Stone Temple Pilots had their fair share of tragedies over the last few years. Both former lead singers in Scott Weiland and Chester Bennington passed away leaving the band with a lot of uncertainty. Many people wondered what would the future would hold for the band. Last summer, STP decided to move forward with new singer Jeff Gutt. They released a new single “Meadow” and a few months later released their self titled album “Stone Temple Pilots.” The band is currently on tour and their 9th stop took them to the Town Ballroom in Buffalo this past Tuesday night.
STP still consists of founding members Eric Kretz on drums, Dean DeLeo on guitar and brother Robert DeLeo on bass. Taking the stage promptly at 9pm, the band went into their longtime hit “Wicked Garden.” This was a great opener to get the crowd going right from the start. “Vasoline” was up next and the band built on the momentum from “Wicked Garden.” Gutt has some of the mannerisms of Weiland and his voice has some of the tendencies as well too. The thing I believe was most important is that he didn’t force himself onto the audience. He was himself and believe that won them over. His voice has a blend of both Weiland and Bennington to give STP a consistent familiar sound.
The rhythm section is the backbone of STP. Kretz and R. DeLeo are the engines that drive this band. Steady and heavily underrated in what they do in my opinion. D. DeLeo has a signature sound and when you hear an STP tune, you can immediately identify his playing. D. DeLeo was flawless in his paying throughout the night. His slide guitar was superb on “Interstate Love Song.” The band played 4 new tracks “Middle of Nowhere,” “Meadow,” “Six Eight” and “Roll Me Under.” The songs seamlessly intertwined within the scope of the set. The band perfectly blended the new songs with the hits band a few B sides to keep longtime fans happy.
The signature sound of the band still remains. With the addition of Gutt, who is a relatively unknown commodity, I think was stroke of genius. He won’t have any unnecessary expectations bestowed upon him that a bigger name would have. With a big tour with The Cult and Bush slated for this summer (called ‘Revolution 3’), I believe the future is bright for the band with Gott at the helm. This only can be great news for STP fans!
Setlist:
Wicked Garden
Vasoline
Middle of Nowhere
Meadow
Big Bang Baby
Silvergun Superman
Lounge Fly
Glide
Big Empty
Atlanta
Plush
Finest Hour
Interstate Love Song
Sex and Violence
Six Eight
Roll Me Under
Dead and Bloated
Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart
Encore:
Piece of Pie
Sex Type Thing
We would like to thank Kymm Britton of 60 Cycle Media for the credentials to review the show.
