It was actually 10:35 when Scott walked out shaking a pair of maracas. Things were starting to get a little hairy in the theater during the wait. A few different fights broke out and cops were called in to remove people. And word was spreading around the theater, because of some radio DJs that were there, that the show might not actually happen because Weiland was MIA. And then of course people being people started to mutter about all of the cracker houses that are on Clinton Ave, where the theater is located.
After STP played a couple of songs Scott announced that he had been stuck in traffic trying to get out of NYC. The odd bit was the whole time he was telling his story he was using an English accent. I'm kind of a sucker so I would love to believe him. I may be a bit blinded by my love for the man. Who knows?
Once they did get started it was kind of a mixed bag. Scott's vocals were hit and miss but his energy was amazing. The band, minus Kretz, all seemed to get along and goof around a bit on stage. At one point Scott tried to help Dean plug in his guitar after a change and Dean slid Scott's hand down to make him cup his genitals. Scott was really talkitive as well. He told the story about Rolling Stone magazine's article about our generation of rock being for people who thought for themselves. He told a few other stories as well but he was a little hard to understand sometimes. As Scott was leaving the stage at the end of the show he said something like "I wasn't sure about you guys earlier but you're really great". The band did end up playing until almost midnight so it was pretty much a full set.
I've seen STP many times as well as Scott solo and with VR and I know when I buy a ticket I'm kind of taking a chance but being a fan I don't mind. Most of the time the payoff is worth the wait for me. Last night the few hours wait was worth the show he put on. I haven't seen him with that much energy at any of the shows I've been to on this tour. Sadly it didn't appear to be that way for most of the other patrons. There was a lot of heckling being yelled at the stage from the area I was in and there was a steady stream of people walking out within the first half hour they were on stage. By half way through the show at least 25% of the orchestra had walked out. After the show while leaving the theater instead of hearing praise for the band all you could really hear were complaints from people.
It was really just an odd night overall. The tardiness of the show kind of set up a bad vibe in the theater. I think, and this is just my opinion, that Scott put forth a lot more effort to make up for his being late though. His energy was really kind of amazing.
