Stone Temple Pilots

Stone Temple Pilots / +Live+ / Soul Asylum – Celebrating More Than Three Decades with Jubilee Tour at Blossom Music Center

As summer comes to an end, so do the outdoor concerts, sadly. Tuesday evening one couldn’t ask for better weather at Blossom Music Center just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. The Jubilee Tour brought out thousands of excited fans of Stone Temple Pilots and Live eager to celebrate the 30th anniversary of not one but two iconic albums, Purple and Throwing Copper, respectively. Kicking off this 90’s fueled rock show was Grammy Award winner, Soul Asylum.

Soul Asylum vocalist and founding member, Dave Pirner is the only original member but that did not prevent the band from delivering a powerful seven song set. The short performance included the hits Misery, Runaway Train and my personal favorite Somebody to Shove. The band is strong as well quite energic, I would have liked for them to have a bit more stage time, especially considering they have an extensive discography dating back 40 years. In fact, they show no signs of slowing down and are about to drop the new album Slowly But Shirley at the end of the month.

***Soul Asylum –*** **Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio**

Co-headliners +Live+ focused much of their 14 song set on the album Throwing Copper, saving the two biggest singles, I Alone and Lighting Crashes for their encore. Much like Soul Asylum, +Live+ vocalist, Ed Kowalczyk, is the only original member. That being said they offered up an amazing set with Kowalczyk, seemingly in good spirits, all smiles. +Live+ also played their first release in six years, Lady Bhang {She Got Me Rollin’}, a song showcasing Stone Temple Pilots guitarist Dean DeLeo. The crowd seemed to eat up every note served by Kowalczyk and bandmates, guitarist Zak Loy, bassist Chris Heerlein, keyboardist Nick Jay and drummer Johnny Radelat. Having witnessed +Live+ numerous times throughout their 30+ years, I can tell you this was one of the better performances in recent years.

***+Live+ – Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio***

Stone Temple Pilots, unlike the first two bands on the bill, includes all original members with the exception of vocalist, Jeff Gutt, who joined the DeLeo brothers, Robert {bass} and Dean {guitar} and Eric Kretz {drum} a mere 7 years ago. They opened their set with Meatplow and didn’t let up from there. Gutt is a great fit for STP, as he conveys the same energy his predecessor had while performing the legacy left by Scott Weiland and the catalog of hits the band has.

While some bands will perform an album celebration by highlighting a handful of songs off it, Stone Temple Pilots played them in the order fans have come to know and love. I personally think this is how all anniversaries should be. Some of us older fans remember when you bought an album you would listen to it front to back, start to finish. It also helps showcase some forgotten tracks that never had releases but are hidden gems. Once finished Purple, they saved fan favorites off their debut album, Core, for the encore. Songs such as Dead & Bloated and the single that started it all Sex Type Thing.

Gutt was very interactive, standing on the barrier and singing into the crowd, fist bumps and high fives abound multiple times throughout the set. At one point, he asked the crowd to give cheer in Scott Weiland’s memory, which was commendable. The DeLeo brothers are the crucial element in keeping this significant band around. Not to down play Kretz solid drumming skills by any means.

I have been lucky enough to have witnessed Stone Temple Pilots with both Weiland and now Gutt at the helm multiple times, and I can confidently say, I feel even Weiland would be proud of the job Gutt does.