Scott Weiland has had quite a year so far.
He’s been “kicked” out of the band that he started and pretty much defined, only to be replaced by Chester from Linkin Park. That is insane to me, and not just because I hate Linkin Park, but because I can’t imagine STP without Weiland.
And I’m not a purist by any means. I support two versions of LA Guns, two versions of Great White, and even two versions of Queensryche (don’t get me started), but for the love of God, I have to draw the line somewhere. Anyway, so Weiland decided to his own thing and that’s fine by me, and it was fine by a packed house at the legendary Fillmore last week in San Francisco as well.
Scott Weiland and The Wildabouts “Purple to the Core Tour” is Weiland doing what he does best; being a rock star. We should all embrace this as well because Weiland is indeed a rare breed of a musician. There are not a lot of frontmen around or coming around that have his charisma, and quite frankly theantics, flowing out of them naturally.
I have to admit I was skeptic at first, having seen STP several times over the years. But The Wildabouts filled in gracefully and Weiland truly had a chemistry with the band. My guess is that it’s a new beginning, which is probably all he needed to get back into the groove again.
So the set list. Yeah, it was fucking awesome. Of course it had the “hits” from the first two records, including “Wicked Garden,” “Crackerman,” “Interstate Love Long,” “Vaseline” etc., but these guys did a killer version of Jane’s Addiction classic “Mountain Song,” a rowdy rollicking version of “Roadhouse Blues” that would have made Jim proud, and finally a Bowie classic that just seemed to fit that night, “The Jean Genie.”
And The Wildabouts? They were great. It’s fun to see a young band hungry to take on a challenge, and this one is a beast. STP are a full on juggernaut when firing on all cylinders, and of course I mean with Weiland leading the charge. But these guys held their own.
The multi-instrumentalist and what seemed to be Weiland’s right hand man, Doug Grean was really impressive. After a few clicks on Google, I found out that he has worked with both Weiland solo and STP as a producer for over 10 years. His impressive resume also boasts work with Sheryl Crow, Velvet Revolver, and The Crystal Method.
The bottom line here? Weiland is delivering the goods as best he can without the STP name or the DeLeo brothers behind him, and that’s just fine. Go see this show and relive some classic rock ‘n roll from one of the last true rock stars left on the planet.
Keep it up boys.
