For anyone who has listened to Stone Temple Pilot’s new self-entitled album or seen STP at a recent concert, there’s no denying that Stone Temple Pilots is better than ever. Throughout the 1990s the drug problems of STP’s frontman, Scott Weiland, seemed to keep the band on edge at all times. In 2002 the band finally went over the edge, when tension between Weiland and guitarist Dean DeLeo led to the group splitting. In 2007 Weiland’s now ex-wife did the rock world a favor by helping to reunite Stone Temple Pilots. With Weiland sober and the band recently releasing its first studio album in nearly a decade, STP is once again capturing the music world’s attention.

Stone Temple Pilots definitely captured the attention of the sold out Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at the 2010 KROQ Weenie Roast on Saturday, June 5th. Overall, the Weenie Roast, which saw over a dozen bands perform, ended up being very underwhelming. Acts like Paramore and The Dirty Heads gave what could have been considered great performances, if it wasn’t for time restrictions. Each band was only given 30 minutes onstage. This meant by the time you were getting into a band, the group would be on their last song.

While the overall Weenie Roast could be described as disappointing, Stone Temple Pilots gave the sold out crowd their money’s worth. As one of the show’s headliners, STP had the advantage of not being stifled by a time limit. STP kicked off their stage time with “Vasoline,” a song from STP’s second album Purple, released in 1994. “Vasoline” set the overall theme for STP’s night, with the theme being playing the hits. The bulk of Stone Temple Pilots’ set-list contained their most successful songs, including “Interstate Love Song,” “Wicked Garden,” and “Plush.” The group also did mix in a few songs from their latest album, like “Between the Lines” and “Huckleberry Crumble,” into their play-list.

However, when it comes to concerts, a band’s play-list is only one part of what makes the show a success. Equally, if not more important is the band’s stage presence. If a group just stands onstage and plays music, you might as well have just sat at home and listened to your MP3 player. A good band makes their songs come alive onstage, and Stone Temple Pilots did just that. Weiland brings his bandmates’ guitar rifts alive with his movements cross the stage. Weiland moves across the stage so naturally, one can’t help but think he was born to do what he is doing.

Still, what makes Weiland a great frontman goes beyond his talent of being able to naturally move across a stage, to his uncanny ability to summon a crowd and energize them. This wasn’t anymore evident than when Weiland led the sold out Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in singing the chorus of “Plsuh.” Standing there as everyone around bellowed “When the dogs do find her/Got time, time, to wait for/Tomorrow/To find her/To find her” was a hair-raising experience.

Like STP’s performance at the Weenie Roast, listening to Stone Temple Pilots is a hair-raising experience. Some critics may have the compulsion to attack the new album for not being just like the STP albums from the 1990s, but the album is what it needs to be, an evolution of the band’s musical talents. Perhaps the best part of the album is its’ diversity of sound. For instance, “Between the Lines” explores the sound of 1960s pop/rock, while “Huckleberry Crumble” has a heavy Aerosmith influence, and “Hickory Dichotomy” contains a country vibe.     

While you might read reviews from critics requesting the STP albums of old, STP is heading exactly in the direction they need to be going. After all, Metallica received much criticism for the musical evolution they showed on 1991’s infamous black album, but it was that evolution which has allowed Metallica to play music for over three decades. The musical evolution STP shows on their self-entitled album will be what, hopefully, lets me sit around in the year 2020 still writing about Weiland and his bandmates.