Corestates Spectrum – Philadelphia, PA
November 27, 1996

Photo by SDP

      On this day before Thanksgiving, which marks the mid-way point of Stone Temple Pilots’ current six-week tour, vocalist Scott Weiland should be thankful that he was even able to show up himself. After a much publicized, court-ordered, mandatory stint in drug rehab, not only did Weiland show up, but he seemed the picture of health skip-dancing all about the stage with arms flailing in every which direction. The singer certainly seemed happy to be back at the helm with his toothy grin serving as evidence.

STP’s stage was as clean as one must hope that Weiland is these days with no stage props beyond a large yellow dome canopy and no clutter whatsoever on the floor except for the musicians themselves and their gear.

Decked out in a dark suit with white tie and a disheveled, “I just got out of bed” hair style, Weiland and the boys charged through a lengthy set that incorporated a healthy dose of tunes from each of their three album repertoire. The evolution that the band has made from Led Zeppelin and Alice In Chains copyists to the pop-rock innovators who recorded the recent Tiny Music...Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop was most apparent on this evening when one could hear their current single “Lady Picture Show” with its Beatlesque melody followed by the grungy riff-driven “Unglued” from 1994’s Purple. Of course, I must pose the question of whether this transformation was made because it was the direction that the Pilots intended on pursuing or if it was simply a reaction to critics’ accusations of unoriginality. Whatever the case may be, STP no longer masks the illusion of diversity.

STP even granted an “Unplugged” session for their fans as a mini-stage descended from the ceiling as Tiny Music’s “Daisy” played, a song that sounds like dinner music that you might hear at one of your area’s finer eating establishments. The mini-set provided an informal setting (perhaps a bit too informal as drummer Eric Krets appeared to be outfitted in an undershirt and boxer shorts at this stage of the evening) complete with couches, throw-pillows, and burning candles from which the group performed an acoustic interlude that included a cover of Zeppelin’s “Dancing Days” and the obvious “Creep” from their 1992 smash debut Core amongst a couple of numbers from their most recent effort, Tiny Music.

“This is a song called ‘Lunch Meat,’” declares Weiland before the band tears into STP’s most recognizable and arguable most over-played song “Plush” proving that perhaps even the group itself is sick of hearing this title.

Photo by SDP

STP’s desire to create the show into something more than merely a replication of their recorded history was well accepted as rhythms and riffs varied somewhat in this live setting. Guitarist Dean Deleo and bassist/backing vocalist Robert Deleo’s steady playing while slinking about the stage made for fitting accompaniment to Weiland’s exaggerated movements and posing.

The encore consisted of two of STP’s finest songs to date. The dance-beat power with Beatles-style chorus of “Big Bang Baby” marked the band’s return to the stage (at which point “Big Bang” balloons dropped from the ceiling onto the audience members). The final song of the night was prefaced with some bluesy playing on the part of Dean Deleo which burst into the noisy rocker “Sex Type Thing” with its anthemic refrain, “Here I come, I come” (+2).

Although some of the lyrics seem self-prophetic now given Weiland’s past condition (“Too much tripping and my soul’s worn thin” and “One more trip and I’m gone”), STP may still have some surprises (musically, that is) in store for its listeners assuming that Weiland can remain in a forward state of progression in line with the final fleeting words with which he left the audience on this evening – ”Here I come, I come, I come, I come!”

The power duo Local H (guitarist/bassist/vocalist Scott Lucas with Joe Daniels on drums filling out the lineup) opened the show. The two-man band displayed its pop/hardcore mix in support of its debut release “As Good As Dead.”