Discuss this show here!

*I also posted this review at the Below Empty forum. I didn't bother with the official site, most of the original fans are at one of these two.----------------


This is going to be a long dissertation on both the show last night and on the current state of STP itself, so if you’re here for the short version, they showed up and played and were decent, so you can leave now if that’s all you wanted to hear.

OK, before I go off on my little rant, I’ll say that STP has been one of my favorite bands since 1992 and this is the 6th time I’ve seen them in concert. I can clearly remember how many times I sang “Plush” in my car, driving around my senior year in high school.

Was I glad to see them again after a 5 year absence? Of course I was. Was I disappointed by their show? Quite a bit. Let me elucidate on that statement.

This was actually my last chance of many to see them on this tour. It was a bit of a quixotic experience. I had a great ticket to a Vegas show I had to sell because I could not stay there through the weekend when they were there. My wife wasn’t going to be able to get to their Salt Lake show, and I wanted her to see them for the first time. I was in Chicago the week they played the Wisconsin casino but all the tickets were gone and I was on company time. Couldn’t make it work. I had tickets to the Orlando show I ended up selling before the show was then cancelled due to a hurricane (I sold them because they added the Boise date). And I’m glad I didn’t stick around in FL to try and catch their Tampa date, which they no showed.

This was their first stop in Boise as a headliner. They were first here years ago opening up for RHCP. We had great seats, the very first row behind the pit, less than 50 feet from the stage. I’ve never been that close to the band before, so you could see everything.

The opening act, BRMC, came on stage at 7 and played till about 7:55. Then we waited, and waited. And waited... Needless to say, I was nervous because of their recent no show. STP finally showed up at about 9:40. Yes, that is a 1 hour and 45 minute wait between the opening act and the headliner. 105 minutes. It’s important to note. The reason we were given by Scott later on was the now standard “travel problems” explantion. It didn't go over very well. They didn’t have a show the night before either.

I’m sorry, but it’s more than a little disrespectful to make people wait almost 2 hours after your opener leaves the stage. We all made arrangements and spent $ to be here because we want to see you, and I feel like STP (maybe this is directed more at Scott) is really taking the fact they are still able to sell a lot of tickets for granted. I heard comments from many people after the show about how long we waited until they played. It just aggravates your hard core fans and alienates first timers . But I guess they’re rock stars, so whatever.

Here’s the set list from last night in Nampa (Boise):

Big Empty
Wicked Garden
Big Bang Baby
Vasoline
Lady Picture Show
Lounge Fly
Crackerman
Sour Girl
Creep
Plush
Interstate Love Song
Down
Sex Type Thing
Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart
-encore
Dead And Bloated

No, I’m not missing any songs. There was no Coma, no Tool Cool Queenie, no Sin, no In the Suit that you Wear, no Silvergun Superman, not even the impromptu “Redemption Song” jamming they recently added. They took the stage almost an hour and a half late (we were told an 8:15 start) and then played for 67 minutes. The show was over at 10:47 PM.

If this set list looks familiar to you, it’s because it’s the exact same set list, in the same order, as what they played at the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle last weekend. So we got a festival set list at a headliner event. They have now trimmed 5 songs off their sets from when they started this tour (see the Cleveland show in May.)

They played one song off of No. 4 and none of off SLDD. Forget the idea of rarities and choosing our own set list, we didn’t even get the “regular” full show. And it’s a shame. For a smaller town, I would say they had about 8,000-9,000 in a venue that holds 11,000. Most everyone there knew the songs, were singing along, and there was fantastic energy from the crowd. Spontaneous chants of “STP” broke out between every other song. This was a crowd primed for them to impress.

The band sounded great. Really good. Scott was the way I had sorta been expecting. He either forgot or chose not to sing the entire first verse of Crackerman. He was incoherent and rambling between most of the songs, and there were times he stumbled over lyrics, missed lyrics, etc. His voice was barely audible on quite a few occasions. Despite all of this, there also were times with most of the choruses that it was indeed vintage STP.

