Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil feels “complicated and dark” emotions about first return to Detroit following Chris Cornell’s death

Credit: Michael LavineFriday night, Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil will play the first of three shows in Detroit as part of MC50 tour in celebration of MC5's 50th anniversary. The shows will mark Thayil's first trip back to Detroit since his friend and band mate Chris Cornell died by suicide following a show at the Fox Theatre there in May 2017.

Speaking to the Detroit Free Press, Thayil says he feels "complicated and dark" emotions about his return to the Motor City.

"There certainly seems like there's an offering of closure," Thayil says. "I doubt that it will happen. But it seems available."

Thayil was asked to join MC50, his first project since Cornell's death, by MC5 co-founder Wayne Kramer, who had organized the tour. If it were anyone else but Kramer offering a gig, Thayil, who's a huge fan of MC5, says he would've declined.

"There's also an element of irony to be asked by Wayne to play on a tour with my favorite band, which is from Detroit, that would culminate in a Detroit show," he says. "The poetic irony and the opportunity for closure were not lost on me."

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