Chris Cornell Was 'High' and 'F***ed Up' During Last Performance

Chris Cornell was messed up during his Detroit concert ... hours before he committed suicide -- this according to a longtime confidant who was present and working the event.

Ted Keedick, who worked with Chris for the last decade as his house engineer and tour manager, tells TMZ, "Chris was out of character from note 1 of the show. I've never heard or seen him that way before, at least if we did not cancel a show."

Keedick says Chris seemed "high" and "f***ed up," but not depressed. In fact, Keedick says during sound check Chris was in good spirits. It's consistent with what Chris' widow says of her phone conversations with Chris before and after the show.

Vicky Cornell says Chris told her he had taken "an extra Ativan or two" and she was so alarmed she called hotel security to check on him. Chris' own security guy discovered the singer had hanged himself in his bathroom.

Keedick says Chris was off during the entire show, saying, "I'd never heard his voice that way before. He was having serious control problems."

Keedick was positioned in the middle of the audience with his mixing board, and at one point during the concert he was so concerned he phoned someone backstage and asked what was wrong with Chris.

As we reported, Chris had struggled with drug abuse for years, but his wife says he was clean when he died. Based on Keedick's account, it appears he fell off the wagon before his last concert.