Dancing days are here again, as the Stone Temple Pilots are on tour and in top form! I attended my 5th STP concert this past Saturday night (3rd since they reunited and 4th at Jones Beach) and this takes the trophy as their best yet and that’s a tough honor to give up considering when I first saw them in 2000 with the Red Hot Chili Peppers they blew they place away.
Scott Weiland, notorious for showing up either totally blasted or in top form, brought his “A” game to the stage. When I saw them at the PNC Bank Center in Jersey in 2008, he was a slurring, wasted mess. That was not the case this time around. He was seemingly stone sober and his performance proved it. He was coherent, active, and spot on all night long. The DeLeo brothers and Eric Kretz rounded out the performance with mind blowing instrumentals.
There are few bands that have enough hits to start off a concert but STP, packed 3 huge songs to start off the night. We were graced with an opener of “Crackerman” > “Wicked Garden” > “Vasoline.” There was enough hysteria coming from the crowd I expected to see heads explode. They nearly did when the band then whipped out “Heaven and Hot Rods” from “No. 4.”
Tracks from their newest release “Between the Lines,” “Hickory Dichotomy,” “Cinnamon,” and “Huckleberry Crumble” were peppered into the set and translated superbly in a live setting. If you didn’t know these were new songs (as any life-long fan would) they sounded right at homed mixed in with the classics.
Other notable picks included “Still Remains” from “Purple” which Weiland described as “The greatest love song ever,” “Big Empty” which has always been a favorite of mine, “Pretty Penny” which I never expected to see live and, then what might have been the icing on the cake, a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Dancing Days.” I’ve always thought this was one of the best Zeppelin covers out here and was beyond excited to see that they’re playing it again this tour.
The encore was pretty typical, “Dead and Bloated” followed by “Trippin’ On A Hole In A Paper Heart.” Notable absences from the set included “Sour Girl,” “Creep,” and “Lounge Fly” along with a complete absence of any songs from “Shangri-La Dee Da.
Even with the above mentioned missing material, this was an all around phenomenal show. Aside from a solid performance from the band, the lights were captivating and the crowd was totally into it. Attendance might have suffered a bit from the fact that it was a holiday weekend but you can’t blame that on the band. If you love the Stone Temple Pilots, this is your chance to see them back at the top of their game.
Setlist:
1.Crackerman
2.Wicked Garden
3.Vasoline
4.Heaven and Hot Rods
5.Between The Lines
6.Hickory Dichotomy
7.Still Remains
8.Cinnamon
9.Big Empty
10.Dancing Days (Led Zepplin cover)
11.Pretty Penny
12.Silvergun Superman
13.Plush
14.Interstate Love Song
15.Huckleberry Crumble
16.Down
17.Sex Type Thing
Encore:
18.Dead and Bloated
19.Trippin’ On a Hole in a Paper Heart