'Bout a boy his name was Sue

Loud. The damned thing was too loud.


Of all the series of concerts from foreign artists I have watched in Araneta Coliseum, the Stone Temple Pilots gig will probably come across as the most sonically punishing of the lot. Not even the fabled abrasive industrial noise of Nine Inch Nails produced such ear-splitting intensity when they performed back in August 2009.


It was so great of an auditory assault I felt that familiar New Year's eve sensation when you detonated a horrendously huge firecracker at very close proximity; it is characterized by that constant ringing drone and the feel of an ear stuffed with cotton. That was the case after each song. It was 'loud' in a volume knob turned all the way to the right kind of loud; Disney's Happy Monster Band could be playing and your ears would still hurt. Nothing to do at all with the genre of music or musical intensity of the artist, but an abnormally cranked up volume control. Even singer Scott Weiland's voice, that great melodic set of pipes got drowned amidst the guitar and drum attack of Dean DeLeo and Eric Kretz (both playing with supreme skill and mastery) more than half the time.


I don't know if the band intentionally did that but I'll be damned if my hearing has not deteriorated after that concert. 

They started late, presumably because they had to rouse Weiland from a drug-induced coma. I'm not so sure how sober the guy is nowadays but he looked relatively healthy last night compared to the gaunt and skinny publicity photos he had at the height of his drug addiction. The singer danced and preened through several radio-friendly hits, much to the delight of the audience, which was composed predominantly of people within the late 20s and early 30s mark. We were in high school when STP hit it big. Do the math.


'Crackerman' was the opener, and that set everyone on their feet. It was mostly a catalogue of old hits from their top 3 albums: Core (1993), Purple (1994), and Tiny Music...Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop (1996). ALL the singles were played except for 'Creep'. Now that mystified me not because I needed to hear them play it (I'm partial to 'Wicked Garden' and 'Tripping On A Hole In A Paper Heart'---and they thankfully played those), but compared to 'Plush', that song has a lot more going to it, in my opinion. A smattering of new and decent-sounding singles from their new record were played, causing most of the audience to sit down and keep quiet, which can be embarrassing to both performer and some viewers.


All through the entire proceedings bass player Robert DeLeo kept the groove, horsing around most of the time with the audience members nearest him. But his highlight came when 'Interstate Love Song' was played. If there's one thing that stands out about that single, it is the great bassline done by this Deleo brother. And Weiland's great singing. That you cannot dispute.





It was a performance punctuated by Weiland's occasional joking---even parodying professional ring announcer Michael Buffer as he introduced his guitar player as Joe Frazier and bass player as Muhammad Ali. No doubt, referring to the Ali-Frazier Thrilla In Manila fight in 1975, also held in Araneta Coliseum.


It was a great concert, no doubt. If only my ears would stop ringing.