STP Plays With Renewed Commitment

After being hamstrung by singer Scott Weiland’s drug-related legal and health problems, Stone Temple Pilots made a strong, belated Los Angeles concert appearance to promote their new album . . .

Wait. Haven’t we done this before?

Indeed, in 1996, the DeLeo brothers (guitarist Dean and bassist Rob) and drummer Eric Kretz, having waited out Weiland’s court-ordered drug addiction treatment, reconvened with the singer at the Universal Amphitheatre in a show that revealed the blossoming of the frontman’s dynamics and the band’s versatile power.

So it was again in the band’s first full L.A. concert since then, a “surprise� show at the House of Blues on Wednesday. Weiland, who spent much of last year in jail and rehab, was even more commanding via a heavily Bowie-esque appearance and manner. The three players pounded out hard-rock crunch, tempered by delicate acoustic segments. And, where in ’96 the DeLeos and Kretz barely interacted with Weiland, Wednesday’s set was marked by playfulness and a renewed aura of commitment.

It’s hard to say whether they can spur momentum for last year’s “No. 4,� which has sold fewer than 500,000 copies, as compared to a total of 10 million for the three previous albums. But STP did make a strong case for its body of work Wednesday, evoking not the ‘90s grunge with which the band was lumped, but earlier rock traditions: the ‘60s of the Doors (with Doors guitarist Robby Krieger joining on an encore of “Roadhouse Blues�), the ‘70s of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and the ‘80s of Metallica and Guns ‘N Roses.

There’s a bit of a classic-rock jukebox impression stylistically, but the GNR-Nirvana hybrid “Sex Type Thing,� the lovely acoustic rendering of “Interstate Love Song� and even the recent pummeling “Down� came off as rock radio classics in their own right.

All in all an encouraging welcome back--but hey, Scott, let’s not do this another time. OK?