Stone Temple Pilots play the Fox Theater with renewed presence and passion

8-29-10 Originally published on Examiner.com by Tracy Heck

Much like their troubled front man Scott Weiland, The Stone Temple Pilots (STP) have always been hard to classify.
They emerged on the music scene back in the early nineties with all of the grunge bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam.  However, they were often dismissed because their music drifted into punk, glam and funk territory and later into psychedelic rock.
Despite some criticism, Stone Temple Pilots went on to become one of the most commercially successful rock bands of the 1990's.
In 2003, after Weiland's multiple drug related offenses and a decline in record sales, the band split for five years with all of the members going on to form new bands including Weiland's Velvet Revolver.
In 2008 the band reunited for a successful world tour and earlier this year released their sixth studio album Stone Temple Pilots, which debuted at number 2 on the Billboard charts.
The album finds the band taking on the blues with a sound that leans towards the rock of the sixties.
Stone Temple Pilots is currently out on tour supporting the album.
The tour made a stop at Detroit's Fox Theater on Thursday night and the band proved that in their over twenty years of performing they appeal to more than just a single generation of fans.
Where many bands from the nineties have disappeared, STP is still going strong.
From the opening strains of "Crackerman" until the band took their bows at the end of "Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart", they had the crowd in the palm of their hands.
Songs like "Wicked Garden", "Vasoline", "Plush", "Interstate Love Song" and "Sex Type Thing" were renewed with bluesy overtones as the band moved through a number of new songs off of their latest album including "Between the Lines" and "Hickory Dichotomy".
Set highlights included a jamming version of "Down" and encore "Dead and Bloated", which featured Weiland pulling a girl from the crowd to sing along.
Throughout their set, The Stone Temple PIlots sounded and looked great as they seemed to be enjoying being on stage with one another.  At one point, guitarist Dean DeLeo pulled Weiland over for a hug, which had the crowd cheering.
Years of drug use have effected Weiland's voice making it a bit rougher and deeper but in my opinion it seems to work better for him.  Both the new and old songs sounded great and the rest of the packed crowd seemed to agree.
Stone Temple Pilots Set list:
*
1. Crackerman
2. Wicked Garden
3. Vasoline
4. Heaven and Hot Rods
5. Between the Lines
6. Hickory Dichotomy
7. Still Remains
8. Cinnamon
9. Big Empty
10. Dancing Days (Led Zeppelin cover)
11. Pretty Penny
12. Silvergun Superman
13. Plush
14. Interstate Love Song
15. Huckleberry Crumble
16. Down
17.Sex Type Thing
Encore:
18. Dead and Bloated
19. Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart