Beginnings are hard. Especially when there’s history.
But Stone Temple Pilots made an impact on the many fans who came out to Tuesday's show at State Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park.
The triple headlining “Revolution 3” tour with The Cult and Bush was more about STP’s resurgence than the nostalgia for the ‘90s. Singer Jeff Gutt picked up where Scott Weiland, who died of an overdose in 2015, and Chester Bennington, who briefly replaced Weiland earlier this decade and died last year by suicide, left off. Fans should feel some sympathy for the band’s founding members. Brothers Dean and Robert DeLeo along with drummer Eric Kretz have been trying to keep on keeping on since the initial success of “Core” in 1992.
STP opened with “Wicked Garden” off their first album, with Gutt voicing the line everyone was thinking: “Can I bring you back to life? Are you still alive?”
The answer was a resounding yes. Gutt channeled Weiland more than Bennington did and managed to make the music his own.
The set continued with top hits, including “Vasoline,” “Big Empty,” “Plush” and “Interstate Love Song.”
Singer Jeff Gutt mirrored Weiland —not copied— dancing with his own sense of style while matching the original singer’s tone and cadence. The crowd cheered for “Dead and Bloated” and listened attentively to the new songs off the band’s self-titled released.
“Meadow” and “Roll Me Under” went over well enough, but the lyrics lacked what Weiland brought with poetry and a hint of subconscious angst. The chorus of “Roll Me Under” seemed to speak to the idea of a band starting over from scratch, even though three-quarters of the members remain the same.
"If it's the taste you remember
You may not share in this sweet delight
Yeah we can live forever
If there's a time we can get it right"
Weiland, for many fans, was STP, but the crowd on Tuesday gave Gutt his due and egged him on. But that feeling of esoteric art felt lost. At best, the latest lyrics cry out for what the band created decades ago. Despite the band’s many losses, Stone Temple Pilots made the comeback they’ve been trying for.
Co-headliners Bush performed top hits as well, opening with “Machinehead” off their 1992 debut “Sixteen Stone” and hitting their stride with “Everything Zen” and a cover of the Beatles’ “Come Together.”
Bush treated fans to “This Is War,” from their seventh and latest release, “Black and White Rainbows.” The song recalled earlier tunes from the band’s ‘90s hits, but landed lackadaisically.
Though The Cult started the triple-headlining show, only about 25 percent of the crowd came out for their set.
The “Revolution 3” tour continues out west until early September.
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