Stone Temple Pilots make triumphant comeback

The newly reunited Stone Temple Pilots played an intimate gig filled with their greatest hits at the Harry Houdini Estate in Los Angeles tonight (April 7).

Original members Scott Weiland, guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz performed for a largely industry crowd to launch the 65-city tour they announced last week.

Looking dapper in a dark three-piece suit and tie, Weiland quipped, "None of us will wax poetically, we'll just bash each other with guitars and mic stands."

The band, who originally formed in 1992, kicked off their set with 'Big Empty' and segued into the classic 'Plush', one of their biggest hits.

Earlier in the evening, contortionists kept the crowd entertained underneath a colourful tent on the Houdini Estate. Weiland explained that the band chose to hold the event there because they had come to the secluded Hollywood Hills mansion in the early 1990s with director Gus Van Sant to film a video and fell in love with the place.

"We're back together and we're going on tour this summer," Weiland said before announcing that Stone Temple Pilots are set to play a date at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on June 24.

The band left the stage after just six songs, and the enthusiastic crowd chanted "STP" until they re-emerged. "It's just a hand job tonight," Weiland quipped before giving the crowd one final song, 'Trippin On A Hole In A Paper Heart'.

Stone Temple Pilots played:

'Big Empty'
'Plush'
'Vasoline'
'Lady Picture Show'
'Big Bang Baby'
'Interstate Love Song'
'Trippin On A Hole In A Paper Heart'

Last week, Weiland left his latest band Velvet Revolver in a less than amicable split to reunite with Stone Temple Pilots, as previously reported.

--By our Los Angeles staff.
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