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Singer Scott Weiland and guitarist Dean DeLeo share the spotlight during a rocking set at Prospera Place Monday night that included many of the bands biggest radio hits. (Photo Chris Stanford)
Stone Temple Pilots Concert Review
Prospera Place, Monday November 9th
6 out of 10
By Mark Stone
Ever since the Stone Temple Pilots burst onto the music scene in 1992 with their brilliant CD Core, I was hooked. Somehow critics weren’t all that thrilled with them but fans disagreed. With each successive album STP released, the band managed to evolve musically and to me at least, they have never put out a bad CD.
So you can imagine my disappointment tonight when I finally got to see a band I have enjoyed for so many years perform their songs without much energy or flair. Don’t get me wrong; Scott Weiland, guitarists Robert and Dean DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz still demonstrated that they could rock out like they did back in the 90s. They rocked hard, and they rocked loud. Unfortunately, almost all of the 17 songs performed at Prospera Place were carbon copies of the tracks we’d hear listening to the CD. Improvisation was nowhere to be found, and only a few songs deviated from the norm. Is it too much to ask to perform at least one song unplugged, or perhaps change things up once in a while to give us a surprise?
From the opening song – Silver Gun – to the final encore song Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart, Stone Temple Pilots gave Kelowna by-the-numbers arrangements and performances of the band’s greatest hits. The talent still shines, and it was nice to see the band play some of their greatest hits. But if you were to close your eyes, you’d have a hard time differentiating between the live version and what they did in the studio. Some may say this isn’t a bad thing, but when you’re paying good money to see a favorite band you want an experience altogether different than listening to their CD.
All the great songs were accounted for, including Sour Girl, Creep, Interstate Love Song, Down, Vasoline, Sex Type Thing and Plush. While lead singer Scott Weiland maintained a very low profile and didn’t expend all that much energy throughout the concert, he kicked it up a notch for songs like Army Ants, Crackerman and especially Down. For my money, Down was the highlight of the night. For a few brief moments, during that song there was an energy emanating from the band that just seemed to be lacking through most of the night. For the duration of that song at least, I was in STP heaven. Otherwise, songs like Plush and especially Creep (which was slowed down to such a crawl that it almost rendered the song boring) came across like a Stone Temple Pilots cover band trying their hardest to sound like their heroes.
My beefs with STP’s lack of originality aside, my biggest problem with the show was Scott Weiland’s refusal to talk to the crowd. The singer – who is apparently sober after many years of substance abuse – may not have been in the mood for any dialogue with us. He barely spoke much, saying nothing more than a “thank you,” “you’re a nice crowd,” “goodbye” and “want to hear another song?” To make matters worse, his singing voice began to show signs of weakness near the end of the show during Sin, and didn’t quite recover. I’ve probably attended well over a hundred concerts and never have I seen a lead singer speak so little. Even Axl Rose, who isn’t exactly known for being verbose on stage, spoke more than Weiland did tonight when I saw GNR way back in 1990.
Most of the 4,000 or so in attendance appeared to enjoy the show, but there were more than a handful of individuals who didn’t seem that into it. Tonight’s concert wasn’t a bad experience by any means; I just wish it had been better. I was let down.
I can’t neglect to mention opening act, Crash Kings. The Los Angeles based band played an impressive 10-song set that proved that they are a band to watch. Lead singer Tony Beliveau has an amazing falsetto voice that sounds like a cross between Robert Plant and Adam Lambert. Describing their sound is difficult, but I’ll try: if you took the melodies from the All-American Rejects and set them to Green Day’s heavy hooks and threw in some Led Zeppelin, you’d get what I mean. The last time I saw a relatively unknown band do such a great warm-up job was The Black Crowes, and you all know what happened to them. I wouldn’t be surprised if Crash Kings go on to enjoy similar success.
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- Singer Scott Weiland and guitarist Dean DeLeo share the spotlight during a rocking set at Prospera Place Monday night that included many of the bands biggest radio hits. (Photo Chris Stanford)
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Great review! I couldn’t agree with you more. I was so happy to see STP for the first time after years of enjoying there music on disc. Watching Dean DeLeo last night was a pleasure coming from a guitar player, I have a whole new respect for that guy. His tone was incredible as was his playing. Scott Weiland, I really expected more, while his voice for most of the night when he felt like putting the energy in to hit a high note was good it seemed like he didn’t even want to be there. Best song of the night was “Down” pure rock power when they busted into that song! You are right Scott seemed to pick it up in that song which was nice to see. Nice review, I’m glad someone else felt the same way
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I thought it was an amazing concert, sometimes it’s nice to have the band that you love come out and play their hearts out. We don’t all want a Britney Spears dancing and singing act. You obviously don’t like STP as much as you claim. Just my opinion.
Laura V.
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We go to see STP for the sake of going to see STP. They play the songs we love. If people don’t like that, then don’t go!
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Your review was absolutely correct. I saw STP in Vancouver last year and it was AMAZING. Two and a half hours of excellence in GM place. He performed with much flair and excitement.
This Kelowna show, although it was still great, cannot even compare to what i saw last year. It seemed as though he was coming down with a cold? So lets give him some slack.
I would highly recommend seeing them again if them play in Vancouver.
If you think “Down” was good last night, see him do it with high energy and passion at a bigger venue.
Much love to STP
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If only a handful of people out of 4,000 were unsatisfied I would still consider that a successful show. I agree with Sarah (above), you have no idea what’s going on with the band in the midst of a tour. After playing in bands for almost 10 years and having toured North America numerous times I can say that at some point on the tour you’re going to be exhausted, you’re going to get sick and some shows you’re not going to be able to go 110% like you would normally do. Also, about the lack of improvisation, being in a band it’s hard enough to come up with ORIGINAL material for new songs so sometimes improvisation isn’t exactly at the top of the priority list. I wasn’t at the show and I’m not even an STP fan to be honest, but the band some slack. It’s a lot tougher job than most people think it is.
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that was supposed to say, “but “cut” the band some slack…” above
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Well, I wanted to go to Kelowna to see STP but it did not work out for me. I did see them on Halloween 2008 and they were awesome. One of the best shows I have ever seen. Scott talked to the crowd about his favorite college football team, Notre Dame, the Alabama Crimson Tide and the South Eastern Conference. I am worried about Scott since he had that seizure about a month or so ago so I desperately want to see them again. They are supposed to be in Biloxi Miss on Dec 29 at that Hard Rock Casino and I am trying to get into that venue.
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I think you pointed out the obvious…..Scott was not up to par! Maybe the fact that a doctor was summoned to the hotel earlier in the day, was a clear indication that this front man was a bit under the weather and could and did not deliver up to his standard!! We can all empathize with that no??
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