Supermen with Silverguns

I was a teen in the 90’s and in high school, so it would be pretty hard to say I wasn’t influenced by the music of the time. There was something strange going on then, and I like to think of 1992 through 1998 as being one of the best times in musical history. Sure, grunge was the scene, and electronic music was just starting to find it’s place on the radio, but no one can deny that a classic form of music was born in 6 short years. I’ll cite Belly, Mazzy Star, Tool, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Everclear, Weezer, Tori Amos, 10,000 Maniacs, and even Third Eye Blind and the Gin Blossoms as huge influences on me, or most people I know from my generation. Not to be ignored is Stone Temple Pilots.

Early on they drew comparisons to Pearl Jam and other grunge rock bands, but honestly, I never heard a similarity. Maybe it was because I heard more Led Zeppelin, Doors, and KISS in STP than any other sound.

I was a huge fan of STP once “Plush” became a massive hit. I actually had heard “Sex Type Thing” hundreds of times on MTV during Headbangers Ball, (does anyone watch MTV anymore? All I see is pointless shows with uninteresting half-naked people… I remember watching MTV for HOURS each day…) but I wasn’t really sold on STP’s sound for some reason until “Plush”, and then “Creep”. When I first started hanging out with Dave and Dustin, we all found a shared love for the band, and it even caused us to go into the Great America sound booth and record our own version of “Plush” with probably a few too many swear words and re-workings… (I still have the tape). Soon after STP released their 2nd album, we created our first band: “Bench” and we tried to emulate their sound.

As years went on, the band became less interesting to me because after their 3rd album, their music began to sound very repetitive and not as interesting as in their heyday. I still bought all the records, but I couldn’t really get into them very much. As time went on, the band fell apart, and they became another band on my list of “Bands I wish I would have seen”. There were many rumors of reunions, but I didn’t believe them at all, and besides, I don’t know about you, but I find most bands that re-unite a joke. STP however is the rare case of a band who reunites as if they never broke up in the first place. As a result, on Friday July 25th, I saw one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen.

The band came out like they were still in their 20’s, and rocked the hell out of the place. If you’ve never been to the Greek Theater in Berkeley, you are missing out. It is simply the best outdoor venue I have ever been to. The sound is always awesome, and no matter where you sit, you have a great view. We got to the theater about 3 hours early, and patiently waited through 2 somewhat un-interesting opening bands (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club was not bad, but I couldn’t get into it). Once STP started though, the crowd went ballistic, and welcomed back some of the heroes of our youth (The average age of fans at the theater seemed to be 28-35).

Although I was excited to see them come out and get ready to play, I was left underwhelmed by their opener: “Big Empty”. On its own, it’s a good song (though one of my least favorite’s of their singles), but it is just so slow that it just flat out sucks as an opener. At the very least though, it is a popular song (might be their biggest hit), so people were singing along and remembering why we used to love this band. As the night went on, they played more and more hits. So many in fact, that I was actually surprised that I had forgotten just how many radio hits they had. Song after song, it became clear that this band was in fact the closest thing that my generation had to a Led Zeppelin – the powerhouse rock band of skilled musicians.

Aside from a few questionable song choices (and a seemingly pointless Obama tribute), I was loving every minute of it. They played the songs as close to the albums as possible in a live setting, and they kicked major butt. Best of all, they played a rare song of theirs which is probably my favorite song of theirs: “Silvergun Superman”. This was a shock to me because I had been looking at set lists for their tour to see what they were playing, and I had even forwarded a list to Dustin saying, “Perfect set list, except they are just missing Silvergun Superman”. So when they played that, it really made my night. Here they are with Vasoline:



They did play a few songs that just don’t seem to fit a concert setting that I wish they’d have kept off the agenda (Sour Girl, All In The Suit That You Wear, Too Cool Queenie, and Coma), but otherwise, they knew their audience, and played some great songs. The best thing to me about the concert was the fan reaction. I’ve been to a ton of concerts, and I don’t know what it is, but most audiences seem to not really be into the concert, don’t know the music, and in most cases, leave early. Hell, no one even knows how to keep up the cheering to make the band come out for an encore it seems… Anyway, at this show, everyone was singing along, everyone seemed happy, and believe it or not, the place stayed packed from start to finish. I haven’t seen a concert retain so many people since KISS in 1996. Awesome. I’d love to see them again if I get the chance. Here is the set list:
1. Big Empty
2. Wicked Garden
3. Big Bang Baby
4. Silvergun Superman
5. Vasoline
6. Lounge Fly
7. Lady Picture Show
8. Sour Girl
9. Creep
10. All In The Suit That You Wear
11. Crackerman
12. Plush
13. Interstate Love Song
14. Too Cool Queenie
15. Coma
16. Down
17. Sex Type Thing
18. Sin
19. Dead And Bloated
20. Trippin’ On A Hole In A Paper Heart