It kinda looked like play for pay; starting nearly 45 minutes late, Stone Temple Pilots played CMAC as four musicians, not as a quartet. It wasn't tense exactly, but the interplay seemed somewhat forced. The glue that kept them together was the band's incredible catalogue. Kings of 90's rock, this band become the casualty of all the excesses and bullshit drama that makes for great music, but destroys bands.

The selection of last night's tunes was essentially a romp through the hits, as the band has nothing currently on deck. Singer Scott Weiland pranced, preened, and prowled the stage like a fabulous rock star god lady boy. You just don't see enough of that anymore. His voice sounded great -- at least, what I could make out, as the sound was complete dogshit. I split after hearing "Big Bang Baby" -- the one song I really wanted to hear -- and headed for the parking lot at the top of the hill where, remarkably, the sound was incredible. It was as if the soundman was mixing from way up there.