I'm brand new to posting here, but have been checking this site out for a few weeks - after soon learning of the STP reunion back in early April. First off - love the site.
STP has been my favorite 90s band ever since Sex Type Thing hit MTV as a breakthrough video in 1992-93. I've seen them live 4 times (Rolling Rock Town Fair 2.0 performance was the best concert experience I've ever had, literally) - and I am planning on seeing them 3 times on this upcoming tour.
Honestly, I was chomping at the bit for weeks about this Kimmel performance. I saw most of the Houdini performance online, and was happy to see that they're breaking out some of the lesser-heard material right from the get-go (like Lady Picture Show, even Big Bang Baby wasn't much of a live staple after the Tiny Music Tour).
I think I'm somewhere in the middle of the road regarding Weiland's performance on Kimmel. Clearly, he wasn't the madman ripping up the stage with pin-point vocal accuracy that we've seen in the past. But to be fair, I think that would have been expecting A LOT to see an in-his-prime Weiland considering that this was only their 2nd live performance since having been broken up for a good 5 years now.
Yes, he looked a little out of sorts and didn't demonstrate the on-stage charisma we've seen in the glory days. And yes, his vocals weren't spot-on 100 percent of the time (he was straining a bit during 'Trippin'). I also saw the Silvergun Superman vid that was just put up on youtube this morning - and you could clearly hear his voice crack toward the end, right around the time Dean's solo kicks in.
But after re-watching the performances a few times - it made me realize how HIGH the bar has been set for these guys. I love STP for many reasons - one of the biggest ones is the fact that they truly are a unique, special experience in a live-show setting. They are the ultimate band's band. Seeing them live is truly a fantastic experience, and it might be easy to take for granted how lucky we as huge STP fans are for having been able to see some amazing performances from them. By most standards, an average or sub-par STP live show is still WAY better than most of what you're going to see from what else is out there right now.
So yes - the Kimmel show wasn't this otherworldly return to glory. There was no bare-chested Weiland owning the stage, there were no megaphone theatrics. But it was just like - Here these guys are again, reunited, getting used to each other. When the tour starts, it'll be on like that - ready to rock. But this was almost more like a testing-the-waters thing. I think to expect much more than that from it is to miss the point of what it was about. They're putting themselves back there into the limelight again. The goal here, I don't believe, was for them to put on a live show to shred all other live shows. I mean honestly, most non-hardcore STP fans didn't even know about this performance, and it aired late at night for people in most time zones.
Having said all that, I can understand the criticism about Weiland seeming a little out of sorts. I leave possible explanations of that up to what's already been proposed in this thread (i.e. possible sickness, just getting reacquainted with his bandmates, having to serve jail time, a rigorous schedule of events like recording solo album, getting kicked out of VR, committing to a 65-date tour with his old band). I mean, this is A LOT to put up with - for anybody (let alone somebody who has battled drug addiction for over a decade). And these guys have aged 7 or 8 years since they were in their prime tearing it up. Let's give the benefit of the doubt. All in all, still a pretty damn good performance. I'm just thrilled they're actually together again, and hope it lasts this time - at least for a while.
