on Cornell.
(There is no time given for the following sequence of events)
• The bodyguard walks two doors down and finds Cornell's door locked. [It is later reported he attempts entry with a key card, but the room is locked from inside]
• The bodyguard calls hotel security and says he needs to check on the occupant. Since it is not his room, security refuses.
• The bodyguard kicks the door in. Inside he finds the room to the bedroom suite also locked. He calls again for security and cannot get this door opened either.
• The bodyguard kicks open the door and finds Cornell in the bathroom of the suite with an exercise band around his neck.
• 12:56 a.m. An MGM Grand EMT removes the band from Cornell's neck and begins CPR
• 1:00 a.m. City of Detroit EMS Unit 42 arrives on scene and joins lifesaving efforts.
• 1:30 a.m. Chris Cornell is pronounced dead by a doctor who has arrived on the scene.

The Detroit News has reported that investigators used video of the hallway to determine that the bodyguard had left the room a few minutes before the call to Cornell's wife. Nobody entered or exited between the period the bodyguard left and returned after hearing from Cornell's wife.

See my post about the final show here - Louder than Life