Stone Temple Pilots took some time in between festival gigs to play in front of a sold out crowd at Lincoln's Bourbon Theater this past Friday. This is STP's first tour with their new frontman, Jeff Gutt, and after listening to the new album, some performances, I felt I had a good idea of what to expect...and STP F’in Delivered one helluva show!
So I stumble into the packed venue, grab a cold one, look around, and the manroma hit me! F’in DUDES EVERYWHERE! Then before I know it it’s showtime! The guys come out, energy was thick, and they launch into “Wicked Garden” a solid start to the show! Then BOOM into “Vasoline” and man was it loud in that place! STP’s sound loud enough to cause a lingering ring on the ride home from Lincoln, but the one thousand screaming, singing, beer drankin’ Fan brought plenty of extra noise, and energy for the band to get their rocks off too! It was an electric start to the show, but the energy was brought down to perhaps the lowest part of the night when they played the first new song of the night, “Middle of Nowhere.” Followed by another new song, “Meadow,” but this one had the energy, and the catchiness of the classics, and sounded really good! This may have been one of the bigger surprises of the night, hearing Jeff and the guys play a new song, and have it just f’ing ROCK showed me they are the real deal, and this is NOT a cover band. This is 4 great musicians connected, and having a damn good time writing, and performing together.
After that, the next 14/16 songs were just classic STP hits! Drunken Manly sing-alongs! Nothing from the Bennington era, mainly just the good stuff from their first four epic albums! Check out the full set list HERE.
It felt like a special night not just for the crowd, but for guys on stage too! Dean DeLeo their guitarist got on the mic to intro a song or two, he said “I miss you fucker” referring to his former band mate, and friend, Scott Weiland, but he also took a minute to Thank us! He talked about playing these “fuckfests” (his words not mine) and how these festivals are just meaningless at times BUT this show tonight was something different. It meant something to them to come out and play these songs for us. It was like they needed that hour and half in that jam packed theater to remember why they fired up the STP engine! That thank you from Dean was the most sincere I’ve ever heard or felt from a musician on stage.
I had 3 songs I needed to hear, and I got my “Vasoline” and “Lounge Fly” but NO MEAT PLOW! Dammit! Still a great show, and give it a very high 7. Or hell how about a low 8.
This isn't about if Jeff can be a better than Scott. This is about Robert, Dean, Eric having a damn good time again onstage with someone they trust to sing these songs with f'ing passion. That's all!
Here’s a Facebook LIVE the Bourbon Theater shared from STP show....