Saturday, 5 Jul 2008
Ah Nostalgia. Seeing the Stone Temple Pilots at Summerfest wasn’t necessarily a planned affair. After watching the Brewers pound the Pirates in the scorching head of the left field bleachers and the previous night’s good times, it didn’t take much convincing to get me back along the shores of Lake Michigan.
I readily admit that I wore out my copies of STP’s debut Core and subsequent follow up Purple. The latter was probably one of my most listened to records for a period of a couple of years. My interest by that point had certainly peaked, but I remember finding pieces of Tiny Music… that I really enjoyed as well. I remember seeing them at the MECCA and also can remember seeing Cheap Trick holding down opening duties for them on more than one occasion. So, last night was definitely a revisiting of my former self, it didn’t hurt that Black Francis (aka Frank Black) of Pixies fame was holding down opening duties.
Of course, part of the allure was seeing which version of Scott Wieland would show up. For the most part, he seemed to have everything together, though his between song banter was mumbled and nearly indecipherable. Seeing it was the fourth of July, Wieland took it as an opportunity to come out draped in an American flag for the first four songs. Musically, he nailed most of the material, which ended up being a evening’s worth of greatest hits. There were selections (“Big Bang Baby) that came off with a little less luster than it probably used to have. It was certainly fun to watch as the band launched into each selection and waiting for the crowd’s collective memory to be jolted and recognize exactly what song they were hearing, no doubt transporting them right back to the early 90’s as well.
The first two sections of the Marcus were filled, the bleacher seats were virtually empty and there was a considerable amount of fans relaxing on the lawn, taking advantage of the free admission. Over the course of the night it was nice to hear “Plush,” “Creep,” and “Silvergun Superman” and the crowd went a little bit more crazy each time Wieland reached for his megaphone. Most of the material as I mentioned earlier was their most familiar material, but there were also plenty of songs which I assume came for their later era catalog that I have no familiarity with at all.
We didn’t stick around for the encore, as we wanted to make sure we took advantage of the opportunity to catch The Roots while we had the chance. Overall, it was fun to be with a bunch of friends and family who grew up with this music and now, as adults could at least spend one more night with those songs together.
Discuss: Did you see the show? Did the band sound as good as they used to? What did you think of the Black Francis material? What were the highs and lows? Who else did you see at Summerfest? I think we can all agree their light show was very much a holdout from the 90’s, right?
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July 5th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
I admit I was a little skeptical in the weeks leading up to the STP show. Now that I’ve left most of the music I used to listen to in middle school and high school in a dusty pile on the shelf, I wasn’t sure if the show would bring back nostalgia or leave me bored a realizing why I don’t listen to it anymore. The show left me surprisingly happy and satisfied. There was something in the air, a sort of camaraderie between the thousands of people singing along to every word of every song.
Early in the day, when I found out Frank Black was opening, I felt excitement. Even though I haven’t dug deep into his solo material, I’m a huge Pixies fan. When he took the stage the ampitheater was only half full and people were more interested in finding their seats and grabbing a beer, but I guess that’s something that can be expected at a show like this. I was loving his set though. I found myself trying to remember lyrics so I could look up the songs when I got home. One song that he sang, that I’ve since been addicted to is called “Burnt Out Rock n’ Roll.” As far as I can tell it’s a cover that hasn’t fond it’s way to a studio recording, but there is a nice acoustic version here at MN Public Radio website.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/objects_in_mirror/archive/2007/10/is_that_burnt_out_rock_and_rol.shtml
July 7th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Pretty lame.
There was absolutely zero passion in Scott’s performance. I went to see Frank Black more than anything, but had to leave after about 3 songs from STP.
It was pretty disappointing, to say the least. Weilland is clearly back OFF the wagon.
The Roots were great and ?uestlove spun records at a little bar in Riverwest afterward. If you were lucky enough to make it, you know that it was OFF THE HOOK!!
Plus, I got to meet Blackthought. One of the best MCs around.
Maybe STP should go to a few Roots shows and learn a thing or two.
July 7th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Sean: Thanks for the info! What Riverwest bar?
July 18th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Why would we all agree the lightshow was a hold out from the 90’s? It looked great! Speak for yourself, you clearly know nothing about lighting to even make such a narrow minded comment. Maybe the heat at the game got to your head? Touch of sunstroke maybe?