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Just like the biggest summer movie blockbusters tend to be mindless affairs full of car chases and loud explosions, summer concerts are sometimes best enjoyed with big, dumb rock songs being played at high volume with thousands of people singing along. That was certainly the case last night as Stone Temple Pilots closed out their short July tour under the stars at Merriweather Post Pavilion. The crowd was far from a sell out, likely owing to the band's appearance at last year's Virgin Festival, but what those in attendance lacked in numbers they made up for in volume and sheer fanaticism.
Despite buzz of a new album due later this year, the band stuck to its guns, giving those in attendance what they wanted by playing their hits and some deep album cuts, but no new material. The 18 song set featured seven songs from their debut album, Core, and it was those songs that got the biggest cheers of the night. "Interstate Love Song," "Wicked Garden" and "Crackerman" satiated the crowd's need for percussive rock, while "Plush," "Sour Girl," and "Big Empty" slowed things down a bit and gave the crowd a chance to take over singing duties for a chorus or two.
Frontman Scott Weiland, looking skinny as ever (although much less skeletal), was in fine form dancing and shimmying around the stage when not jumping up on his monitors with megaphone in hand to incite the crowd. The DeLeo brothers, Dean on guitar and Robert on bass, were visibly excited to be back in the spotlight on stage, mugging for the cameras and vying for the spotlight whenever Weiland ceded it. Drummer Eric Kretz seemed content behind the kit, pounding away and keeping the set moving.
Time certainly has been kind to Stone Temple Pilots, unlike music critics and indiephiles (raises hand) that continually hated on the band during its 1990s heyday. Finally able to be stand on their own, outside the Clinton-era music bubble, the band's glam/grunge stylings have aged well eight years after their last proper album and nine since their last hit.
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There's something special about Mr. Weiland that makes me want to throw a shoe at him.
I was there last night too. Loved the show and you took excellent photos far better than a few I took. Scott is extremly sexy and the band was great.
Emaciated, aging, long-term smack junkies are sexy? May 10-15 years ago, SW has not aged well IMHO.
Don't worry, he's scheduled to switch to a prescription painkiller addiction in a couple years. You'll get to see his sexy overweight, late-Elvis look.
I gotta admit, for all the awful, awful, Pearl Jam soundalikes of the early-to-mid-90s (and that awfulness includes Pearl Jam themselves), Stone Temple Pilots were the among the few that actually showed some promise.