It was minutes before Stone Temple Pilots took the stage for their maiden show in Singapore, and the audience were getting agitated.
Emcee-comedian Sugar Sammy was suspiciously missing, and the crowd was anticipating some bad news.
"Come on Sammy. Tell us the truth!" shouted one fan in the mosh pit. His worry was understandable as about 30 minutes had passed since the band's opening act, I Am Giant finished their set.
A rather sheepish Sammy did come out, but was greeted with boos.
It was a pity considering he floored the audience with his sarcastic
brand of humour at the beginning of the night's show.
Stone Temple Pilots, the band did not disappoint once they took the stage.
The Californian quartet were underdogs of the Grunge era of the 1990s, at first not being able to be pegged into any definition of grunge music .
The band blossomed into their own unique sound by their third album, Tiny Music Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop in 1996.
The headlining gig in the two-night Big Night Out Singapore 2011, organised by LAMC Productions was their maiden show in Singapore. However, their rigour on stage was nothing close to amateurish.
They let it rip through an 90 minute set of straight forward hard rock, and the 2,000 souls in the Singapore Indoor Stadium lapped it up with much joy.
Guitarist Dean DeLeo's ferocious riffs, moved from trippy grunge distortion, psychedelic high notes reminiscent of Led Zeppelin and twangy country rock.
These bombastic adjectives pretty much describe the music of Stone Temple
Pilots', who are often referred to as STP.
Critics used to slam them for being clones of Pearl Jam and Nirvana during the Grunge era of the 1990s, while some of their previous tours suffered following vocalist Scott Weiland on-going recovery from drug addiction.
Looking back at their work since debuting 19 years, it is obvious they were underdogs of the Grunge clique, at first struggling to fit in, but later blossoming into their own sound by their third album, Tiny Music...Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop in 1996.
Vocalist Scott Weiland, decked in wide hat, scarf, jacket and patterned shirt evoked one of his many glam personas. He cocked his head like a rooster, something similar to Mick Jagger stage antics.
And despite his haggard demenour that night, Weiland still did the spider-like dance he often does whenever he croons.
The first track they performed was Crackerman, from their debut album Core in 1992. The album is a homage to metal done in a grunge flavour, and that song is among their favourites at concerts.
The song moved without a glitch on to Vasoline from the band's 1994 second
album, Purple.
They moved on to Heavens and Hot Rods from their 1999 album No. 4., before Wicked Garden from Core.
The crowd was pleased with the testosterone-laden rock and responded with head banging, and punk pgo-ing. Mind you, these were guys and girls in their 30s and 40s, but age did not stop them from having a good time.
Their adoration continued into the fourth song when STP delved into their
latest self-titled album from last year.
Between The Lines had a catchy melody paired with confessional lyrics.
"You were always my favourite drug, even when we used to take drugs," Weiland sang.
Hickory Dichotomy was another song from the same album, but it sounded a bit too similar to the previous song to be memorable.
The quartet took it down a notch when they played Big Empty, a song that was featured in Purple and soundtrack to the Crow.
The dramatic ballad moves up and down from low sighs to big husky choruses made for first pumping in the air.
By this point, the lack of rapport between Weiland and the audience indicated the singer may have not been too pleased with the lackluster attendance.
When doors opened earlier, many audience members were shocked to see many
empty seats. Even the free standing spots only started filling up when the band came on. But Weiland and his mates- drummer Eric Kretz, guitarist Dean DeLeo and bassist Robert DeLeo put out a good show, nevertheless.
Maybe Weiland preferred to talk less and let the music speak for itself.
"Thank you for coming. It's a special night for us," Weiland said.
When their most popular hit, Plush, which won them a Grammy and MTV Video
Music Award in 1993 came on, the crowd began body surfing.
Well, actually it was only courtest of one heavy shaven-head man in his 30s.
Several big-sized bouncer guys had to carry him out from the mosh pit. But several moments later, he returned.
The band continued with a string of hits such as Interstate Love Song, Still Remains, Down, Trippin' On a Hole In A Paper Heart and Meatplow, Silvergun Superman.
For the encore, Weiland brought out the loud hailer- another common feature in STP shows - to do the voices in Dead and Bloated.
By that time, the fans were grateful for the rocking good time.