To a first time concert go (ie my wife), they were impressive. She thought they were really good. To someone who has seen them multiple times, it wasn’t as good as I’m used to. You just know how good they (and I mean Scott) can be when he’s full on. I mean like an out of body experience good.

And just for comparison’s sake, here’s what they played at one of their first shows on the promo tour for Tiny Music, in Nov 1996:

Pop's Love Suicide
Crackerman
Meatplow
Tumble in the Rough
Vasoline
Still Remains
Silvergun Superman
Wicked Garden
Daisy (Acoustic)
Dancing Days (Acoustic)
Creep (Acoustic)
Pretty Penny (Acoustic)
And So I Know (Acoustic)
Seven Caged Tigers (Acoustic)
Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart
Plush
Piece of Pie
Big Empty
Interstate Love Song
Lounge Fly
Lady Picture Show
Unglued
Big Bang Baby
Dead and Bloated
Sex Type Thing

25 songs with 2 less albums under their belt. How can you not be a little let down that 10 years later they’re playing such a shorter set? Since they basically ignored their last two albums, I would have killed for that set last night. The songs I most wanted to hear, Silvergun Superman, Coma, Sin, TCQ, are the very ones they dropped to basically play only their hit singles. Besides people grumbling about the wait, after they left the stage, everyone was looking around , saying “that’s it?” The parking lot was the same experience. People enjoyed it, but they all thought is was a very quick show.

I’m thrilled they came to my smallish town and played a nice outdoor venue. The weather was perfect, the band was tight, the music was loud. Actually, another compliment is that at most concerts they’re so loud the music gets muffled and so distorted that all you can hear after awhile is the ringing in your ears. We were in the very first row behind the pit (of course we never sat down), in front of the speaker set, and the volume level was perfect. You could make out everything very clearly. Sound guy did a great job.

I’m still a fan, I will always be a fan. They're still one of my top 3 faves. But I think my reverence for them is dimming dramatically. I’m not going to keep talking them up to all my family and friends, trying to get people into STP and convince them to try their shows. They’ve already stated they’re in it for the money on this tour, so maybe I should have tempered my expectations and just be happy with what they gave us. I’m just not the type of fan who can excuse and explain away everything, for the very fact that I have invested so much of my passion for rock music around this band.

I found it ironic that they played this show the same day Scott announced his new album and tour in November. I think he may need a reality check. Most music fans do not hold him in such god like reverence that they will go see him play solo no matter what. It will be interesting to see how many people show up to check out his mini-tour.

There’s a certain segment of fandom here that will slam my comments. They are blindly devoted and find no fault in any choices STP makes, they think we should be happy with whatever we get from them. At a certain level, I understand their devotion. I’m just one fan from the good old days and this is how I see it.

I saw them on the Tiny Music tour! There was nothing "Tiny" about that setlist-you're right!

Scott's heading for a breakdown if he refuses to rest!! Nobody wants that...

Hello,

That's as honest a post as i've read here and absolutely needed to be said. Catching STP and Scott at this point of the tour was/is unfortunate. Your post makes me nervous about my show in Palm Springs this Wednesday.

Scott just makes it difficult to be a STP fan in '08.

Great review man. Really honest and descriptive. It's extremely unfortunate that they trimmed your setlist down to just singles.

I think you are dead on; this is something I've been trying to put into words for a long time. TO me, it's the the point where I would pass on going to a show. I do think it is ABSURD for fans to wait almost 2 hours between an opening act and a main act- this is not something new. It has happened on many an occasion way back to 2002 (or whatever tour). I don't think many people would go see Weiland solo, I sure as hell wouldn't. I agree with your stance also - they will remain one of my top favorite bands, but I've got no enthusiasm for them; they don't even seem to have it for themselves.

Excellent commentary and analysis. Nothing wrong with being brutally honest. There are things that seem quite confusing to me, too, with the sate of affairs.

One of my biggest regrets is never seeing a Tiny Music show. Definitely my greatest regret of anything STP-related.