I went to Stone Temple Pilots last week. I took pics (here) and there's a review at the bottom of the post.
It was my second time seeing them live and Adam's third. The first time I saw them was about ten years ago and it was one of the best shows of my life. Adam was pretty much equally stoked.
We got there and opening band Rose Hill Drive were on fire! I mean, they really brought the crowd together and I walked out of there ready to download away. Stone Temp started and, well, they were "doing their job." They weren't bad and the DeLeo brothers brought their talent out full frontal. Weiland (whose heroin torso has sadly been replaced by a dad belly) didn't have any emotion or show any enjoyment. It was as if every dance move he tried was really done by a puppet master above the stage, with tiny invisible strings attached to his underarms.
He looked tired. He looked sober, too. It's weird to even think about wanting someone to not be, but he's not lost in a moment which makes watching him mediocre now when it used to be mesmerizing. Not a position I'd want to be in. Anyway, his voice is still top notch.
They played all the hits. He stood two feet from me singing my favorite song lyric of all time "Is it raining in your bedroom?" (Don't ask why it's my favorite, as I have no idea.) Bucket list: check. He didn't really speak or banter. At one point someone threw a beer on the stage and he kinda commented that "this ain't the county fair" and how dumb it is to waste beer in this economy. Hardy har har.
STP's new songs from Stone Temple Pilots (2010) were really good. Oftentimes when classic bands take an interlude to play the new stuff, that's when I head to smoke or make a phone call. Not here. They stood up to the old material in quality and in songwriting. Again, had they been performed with more enthusiasm, I think the crowd really would have dug it.
In the end, I get it a B-.
