Velvet Revolver
By KEVIN C. JOHNSON
Post-Dispatch Pop Music Critic
05/14/2004

The buzz at the Pageant on Thursday night felt
unprecedented - and probably was. 

The evening marked the first date of the virgin tour
of Velvet Revolver, a new supergroup bringing together
Stone Temple Pilots' beleaguered lead singer Scott
Weiland and an Axl Rose-less Guns N' Roses. 

Anticipation over this old-but-new outfit was such
that the band's kickoff show here was a rapid sellout,
and for good reason. 

A fully loaded Velvet Revolver fired off a set of
explosive songs from its upcoming CD "Contraband"
while treating the enthusiastic crowd to tunes from
the Stone Temple Pilots and Guns N' Roses vaults. 

"Let's hear it for rock 'n' roll. I'm talking about
(expletive) American rock 'n' roll," an impossibly
lithe Weiland (has he ever been this skinny?) said at
one point before he attacked several strains of new
rock. "This is good old blues-based rock 'n' roll." 

It was just rock, no other label needed, and that was
part of its joy. Weiland, guitarist Dave Kushner and
the former Guns N' Roses members - guitarist Slash,
bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum - and came
prepared and ready to rock out during the nonstop
80-minute set. They seamlessly blended the best of
both of their former, faded bands despite some
overbearing fuzziness in the sound mix early on. 

Not to take anything away from the players, who
excelled, but the magnetic Weiland was the star of the
show. He was entirely watchable throughout, from the
moment he took the stage wearing something that looked
as if it were borrowed from the closet of the Village
People's police officer character, though it didn't
take him long to ditch the hat and jacket and go
bare-chested. Weiland, still a true showman, featured
a number of slippery, exaggerated moves. He had a way
of allowing his shoulders to lead the way as he darted
around the stage as though he were bouncing off the
bumpers in a pinball machine. 

Among his stunts were singing into a megaphone,
performing atop a drink rail, nearly seducing Slash
during one of the guitarist's solos and diving into
the crowd, resulting in the loss of a pair of ear
monitors (he tried to bribe whoever was holding out on
the equipment). If there was any question about
Weiland's performance, it was, "Axl who?" 

Songs such as Stone Temple Pilots' "Sex Type Thing"
and "Crackerman" and Guns N' Roses' "Used to Love Her"
- introduced by Slash as "a little number you might or
might not remember" - "It's So Easy" and "Mr.
Brownstone" were easy and obvious crowd-pleasers, and
fitting for the evening. But what was even more
impressive was how the band managed to engage the
crowd with material it had never heard before, such as
"Do It for the Kids," "Big Machine" and "Fall to
Pieces," which Weiland said he wrote after nearly
losing his wife. 

Fans were familiar with "Slither," the first single
from "Contraband," and "Set Me Free," which came from
"The Hulk" soundtrack. 

Something special transpired onstage, and Velvet
Revolver knew it. 

"What you see, you won't see again, not like this, not
in this place," Weiland advised. His words suggested
Velvet Revolver's venue choices will grow
substantially from here, and there's no reason to
doubt him. 

Philadelphia rock band Silvertide opened the evening
with a set of old-school rock from its "Show and Tell"
CD. 

Critic Kevin C. Johnson 
E-mail: kjohnson@post-dispatch.com 
Phone: 314-340-8191