Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat
This past Thursday at Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) fans and Soundgarden fans alike were pleasantly surprised when Chris Cornell joined Yusaf on stage to sing “Wild World”. The grunge god attributed back-up vocals throughout the song, and managed to harmonize his jarring iconic tone with Yusaf’s pure voice for the refrain of “But if you want to leave, take good care, Hope you have a lot of nice things to wear, But then a lot of nice things turn bad out there.”
Check it the chilling performance below:
Recently Yusaf Islam has had several rock legends accompany him on stage for last-minute duets. Last month he was joined by legendary former White Stripes frontman and omnipotent musician Jack White at Ryman Auditorium in White’s hometown of Nashville, which was Steven/Islam’s first show in Nashville in 40 years, and together they sang “Where Do the Children Play”. In the same week he was joined by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam on stage at New York’s Global Citizen Fest to perform Islam’s classic song “Father and Son”. Back in 2010 at Jon Stewarts Rally to Restore Sanity in D.C., a seemingly friendly on-stage duel broke out when Ozzy Osbourne interjected as Yusaf Islam played “Peace Train” and began playing his hit song “Crazy Train”. The duel was eventually ended when the O-Jays commandeered the stage and overpowered both artists with their performance of “Love Train”.
The show Thursday night preceded the concluding concert of Yusaf Islam’s North American tour, which officially ends with a second performance tonight (10/6/16 @ 7:00pm) at the same venue. This tour has been noteworthy for many reasons beyond the guests that Islam has graciously hosted along the way. This tour included his first live public performances in New York since 1976, when an excessive case of ticket-scalping caused the beloved British singer-songwriter to cancel at the last minute.