Stone Temple Pilots!

Scott Weiland is dead. Chester Bennington is dead. Jeff Gutt is alive. And so are the Stone Temple Pilots.

STP rolled thru Lincoln last night playing a former movie theater turned club in front of a packed house. Packed as in I clutched a railing left over from the movie theater (the theater I watched the Thrilla in Manila in 1975 on closed circuit TV so now you know how old I am) and held on for dear life constantly moving out of the way of people getting beer. Damn, it was as crowded as any place Ive ever been in yet somehow my claustrophobia did not kick in. Probably cuz I was watching STP with a new lead singer rock the shit out of the venue.

As Ive stated before Ive seen STP more than any other rock band and not by design. It just so happens they came around here in the 90s a lot and it just so happened I went. This is the 6th time Ive seen Stone Temple Pilots, the first time in 20 some years, and the first time since Scott Weiland inevitably self destructed in 2015.

Jeff Gutt, a former X Factor contestant, is the new front man and honestly, as great as Weiland was, this band really hasnt lost anything. Gutt is a strutting blonde Billy Idol looking sunglasses wearing stud who makes the experience of seeing these guys a damn good time.

With a setlist of classics like Wicked Garden, a slowed down Plush. Vasoline, Interstate Love Song, Sex and Violence, Dead and Bloated and Sex Type Thing mixed in with new stuff like the rocking Meadow, STP shows at 50 years old plus these guys are still getting it done. The DeLeo brothers, and Eric Kretz have lost nothing since last touring 5 years ago. I highly recommend going.

In 1990, I went to see Megadeth with a buddy and this obscure band called Stone Temple Pilots came out to open the show. The spiky haired front man pulled out a megaphone and launched into a song called Crackerman. Though booed by dimwitted metalheads intent on watching Spinal Tap Megadeth choreograph their way through a standard metal show. STP did their thing and made no apologies. I became a fan that night. Whatever happened to the young lady dancing next to us the Megadeth roadies came and took away is a horror I still cant unsee.

In 1993, STP came to a shithole called the Mancuso Center, a slab of concrete with a stage at the end. Not air conditioned, the venue was packed and there was no railing to grasp. A young man stood behind me and was frozen like a statue for the entire show. When STP launched into Sex Type Thing at the end of the show, this kid began to gyrate like someone dropped a ferret in his pants. The sweat flew off him onto me. Ydah it was disgusting.

In 1994, STP came back to this Mancuso sweat box and drew an even bigger crowd. Halfway thru the show, a sneaker flew out of the crowd and nailed Scott Weiland right in the face. Justifiably, Weiland went crazy cussing out the offender and insisting if the guy wasnt ejected the show was over. I am still surprised the crowd didnt tear the idiot apart. They did eject the shoe tosser and the show went on.

The last time I saw STP was in 1996. The exact same place, the sweaty venue, the crowd was not as huge. The show wasnt either. There was something wrong with Scott Weiland that night. He sang badly, he was incoherent, and the show ended without an encore. Sweating like Trump attempting to tell the truth wasnt worth it. I feared it was a sad end to a great band.

Last night showed comebacks are possible.