Stone Temple Pilots Revive Rock Music At Sold Out Hollywood Show

Tue, 14 Apr 2015 10:11:34

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Stone Temple Pilots brought rock ‘n’ roll back to life last night with a rapturous sold out show at the Sunset Strip House of Blues. For about two hours, Chester Bennington, Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo, and Eric Kretz submerged the packed house in a bevy of classics and rarely played deep cuts, making for one of the legendary group’s most dynamic and explosive setlists. It’s fitting that this show happened only a day after Coachella’s first weekend concluded. The media consistently tells everybody that this style of music is dead. Radio doesn’t support it. The general notion is that, “It’s over.” The fact of the matter is that there were more hits on the House of Blues stage in one evening than over the course of three days in Indio, CA. Stone Temple Pilots delivered “Sex Type Thing,” “Plush,” and “Interstate Love Song” with a decidedly fresh fire. First of all, Dean, Robert, and Eric proved simply incendiary the entire night. Whether it was a mind-blowing solo from Dean in the middle of “Sin,” Robert’s flawless backing vocals and swaggering grooves on “Big Bang Baby,” or the stadium-filling bombast from Eric’s kit on “Crackerman,” they locked into something impenetrable.

From a musical standpoint, these three always felt like they channeled the spirit of Led Zeppelin even back in the early nineties, while adding a modern darkness accentuated by the times and a bright sense of melody that transfixes at every turn. That’s what separated then when Core first impacted, and it still does now.

Visit the big photo gallery of STP at HOB

Chester stepped up to the plate and hit homerun after homerun. He never tried to duplicate the original recordings, but rather infuse his own signature into them while respecting the heart of the three musicians on stage with him. As a result, “Pruno” and “Coma” felt fierce, and the scream at the beginning of “Vasoline” arose directly from his soul. On “Big Empty,” he really took flight, carrying that undying refrain with gusto and grit, while the rarely played “Adhesive” cut deep, especially as the hook fluttered to the heavens.

Together, these four tapped into an unbridled energy that coursed throughout the entire venue. They made it not feel like Los Angeles as everybody in attendance couldn’t help but sing along. It was everything that a rock concert should be, but mostly it was a blast.

Chester mentioned radio not playing rock ‘n’ roll at one point. If Stone Temple Pilots keep putting on shows like this, that will undoubtedly change. It honestly feels as if these gods have descended from Olympus to once again save the music. If anybody can do it, it’s them.

—Rick Florino
04.14.15

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Tags: Stone Temple Pilots, Chester Bennington, Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo, Eric Kretz