Hole, Stone Temple Pilots, Devo Lead Nostalgic Weenie Roast in L.A.

Posted on Jun 6th 2010 1:00PM by Steve Baltin
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L.A.'s KROQ held its annual Weenie Roast on Saturday, June 5. As is usually the case with the influential station, this year's lineup reflected the current trends in alternative music. What did we learn from the 2010 Weenie Roast? Well, as Courtney Love told Spinner back in December, the '90s are back in vogue. The sold-out show at Irvine's Verizon Amphitheater featured a triple shot of the grunge decade, with Sublime With Rome, Stone Temple Pilots and Hole closing out the day-long fest.

The day began with a side stage anchored by the resurgent Deftones, who had fans sweltering in the SoCal June heat, moshing in front to their thunderous riffs after some early technical difficulties were rectified. Fans also packed the asphalt to hear a strong set from Against Me!, as well as Temper Trap, Passion Pit and others.

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The main stage lineup was a tale of two decades, starting off with the current music scene. Silversun Pickups frontman Brian Aubert joked, "We like to think we're closing out the current portion of the show." Actually, that honor went to Paramore, who followed the Dirty Heads. They in turn were followed by Cage The Elephant, Spoon, and a rocking SSPU, who closed their half-hour set with 'Panic Switch,' which ended with a beautiful extended guitar fade/segue into 'Lazy Eye.'

Paramore, playing their first Weenie Roast, delivered a crowd-pleasing set, with an energetic Hayley Williams -- wearing a yellow tank top with "Security" written across it in black ink -- jumping around the stage as they opened with a rocking 'Ignorance.' That set the tone for their upbeat fest of alterna-pop.

Sandwiched between the current decade and the '90s was Devo, who served as a perfect bridge between old and new, mixing vintage Devo songs like 'Girl U Want' and 'Peek-A-Boo' with new material like 'Fresh.'

Talking to Spinner during the day, Aubert commented that a lot of people in the audience never got to hear a lot of the '90s chestnuts live, but based on the crowd response, many were clearly revisiting their youth. The 20,000-strong crowd went craziest for anything that brough tthem back to days of Kurt Cobain, Bill Clinton and Wall Street's boom era.

STP, led by an obviously jovial Scott Weiland, satisfied the crowd's wistful thirst, mixing in only a few new songs, like 'Between the Lines,' with an array of their '90s alternative radio staples. With each opening chord, the crowd responded in kind. Sublime With Rome, basking in their current success -- and about to hit the road with Matisyahu and the Dirty Heads -- also gave the crowd what they wanted, letting them sing along to songs most either grew up on, or partied their brains out to in college.

Just whipping out the '90s hits would've also been the easy thing for Hole to do. But that's not Courtney Love. Opening with their cover of 'Sympathy for the Devil,' which segued into the new album's 'Skinny Little Bitch,' a smiling Love engaged the crowd at every turn. At one point she yelled "F--k you" at the audience, exhorting them to yell it back to her at the count of three. She also introduced 'Malibu' by saying: "This is a song about a f--king city that won't give me the keys and doesn't even want me there."

Love was clearly at her provocative best. In a set filled with other musical highlights, such as her cover of Big Star's '13,' a lovely 'Pacific Coast Highway,' from 'Nobody's Daughter,' and 'Doll Parts,' also came a declaration that she is the "best f--k in the world." She also clarified -- referencing the debate over Hole's new lineup -- that she thought of the name Hole in 1984, so she owns it. "This is Hole," she said, gesturing to the stage.

Most ate up her bravado, as evidenced by the thunderous applause at the end of the set. But even those that didn't were riveted. A guy sitting close to Spinner yelled, "F--k you, Courtney," as she left the stage, but that same guy had never taken his eyes off the giant video screen during her 30 minutes.