Thursday, July 03, 2008

Rock me gently

rock me slowly. or just rock it hard.

i had no idea what to expect, really. there have been first hand accounts that he looked like an emaciated coke fiend, which directly contradicted the assertion they're the greatest rock band ever. their appearance on kimmel in may was absolute trash; the vocals were terrible, the instrumentals just a bit off, and the performance as a whole was pretty awful.

but last night, STP came roaring back to my life after a nearly 8 year absence and rocked the living fuck out of red rocks amphitheater. the night started slowly, as frank black--the former front man of the pixies--opened with nary an applause. i'd hoped that it wasn't foreshadowing of things to come. the lengthy delay between frank and STP triggered my mind immediately back to the days of never-ending stories about scott weiland's drug problem, and everyone around us was joking that scotty boy was holding up the show because he couldn't get the needle all the way in.

finally, they made it to the stage and, jesus, did that place EXPLODE. my friends and i took bets on the opening song, and only g-strang's pick made it within 3 songs of the opener. no one foresaw "big empty" as the choice du jour for the set list (for the record, i picked "vasoline." other choices were "interstate love song" and "sex type thing."). the set list ebbed and flowed magically, stringing together slower, more melodic songs, followed by a rush of 3 or 4 rockin' tunes in a row. at one point, the entire crowd of 10,000+ was singing along to "plush," so much so that weiland dropped the mic and allowed us to sing an entire chorus verse without his aid. needless to say, that was wicked awesome.

unlike their appearance on kimmel only 2 months prior, the boys were dead on for the entire set. every song, with the exception of a few vocal flourishes, sounded just as they did on cd. i wished that weiland would end his love affair with the megaphone he'd brought with him, but i can overlook that little tidbit and see the bigger picture for what it was: a rocked out show by one of my all-time favorite bands in an unbelievable atmosphere, replete with the ugliest fans i've ever seen.




"you towed the line and i know it was mine......"

4 comments:

vivavavoom said...

I saw him walk across Broadway years back and disappear into the walgreens parking lot. this was the year he was missing and wanted by the police. (maybe that has happened more than one year, can't keep track). But I knew he was from here and he looked scary skinny.
hopefully he is cleaning up...but my guess is that may be wishful thinking.

Great to hear STP put on a great show, but how sad that no one really knew Frank Black.

Cowboy said...

Frank Black can suck my balls. He's awful. Kim Deal was the best thing he ever produced.

I saw STP with RHCP when they toured about 8 years ago. Weiland's solo album is a classic too. Great band(s). Great show. It was the mohawk era.

Ghetto Photo Girl said...

I was at the same show as Woody. I wanted a little "Still Remains," but I knew that wasn't going to happen. It was still a decent show...but he really does look like a chemo patient.

Jeen Yes said...

ohhhhhh, i was SO pissed that we didn't get still remains. and i'm all but certain they gypped us on meatplow too.

oh well, everything else was pretty money. i was more than satisfied...though i wish they'd have had a better opening act. grrrr.