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May 27, 2008
Stone Temple Pilots at the Chevy
It seems that singers, as a whole, are a curious breed, always looking for a new sound to pair with their voices. Singers in rock bands often use solo albums as a way to fill that need, often with less-than-stellar results (am I right, Mr. Jagger?).
Scott Weiland is a bit of a different story. He didn’t leave his original band, Stone Temple Pilots, to pursue a musical wanderlust. Rather, the band collapsed under the weight of his substance abuse and other personal problems.
He had already put out a solo disc in 1998, so his next musical re-invention would be as the frontman for Velvet Revolver, which included remnants of Guns ’N’ Roses. That group released two records before Weiland announced earlier this year that he was leaving the band to reform Stone Temple Pilots.
It turned out that going backward was a step in the right direction for Weiland.
Velvet Revolver had some commercial success, but nothing by that band seemed as catchy as an STP song. It was almost as if Slash and Duff and company just needed a big-name singer to take the place of Axl Rose. With STP, Weiland seems to be a better fit, leading a band that he helped create as opposed to just being part of a supergroup.
If further proof was needed that Weiland is in the right place, it was given Sunday night during Stone Temple Pilots’ concert at the Chevrolet Theatre in Wallingford. STP thrilled the full house with a two-hour show loaded with the group’s classic grunge-rock hits.
And Weiland looked and sounded great. He started out in a light three-piece suit with a dark red fedora, but by the end he was his usual shirtless self. To this casual observer, he seems to be in better health than when he was with Velvet Revolver. At VR’s concert at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport in May of 2005, a shirtless Weiland brought about a gasp at his emaciated physique.
Sunday night’s concert started off with “Big Empty,” which set the tone for the entire evening. STP’s rhythm section of bassist-singer Robert DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz put down a thunderous beat which guitar Dean DeLeo fleshed out with blazing electric guitar.
STP kept the hits coming with “Wicked Garden” and “Big Bang Baby,” all the while the band members seemed to be enjoying the heck out of being back together and breathing life into the old songs. Weiland even commented on how happy he was to be back in familiar surroundings.
“It’s nice to see you all smiling because we’re all smiling,” he told the crowd. “It’s been a while since I’ve smiled consistently on stage.”
There were a few lulls in the otherwise high-energy concert, two of which had to do with attaching Weiland’s battery pack to his pants. The other was even more unexpected as nature called Weiland near the end of the show. Robert DeLeo announced that the singer had eaten some bad food and would be right back.
At the height of Weiland’s drug woes, this would have caused a ripple of doubt throughout the crowd. After watching and hearing the 2008 version of Weiland for 90 minutes or so at that point, it was pretty easy to believe it was what they said it was.
Sure enough, the singer quickly returned to the stage and led an electrifying version of “Sex Type Thing,” Stone Temple Pilot’s breakthrough single.
The set list*
Big Empty/Wicked Garden/Big Bang Baby/Silvergun Superman/Vasoline/Lounge Fly/Lady Picture Show/Sour Girl/Creep/Crackerman/Plush/Interstate Love Song/Too Cool Queenie/Coma/Down/All in the Suit That You Wear/Sex Type Thing/Sin
Encore: Dead and Bloated/Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart
*-with an assist from a forum at www.atlanticrecords.com.
Posted by Sean on May 27, 2008 2:08 AM
