Lithium Magazine

By: Vickie Young

www.stonetemplepilots.com
www.cagetheelephant.com

On Sunday August 20th, STP ticket holders collected their money’s worth in entertainment amid four hours of endless music counting two opening acts known as Hot Hot Heat and Cage the Elephant. I wasn’t able to check out Hot Hot Heat, however I did get the chance to witness Cage the Elephant.

From the inception of “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked”, Cage the Elephant has been taking the world by storm. An offer of free downloads for one week on this tune proved to be fruitful. A group of five guys from Bowling Green Kentucky were geared up to stake their claim in Toronto. Matt Shultz lead vocalist gave the crowd an eye-popping spectacle when he hit the stage with seizure like movements, full body shakes, non-stop head bobbing, and antics reminiscent of a Tasmanian devil. It was truly shocking that the calm, soft-spoken individual I had just interviewed was now the unleashed beast I was witnessing on stage.

At first the crowd seemed unfamiliar with the music and antics of Cage, but once the band hit the familiar chords of “Aint No Rest”, fans went wild. Matt continually jumped off stage to join the crowd, at one point even putting on a fan’s baseball cap. From where I was sitting it looked hilarious to notice a string attached to Matt in an effort to reel him in when things got out of control. It’s pretty clear that he marches to the beat of his own drum.

The other band members floated around on stage, but were mostly making room for their tireless energy ball of a front man. As Cage continued to perform more fan favourites such as “In One Ear” and “Back Against the Wall”, the audience joined in the chorus while suffering the uncontrollable Ramone-like head bobbing that Cage’s sound evokes. The biggest rush of the night, and the most talked about by far, was when Matt ran and leaped into the crowd, rendering himself to the mercy of the fans. The rowdy and eager audience body-surfed him along with an eventual hike in the air to a standing position. Although fans ate this up, security appeared ready to faint. All in all, Cage made a powerful impact on the listener, that simply being: whether you love them or hate them; you’re sure as hell going to remember them.

Next up was none other than the much-anticipated STP. A man notorious for a great deal of time spent in the media spotlight, Scott Weiland entered the stage. He looked uncomfortably regal donning a white hat, red tie, vest, and shiny black shoes. It may perhaps have been in an effort to appeal to his flamboyant nature, but it appeared awkward in the midst of the rockerish style of band mates. With a megaphone in hand Weiland opened the night twirling on stage with teasers to the opener of “Crackerman”. I’m sure many were fearful of witnessing a repeat of last week’s tumble in Cincinnati, but thankfully everything went as planned.

As STP worked their way to some fan favourites such as “Vasoline” and “Heaven and Hotrods” the nostalgic crowd squealed with joy. This band is extraordinary with their technique of playing while making it look effortless.  There were a few awkward moments in which Weiland would talk, or shall I say mumble the introduction to the songs, or when he lowered to his knees and beckoned the audience to give the new material consideration. In light of his plea, the majority of the crowd’s response seemed positive towards the Core album. The songs selected from the new album yielded a polite response but far from what I assume STP had hoped for. As for the band, they rocked it out as usual. With a guitarist like Dean DeLeo it’s virtually impossible to not have great sounding riffs alongside strong bass from brother Robert. Eric sat behind a sparkling silver drum kit proudly smashing a perfect set.

The arena wasn’t at full capacity which was quite surprising, and the lighting selection was not best served to seats further back. A giant LCD screen was placed behind the band with an array of colour and blocks that reminded me of a Tetris board. There were no videos on the screen whatsoever, just a constant change in colour and design to produce a trippy effect. In fact, the only time a video was used was towards the end of their show, when Scott used a camera installed at the end of the megaphone to shoot video of the audience.

For the band’s finale, they played an encore of “Dead and Bloated” and “Trippin’ on a hole in a Paper Heart”, even still I didn’t witness extreme excitement. In the end STP played a safe and predictable set that captured the essence of their 90’s success. At the end of the day this show was a great performance of the music of yesterday. I’m sorry to say it simply didn’t stack up to a mind-blowing performance.
 
Set List
Crackerman
Wicked Garden
Vasoline
Heaven and Hotrods
Between the Lines
Hichory Dichotomy
Still Remains
Cinnamon
Big Empty
Dancing Days
Pretty Penny
Silvergun Superman
Plush
Interstate Love Song
Huckleberry Crumble
Down
Sex Type Thing

Encore
Dead and Bloated
Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart