By the beginning of 2005, Audioslave had established that they were much more than a novelty coming-together between two of the biggest rock bands of the 90s and then some. The group, uniting ex-Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell with former Rage Against The Machine members Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk, had blown up big with their 2002 self-titled debut, a multi-million-selling hit that contained some of the fiercest and anthemic rock songs of the early 00s.
For their next move, though, they did something much more daring, introducing their second record Out Of Exile with one of the most historically significant shows in rock history. Other bands of their ilk might embark on a small club show to ramp up a frenzy ahead of a new record, or maybe put on a guerilla gig in the middle of town. Not Audioslave, though. No, they set their sights on a momentous one and in early May, 2000 – 20 years ago next week – caught a flight down to Havana, Cuba to play a huge concert and become the first US rock band to play an open-air concert in the country -at the time the band believed they were the first US group to play there full-stop but there were a handful of gigs from their compatriots in the late 70s and early 80s.
Still, though, this was a performance of some magnitude. It wasn’t easy to sort, either. Due to the long-running United States embargo against Cuba, there was a labyrinth of red tape to untangle, with Audioslave requiring special approval from both President George W. Bush and Cuban President Fidel Castro to make the trip happen. In a rare example of collaboration, the gig was made to happen with joint authorisation from the US Department Of Treasury and the Cuban Institute Of Music.
There was a nervous wait from the band for the green light. “Fidel Castro hadn’t decided if it was going to work for him or not, and they were reviewing our music and the tone of it,” the band’s late frontman Cornell told Billboard in 2016. “From the American side, there was definitely a lot of caution. They told us that our rooms would likely be bugged, they told us we would likely be followed… and not to talk to any strangers.”
“When we got word that our trip to Cuba had been okayed, no one could believe it,” wrote Morello in a diary for Spin magazine at the time. “There had been so many bureaucratic hurdles that when the final yes came from the U.S. Department Of The Treasury and Fidel Castro himself, we were amazed.”
Permission for the jaunt, Morello revealed, only came 36 hours before it was time to depart and the band and crew chartered the private jet of Florida basketball team Miami Heat to make the journey. One short, one hour and 20 minute flight later, Audioslave were in a world far removed from their own.
“There were no billboards of Paris Hilton, no Starbucks, nor the omnipresent face of KFC’s Colonel. Instead, there were billboards featuring Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and “Cuba’s George Washington,” José Marti,” explained Morello.
Filming the trip for a subsequent DVD release titled Live In Cuba, the band visited galleries, radio stations, tourist attractions and the city’s famous public squares whilst in Havana but only had the cameras rolling when the government official enlisted to accompany them gave her say-so. “She was in charge of making sure it was OK,” Cornell recalled. “If she said ‘Yes’, the camera was on. We didn’t try to sneak anything.”
The day before the show, Audioslave hosted a press conference and sought to get their point across to the world’s media as to why they were there. “All four of us emphasised that while the focus of our trip was cultural exchange, one point was certain: The rock’n’roll embargo against Cuba was over. We vowed to play the longest concert of our careers and asked only that the Cuban people go absolutely fucking nuts in return.”
Both sides held up their end of the bargain. Some 50,000 Cubans turned up for the free gig at La Tribuna Antiimperialista José Martí, an event space opposite the US Embassy in Havana that was purpose-built for protests against the US government, with Audioslave responding by playing the most epic set in the band’s career, a 26-song, two and a half hour cracker that included Rage Against The Machine and Soundgarden classics alongside the band’s own material.
“From salsa dancing to head banging, from tears of joy to shouts of rage, the Cubans were clearly rocked,” Morello remembered. “the place came totally unhinged. The stage was showered with notes, all with the same theme, “Thank you, we will never forget this.” We felt exactly the same way.”
Looking back on the gig in 2016, Cornell said it left him forever changed. “I really didn’t think the same after I left,” he explained. “I really understood what music is and how it’s that language that everybody speaks no matter what other audible language you speak.”
