Fantastic Negrito’s Friday night performance at Glasgow’s prestigious Royal Concert Hall began in the same celebratory manner that the last two years has offered up for the artist whose real name is Xavier Dphrepaulezz. Dressed to impress in his Hamilton grey tartan trews and waistcoat and joined on stage only by keyboardist LJ Holoman for tonight’s show, as the lights dim and illuminate the duo, it’s apparent that it’s going to be an intimate affair.

It’s therefore fitting that he also shares with us the darkest moment of his life just before his set opener. Having spent almost 4 months in a coma after a serious car accident, the first words he heard spoken when he awoke from it were that of his Mother which inspired Xavier to return to the music business and write ‘Night Has Turned To Day’.

Despite the omission of the full band Xavier and LJ manage to get the crowd - who are predominantly here to see the headliner Chris Cornell - on their side immediately with his hand claps, repetition of the opening line and a discharge of sheer soul that a lot of modern black roots music fails to find.

It’s a track that is a pivotal point in his past as is the follow up ‘An Honest Man’. Having once cut a shady figure on the streets of Oakland in his younger years, he dedicates it to the brotherhood of men in the crowd, to join in his repentance as he later admits that he is a "self recovering narcissist".

It’s quite the haunting sound as bass walks on his guitar throughout the song are embellished with low hums and LJ’s piano creates an overall gothic-blues atmospheric nature to it. With the crowd firmly on his side by this point Fantastic Negrito decides to up the ante once more and takes the opportunity to have the crowd eating from the palm of his hand.

Announcing that he’s about to perform a remake of Lead Belly’s ‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night?’ with added verses, it quietly falls on deaf ears to the largely grungy demographic who then let out a huge cheer as they recognise it from Nirvana’s MTV unplugged set. 

As someone who has a new-found lease on life and is also known in his close quarters as the patron saint of second chances, Xavier never misses a heartbeat to try and inspire those around him. Twenty years ago, he had signed a multi-million pound record deal and was on the same roster as Prince whom he paid homage to. “Another crazy brother who learnt to take chances” and telling the crowd that “everyone in this room is an artist, it’s our time, go home and create, the world needs you”.

What no-one could expect was that what had forgone was a warm up for the undoubted moments of the evening. The unreleased ‘Rant Rushmore’ received a standing ovation from a crowd that had been in their seats throughout. It’s a song that levels itself to find the next great place to go. It has a soul-funk verse before transposing to some of the most melodic gospel we’ve heard that culminates into a blues rock middle 8. One can only hope that it will appear on his forthcoming album Last Days Of Oakland released in early June.

With the job almost done it was time to close out with ‘Lost In A Crowd’, a track that beat 7000 entries in NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest. With so many entries you could imagine that it might have been a close affair but NPR put that correct when they told us that it was “the clear winner”. The extended jam over Xavier’s ad-libbing showed why LJ Holoman had played with the likes Dr. Dre, Joss Stone and Nas. 

Fantastic Negrito is neither lost in that company, exuding elegance, craftsmanship and showmanship that sets him apart from his other contemporaries. The endorsement from Chris Cornell speaks for itself. The slight surprise was maybe the omission of his two lead singles from the forthcoming album, but having to spoke with him after the show; he told us the decision was simply down to not having the full band with him. After treating me to a few acapella lines from the tracks, he shared that he expects to be back with the full band in September. That will whet the appetite for the hundreds of new fans that he made that night.

Last Days Of Oakland is available from amazon & iTunes.

Chris Cornell’s all-seated acoustic show in the Olympia Theatre sold out months in advance. Cornell has played acoustic shows here before on the Songbook tour, which inspired him to write his latest album, Higher Truth.

Opening act, Fantastic Negrito, lives up to his name. The Oakland native introduces the opening tune, ‘Night Has Turned To Day’ as an autobiographical tune about waking up from a three week coma. Negrito strums his acoustic guitar with fingers twisted in the same car crash, as his pianist wingman keeps things turning over and provides smooth backing vocals. He is dressed in a shirt, tie and waistcoat with big hair and neatly trimmed beard, and is possessed of an incredible voice. It is expressive, and has a formidable range, like a mix of Jack White and Justin Timberlake. He is a natural performer, at ease with the audience and engaging in playful banter between songs.

Fantastic Negrito has been touring extensively with Cornell and knows how to get the audience onside. A soulful version of ‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night?’, popularised by Nirvana, gets a big response from the grunge loving audience. Negrito has wholly rewritten the song with a new bridge and outro. By the time his short set ends, Fantastic Negrito has established a rapport with everyone present and he earns a massive send-off.

Cornell enters a stage that is set up like a jamming room, on a massive rug with seven guitars scattered about between the amps and monitors. A high backed chair, a landline telephone on a table, and a turntable give it a homely look. This is an intimate gig for a man more used to playing this city’s arenas and the audience lap it up. He is accompanied by multi-instrumentalist, Brian Gibson, who earns his wage tonight as he flits between piano, mandolin and cello from one song to the next. Cornell gives a new interpretation of ‘The Times They Are A-Changing’, pacing the lip of the stage with a harmonica around his neck. ‘Fell On Black Days’ elicits the biggest reaction so far from the capacity crowd. This month is the 25th anniversary of the release of Temple Of The Dog and ‘Call Me A Dog’ is the first of three numbers from that album unleashed tonight.

Cornell has been through many incarnations in a career that now spans four decades. The setlist encompasses it all; the Soundgarden years, his time as part of the supergroup, Audioslave, and even his much derided, but commercially successful, collaboration with Timbaland. An extensive pedalboard has been sitting there unused for the whole set thus far and is called in to use for ‘Blow Up The Outside World’, with Cornell looping the guitar and playing percussively to create the outro.

For ‘Misery Chain’ from 12 Years A Slave, the record player comes into play as he takes up the mic from its stand and croons along to the record of the backing track. It’s strange to see the singer of ‘Jesus Christ Pose’ getting on like a lounge singer. He then manages to simultaneously insult and delight fans of both Metallica and U2 by playing ‘One’ by the thrash icons to the tune of ‘One’ by the local heroes. It’s a mashup that you've probably already seen on social media but, like with everything else, it is much more impressive in real life.

That twist on a cover is followed by another as he plays Johnny Cash's version of Soundgarden's ‘Rusty Cage’. Cash’s countrified arrangement has the crowd clapping along like they are at a hoedown. ‘Black Hole Sun’ is probably the best known Soundgarden number and it maintains its ability to impress even in an acoustic setting. The main set closes with another reinterpretation, this time of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ during which a woman in the front row openly weeps.

Cornell has already played for two hours and still we're calling for more as the set comes to a conclusion. You get your money's worth with this guy. After the briefest of sojourns, Cornell returns to the stage to sing ‘Scream’ along with the record player. There are plenty of shouted requests and someone asks for ‘Lost Cause’. “Do I have a song called Lost Cause?” He seems genuinely unsure so he makes one up. It has a key change and everything, and it sounds like a proper Chris Cornell tune.

The pedals are redeployed for ‘Higher Truth’ with Cornell down on his knees playing with the effects and building to a crescendo. He leaves us with the record player on a loop as we exit. The only nagging doubt about tonight is that the presence of the telephone remains unexplained.