Okay.. let me preface this with HOLY SHIT PHILLIES - YOU PUT THOSE YOUNG PUPS DOWN!!! GREAT JOB ON THE WORLD SERIES WIN!

With that aside taken care of, let me break down the Stone Temple Pilot's concert this last Tuesday (the 28th) at the Pershing Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.


The day started with me fairly pissed I had to go to work. At work I was slaying bugs left and right out of sheer agitation that the day was not moving fast enough to have work done. Finally 4.30 hit and I was out the door before anything might crop up that needs my attention. I swing through Tbusiness for some preshow eats, and start tapping my desk at home waiting to leave. A few tech support phone calls later I am off to snag Anna and hit the road. It was going to be a tight schedule and I sorta wanted to see the Meat Puppets (who opened for STP), but not enough to break the speed laws.

The interstate to Lincoln was a mess. They finally got around to doing road construction a few exits before the Waverly exit (about time since those damn barrels have been there for about ten years). In classic needy fashion I blew past the exit. Whoops. Shit. Typical, I know. Through some hazy notions from Anna and a fairly firm resolve to get to the awesomeness of STP we started to back track northward through Lincoln. A brief phone call to Anna's Lincoln contact (and a good guess on my part) we hit the parking garage and were out on the streets. Of course this was the wrong garage and we had to tail a couple to the concert.

Fine.

Dandy.

We get in the doors with minimal fuss, grab some brews, and find our seats. Yeah.. I said seats. This concert was a seated affair. Odd; I've never engaged in a show like that. Our tickets were damn good (as I had suspected) and we saw the last twentish minutes of the Meat Puppets. Now these punks behind us filled in and I caught one of them saying "Oh that's a Nirvana song". Wow. I about popped him in the mouth. Don't get me wrong - Nirvana is on the first tier of my music pantheon, but give respect where it is due. Nirvana covered a few Meat Puppet songs for god sakes! I thought about the sentence and decided he meant Nirvana did this song versus Nirvana wrote the song.

Fine..

Meat Puppets end and the fight to the pisser is on. The bathroom was two steps away from a horror movie.. it smelled, there was oddly colored standing water, and the pipes under the rarely used sink (ew) were shooting out water. I snagged another brew, found Anna, got to our seats, and proceeded to watch the roadies do their job. Then it was people watching.. then it was I am going to sit down because I am bored. The middle isle was slowly being packed with people and I am kinda glad I didn't get those seats now.

The lights go down and the place errupts. Holy shit THAT'S STP!>?!?!!? They start cranking out song after song. By the end they hit every song on Purple and Core, but also took a smattering off No 4 and Tiny Music. Wow.. it was constant battery of awesomeness and the Truth. There was excellent use of a megaphone to get the voice changes that I have always wondered about. The visuals were just trippy as hell.

Scott Weiland looked great for all the shit he's been through. Pretty damn skinny though for a voice like his. It was odd he came out in shades, a black fleece, a scarf, and two silk scarves. By the first three or four songs he lost all but the dress shirt and tie under the list above. He was one animated son of a bitch too. We were close enough that you can tell he was genuinely loving every minute of performing. Some of the interactions between him and R.Deleo were kinda cheesy but those were far and few between the genuine interactions. Let it be said I am guessing Weiland was wearing colored contacts, but we were close enough to see them baby blues Michelle talks about.

Robert Deleo (bassist that looks like a smaller version of the Rock) was on our side (left side of the concert) and killed the bass in a snazzy black suit and shades. God that guy can rip cords.

His younger brother Dean (guitar) was on the right side and was having too much fun playing with the fans. He shredded songs live that I thought might have been a recording trick.

Lastly Kretz banged out some amazing drum lines. He was a bit farther back, but wow.. some of those drum hits would resonate through your chest!

We were out of there by eleven at night and just floored. The only down note was seeing this made me hate myself more for not seeing Chris Cornell earlier this year.

Two things of note:
To the douchebag in section 52, seat 9 wearing the navy and gray fleece. How about you get your dbag ass off the chair. Jumping up every few minutes when Weiland was near the edge of the stage to take shitty cellphone camera pictures is not acceptable to those being you who want to see. I somewhat wish you would have fallen off your seat and busted your ankle. People were putting your seat up for a reason. If I ever see you I will deck you. You are a three year notice.

To the broad on the left of me (seat.. 11?). Quit complaining that I might be in the way of your while you were taking video of the concert with your crap camera. Yeah I know it sucks you have to hold down the record button. Yeah It sucks that you had to stand to the left of the six foot seven gorilla.. but fucking enjoy the concert. I guarantee you missed experiencing the moment while you were trying to preserve it though a crappy camera. Tours come out with concert DVDs for a reason. Thankfully you left forty minutes before the end of th show. You were not missed. For leaving early you are not put on notice.

Finally in classic fashion getting home blew. Crazy people in the streets downtown lincoln. Walking all around the block to get to the parking garage... and the interstate being closed to omaha. Ol' Highway 6 got us there (abet slower than I would have liked).