Stone Temple Pilots

Kool Haus
Toronto, Ontario
November 17, 2009

On July 11, 2009 I took in the first show of the current Stone Temple Pilots tour at Bayfest in Sarnia, Ontario. Seeing them hit the stage with 10,000 other people in attendance was an absolute treat to savour. I’d waited a long time to see them and finally here they were. To my enjoyment, they did not disappoint. To put it simply, the fact that Our Lady Peace had just opened up didn't even register when thinking back!

Fast forward a few months, Nov 17, 2009, and I’ve got the opportunity to take in another of their shows on the same tour. Always great to be able to do that. Check out an early show and then take in a later one to see what’s evolved over the months.

Some bands are identical from the first show to the last of any tour. They do all their planning before stepping foot on the stage and that’s all you get for the whole tour. Maybe a slight or even drastic set list change but other than that, virtually the same show. The Pilots proved to be one of those bands who are throwing in a bunch of changes as they go along. The set list basically remained the same but there was a whole lot more improv going on this time around.

I’ve been hearing people complain that Scott Weiland, the normally synaptic wild man on stage, came across as, dare I say, boring in comparison. Myself, I’ve never seen the days of “half naked feather boa dancing” but I was stood up by the band because of a last minute admission to a rehab clinic during the 1996 Kiss Reunion tour in Toronto.

I was just happy to see the band on stage finally, as they have been and always will be one of my faves. I’ve said it too many times before that the brothers Rob and Dean DeLeo, bass and guitar respectively, are to me, the instrumental equivalent of McCartney/Lennon. When these guys get their ideas flowing, look the fuck out. There’s nobody in the business today who can write straight up rock n roll riffage like them.

The set list was pretty well identical to the last time with a very heavy representation of the first two albums and a little smorgasbord of their other faves. Every song was like a trip down memory lane. I love being at a show where at least half the crowd knows ALL the lyrics and everybody sings along. The Hip are like that. Kiss, Motley Crue, a whole whack of em. But have you ever heard the whole crowd sing along to the likes of Tool? Not I.

With the fragility of mom’s finest crystal, the Stone Temple Pilots seem to be holding it together pretty for now so get your tickets, brush up on “Interstate Love Song” and go see Mr. Weiland and the brothers DeLeo do their thing to the beat of original drummer Eric Kretz before another of rock music’s finest bands comes to an unexpected screeching halt.

What a show this was. How ironic that the first time I was scheduled to see STP back in '96 when they were my favourite "newer" band and opening for my favourite band of all time, Kiss, who'd just reformed for the Reunion Tour. Shortly before the show, I learned that STP was not going to be opening because, yes you guessed it, Scott was a bit of a mess and ended up in rehab. But the irony lies in that this weekend, I was to see both bands headlining, one after the other, Friday night Kiss, and Saturday night, Stone Temple Pilots.

I was SO bummed back then. I mean I was REALLY pumped to see Kiss get back together as I was always a HUGE Kiss fan, but as far as new music was concerned there was NOTHING better than Stone Temple Pilots at the time. Not for me anyway. The band itself is phenomenal. Three guys playing their asses off creating some of the best music my ears had ever got a hold of. Plus this singer who just seemed to mesh with the whole thing so perfectly with his moves, voice and style. Tunes like Interstate Love Song, Big Empty, Dead and Bloated and Unglued to name a few.. perfectly woven songs that just take you away to another world for 3 minutes and drop you safely back on the planet just in time for your next dose of reality.

Not too long after that, the band Talk Show, STP minus Scott Weiland, came to town and I saw Weiland's replacement, Dave Coutts, walking up the street with a couple of babes on his arm. He was smiling away and looked like he was really enjoying life. I just had to say something to him so I did… “Buddy! You are the luckiest fucker on earth! You have the most smokinest kick ass fuckin band there is! You are SO lucky they picked YOU as their singer!!! Enjoy the ride man!!!”

Now I figure if you drop a statement like that on a guy, he’s either gonna get pissed off, if he’s a dick or he’s gonna acknowledge that I’m fuckin RIGHT. Cuz I AM and we both know it. Well he was totally cool about it… he just smiled even bigger and said “Thanks man, I know!” He truly looked humbled and after he signed my buddy’s shit and left, my buddy said to me “man… why would you say that to him??” I think he thought I should be a little more star struck or something but that don’t happen with this dude.

Anyway.. I weaseled up to the front of the stage and acquired 3^rd row, just perfect to take in one of my favourite bands of all time. We were almost in the identical spot as we were the night before for Kiss. I was curious to see what songs STP would throw at us. Sure there's the "hits" but then there's a whole shitload of tunes that I look at as just phenomenal music, but do THEY look at it like that? I never once saw a set list for STP so I had no clue what they'd pull outta the bag. Surprisingly enough, they pulled liberally from the first two albums. 15 of the 19 songs played were from the debut and sophomore albums, Core and Purple, respectively. I'm probably not the only one who looks to those two albums as being their best.

Scott Weiland hit the stage looking like Dirty Harry went fedora shopping. Way too cool. I was almost expecting him to pull out a .44 Magnum and blow somebody's head clean off punk. Robert DeLeo, bassist, was also stylin to the extreme. He had a Hunter S. Thompson thing going on, with his suit and slicked back hair that could only have been topped off with a Targard cigarette filter flickering back n forth in his mouth. Brother Dean over on stage left held up the 6 string end of the bargain lookin like a skid who just crawled outta bed. One couldn't argue, his guitars were definitely awake and sounding brilliant. Eric sat mostly expressionless up there in the back with only a couple very minor fuck ups, but hey, it was the first night of the tour so SOMEONE had to show a sign of carbon build up.

Compared to the Kiss show the night before it was actually, dare I say, a little on the boring side. But how does one follow up the spectacle that is Mr. Simmons and his crew? One thing for sure, STP's music was real fuckin far from boring and made up for any lack of explosions, fire and blood. I mean I'm a huge Kiss fan and we were singing all the tunes the night before, but when STP pulled out the heavy hitters, I could hear the crowd singing along as loud as the band . THAT wasn't happening during Kiss for ANY song. Tunes like Sour Girl and Interstate Love Song were just HUGE but the real crowd pleaser seemed to be Dead and Bloated. I absolutely loved every minute of this show. Every tune they played, and the all out coolness of this classic act, left me smiling ear to ear and just happy to be alive. If you don't own any STP products you should be ashamed of yourself. I encourage you all. Go out and buy all their CDs, listen to them A LOT. Then go see them live and get ready to sing along.

Stone Temple Pilots Official Web Site

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