We're pathologically social. We're professional leisurists. We're burrito lovers, bar flies, art whores and music nerds. We dish the good dirt, and we'll risk a parking ticket for a cheap sample sale. Sometimes, we blog drunk.
STP! STP! STP!
Guns ‘N’ Roses and Stone Temple Pilots are among the greatest hard rock bands of all-time. Velvet Revolver is not. Which is why we’re as happy as a little schoolgirl that Scott Weiland (above) has done the right thing and reunited with his STP brethren. I was lucky enough to attend their reunion kick-off “Panoramic Bonanza” show held at the Harry Houdini mansion high atop Laurel Canyon. It was a bonanza indeed, with giddy contortionists, sword-swallowers and catering by Pink’s hot dogs plying the buzzing crowd that had been shuttled up the hill from Sunset.
But none of it held a candle to the band’s performance. For a group that hasn’t performed live in five years, they sounded remarkably tight. Maybe the DeLeo brothers and Eric Kretz jam on STP classics in their spare time, because they whipped through a seven-song set of their “modern” rock staples like a band that’s been on tour for months. And why Weiland isn’t routinely mentioned as one of the best rock frontmen in the game is beyond me.
It was somewhere around "Vasoline" when the epiphany hit: Stone Temple Pilots are the new Aerosmith. They've survived the big storms, and still have the big songs to show for it. Experience real rock ‘n’ roll for once in your life when STP headline the Hollywood Bowl for the first time on June 24.
—Scott T. Sterling
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