Stone Temple Pilots hammered away at their rapid-fire set Sunday night at a mostly-filled Palace, safely knocking down their audience faves to ensure a crowd-pleasing show, and hitting only two from their latest 2010 album.
Frontman Scott Weiland came out immediately to the platform at the front of the stage, crouched, singing through a megaphone. Clean-cut, wearing neat jeans, black shoes, a collared shirt and a tie, he’s an eccentric stage presence, singing to the audience more than with his band.
The volume was a little overwhelming for the Palace, but that’s the only way they play their music, and I’m sure the crowd would have traded some of the audible quality for more volume.
The band played “Vaseline” on their third tune, the stage dark, the movie-screen-sized graphics whizzing and exploding behind them. Here Weiland came to a small extended corner of the stage to reach out further into the audience. Dean DeLeo gave us his first of several one-round solos on this one. Maybe the same solos he plays every night, maybe not, but it was not a great effort.
STP’s tempos don’t vary greatly — it’s straight up rock ’n’ roll — and drummer Eric Kretz and bassist Robert DeLeo just stayed locked into each other through the show, playing the songs they’ve been playing for years now.
After the fourth song, Weiland apologized for the show’s late start, which didn’t happen until 10:30 p.m., very late for a Palace show, and for a Sunday night. Staring at a set stage for 20 minutes — lit and ready with no set-up left to do — the audience vocalized their frustration toward the unexplained delay.
A robotic “Between the Lines” from their latest wasn’t great, but it kept the energy high. Weiland is the show and he works through every line, singing from his knees, on a speaker cabinet next to Kretz, or maybe leaning on DeLeo, whatever seemed to float his boat at the time. He keeps you guessing and you don’t know what he’s going to do next, because it feels like he doesn’t know what he will do next.
His tie came off during “Hickory Dichotomy” and was waved over the front rows like a tease, hands reaching for it. The stage was sparsely filled, leaving room for Weiland to strut around the stage. a great set of lighting gave it a retro ’60s kind of feel.
They came late, and some people left after a few songs. But the band still delivered a full product.
Rose Hill Drive opened the show for an already impatient crowd. Young, heavy-hitting and loud, they were good. Their songs were good, the guitar and drum work great, and they jammed like maniacs fighting to save their lives. Some in the audience tried to shout them off the stage, but the Boulder, Colo., band fought hard for each tune. It was exciting to see a young band play with so much hunger and clearly relish their opportunity. But their one-hour set was too long and by the end it seemed everyone was tapping away on their phones.
Categories: Entertainment
