They played a lot of those obscure tunes with Scott over the past few years. Last years tour they constantly played Sin, Hollywood Bitch, Hickory Dichotomy, Still Remains, Meatplow, Black Again, and Tumble in the Rough. So it was not like Scott and the boys failed to dig into the deep cuts.
It tended to be the same deep cuts, though. How often is it Naked Sunday, Where the River Goes, Army Ants, Pop's Love Suicide, And So I Know, Art School Girl, Adhesive, Ride the Cliche, Seven Caged Tigers, Pruno, Church on Tuesday, No Way Out, Glide, I Got You, MC5, Dumb Love, Coma, Wonderful, Hello It's Late, Regeneration, Bi-Polar Bear, A Song For Sleeping, Long Way Home, Take A Load Off, Hazy Days, First Kiss On Mars, etc...?
I agree they threw in some deep cuts each tour, but they never went too deep. It was always the same handful. I'd like to see them be able to play half of those at any given time on a tour.
I'm sure Chester does an admirable job of covering STP. But he's no S Weiland. There's just a cool factor that Scott has that no one can replicate. I can't imagine paying to see karaoke STP.
Its obvious that the Deleos are looking to punch that clock. No wonder Scott doesn't want to be around them. They're LAZY. No drive,ambition,not willing to push that envelope. Just mooching off of Scott and the songs he created.
Here's the thing--I think the first part used to be true. But performing poorly with a 2nd-rate band is no longer cool. I though Scott was the epitome of cool in the No. 4 era. When I was in high school (Core/Purple/Tiny Music) I was obsessed with how cool he was, By 2000, a sober Scott was at the top of his game. It was less so, but still true during SLDD era.
Now, I don't find anything cool about his performances. They just aren't that good. He hasn't sounded inspired in a long time. The Christmas album was the single biggest STP-related embarrassment I can think of. Happy in Galoshes, while good, is nowhere near 12 Bar Blues.
I don't see how the last part is true. What envelope is Scott pushing? A "Purple to the Core" tour? Adding keyboards to "Do It For the Kids?" Remember, one or both of the DeLeos deserve as much credit for the hits as Scott does. There are a lot of memorable riffs, but more than that Scott writes the melodies to the music--the music inspires them. This doesn't take anything away from him. But the rest of the band is great too. I have a feeling 3 of the EP songs will find rotation once it drops (pretty common now for bands to wait and avoid bootleg recordings of new stuff). Add some deep cuts that have never been played, some hits, and you have a rock show, not a factory job you clock in for.
