Stone Temple Pilots Bring Grunge-Fueled Nostalgia to Honda Center
Stone Temple Pilots (STP) walked into Honda Center on September 17th with one mission: to remind Orange County, California, why their songs have never left the Rock conversation. As part of Godsmack’s ‘The Rise of Rock’ Tour, Stone Temple Pilots delivered a tightly packed, hit-heavy set before the headliners took the stage. The tour brings together three generations of rock energy, with Dorothy, Stone Temple Pilots and Godsmack sharing the bill across North America. From the moment STP hit the stage, the room knew exactly what was coming. “Anaheim, you’re beautiful! Are you fucking ready?” the band called out, immediately turning the Honda Center into a sea of raised hands and screaming fans.
The opening track, ‘Dead & Bloated,’ launched the set with the kind of unmistakable guitar-driven intensity that has defined Stone Temple Pilots for decades. There was no easing into the night. The band went straight for the jugular. STP's Honda Center set was essentially a greatest-hits sprint through some of the band's most recognizable material. The 12-song set pulled heavily from the albums that established the band's place in Alternative and Hard Rock history.
Their show moved through these songs:
Dead & Bloated
Wicked Garden
Vasoline
Big Bang Baby
Down
Silvergun Superman
Big Empty
Plush
Interstate Love Song
Crackerman
Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart
Sex Type Thing
STP also reminded the Orange County crowd that they were almost home as the California stretch of the tour continued. The timing couldn't have been better. Stone Temple Pilots had just delivered a concentrated dose of '90s and Alternative-Rock nostalgia, setting the stage for Godsmack to take the arena into a much heavier second half of the night. Stone Temple Pilots brought the Alternative-Rock catalog that helped define the '90s. And STP's performance made one thing clear: the songs still hit. When the first chords of “Plush,” “Interstate Love Song” or “Vasoline” explode inside an arena, the years between the original recordings and tonight's performance seem to disappear. For one night at Honda Center, Anaheim didn't just remember the '90s. It lived them again.
Coverage by Veronica Potes // Instagram: @veropoteart
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