Stone Temple Pilots Thrill the Chicago Burbs with Sold-Out Performance

Jan 20

By Christopher David

Chicago’s north suburbs were treated to ‘90s alt-rock royalty on Saturday when none other than Stone Temple Pilots hit the Genesee Theater for a 90-minute set that showcased the band’s historic legacy to a sold-out house.

Opening with the snaky, thrashing “Unglued” from 1994’s Purple, guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo, and drummer Eric Kretz got things going with no frills or fanfare as vocalist Jeff Gutt slinked onstage wearing a pair of wraparound shades. Taking over vocal duties for a band with a decades-long legacy and fanbase is undoubtedly a special kind of challenge, but Gutt, who joined STP in 2017 following the death of original vocalist Scott Weiland in 2015, more than held his own as a frontman, swaggering and shimmying his way through massive, singalong hits like “Plush,” “Interstate Love Song,” and the epic “Big Empty.”

“Let me hear your voices!” Gutt shouted at one point, and the capacity crowd responded in kind, belting out the choruses to “Dead & Bloated” and “Vaseline” and going ballistic as Gutt hopped offstage and strolled through the crowd, high-fiving his way through “Down” before returning to the stage. While tunes from 2018’s solid, self-titled comeback record and 2020’s acoustic Perdida were conspicuously absent, it would have been tough for any fan to argue a setlist so stacked with hits.

It’s a rarity for a band to be able to bounce back after losing an iconic member, but it does happen, and when it does, it’s a pleasure to see—consider Alice in Chains, with William DuVall having taken over for the late Layne Staley in 2006, a move that led to the band releasing three more stellar records without having to change up their style one lick, and look at where AC/DC went following the death of Bon Scott. Stone Temple Pilots have pulled off such a hat trick, and Saturday’s show proved beyond doubt that they still have the goods to deliver.