STP lead singer Scott Weiland on the groove.

Controversy seems to follow veteran grunge rockers, Stone Temple Pilots wherever they go. When the California-based Grammy winners began playing live and recording in the early 90s, they fought critics calls of riding on the coattails of fellow grunge bands, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. Lead-singer Scott Weiland had his struggles with drug drugs and that was much well-publicized.

Now, after near 20-years with its first new album in nine years,and the first to be eponymously titled, rumors are persisting of Weiland lip-synching songs on the current summer tour.

Now, I have covered a few hundred shows in my day. When Weiland and mates hit the Time Warner Amphitheatre in Cleveland, August 22, I was prepared to see for myself if STP was truly back in the saddle and if Weiland classic rock vocals were for up to snuff. Ironically after falling off stage at PNC Pavilion in Cincinnati, OH three nights later, on the opening “Crackerman”, Weiland got back up singing without missing a beat, leading some to believe he was lip-snyching.

In Cleveland, after Kentucky-natives, London residents Cage the Elephant preceded STP with a rousing, nonstop energy of power-rock, Weiland and group hit the stage and did not leave for near 100 minutes before a near sold-out crowd.

Being within five feet of the band in the photo bay, anyone with a trained eye can tell the difference between someone mouthing lyrics or truly singing them. The pulsing of the veins in his neck and breathing patterns pretty much solidified in my mind Weiland was not only singing, he was grasping for every ounce of lung and throat muscle he could muster up.

STP performed a 20-song set with equal parts Purple and Core, (its first two hits albums which put them on the map). With a wall of infinitesimal lights changing colors through the set serving as a backdrop, Weiland led the band through all the early hits – “Plush”, “Sex-Type Thing”, “Interstate Love Song”, and “The Big Empty”, “Flies in the Vaseline”.

Dean DeLeo caught in the moment.

The trademark Dean DeLeo guitar was ever-present throughout the evening. His brother Robert DeLeo and Eric Kretz, who have proved to be one of the more enduring rock rhythm sections balanced the live set with a bombast that can only be associated with the STP sound.

For an encore, the foursome covered “Dead and Bloated” with the help of a fan performing the opening megaphone-style vocals. STP ended the near two-hour performance with “Trippin’ on a Hole in Paper Heart” from Tiny Gifts from the Vatican Gift Shop.

In all, STP provided a solid musical show and Weiland slithered, slinked and ran the stage as if it were his own living room with a few thousand of his closest friends, singing, yes singing with him.


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