"2019 OC Bikefest"
Ocean City Inlet, Ocean City, Md.
Saturday, September 14, 2019

As the 2019 OC Bikefest rolled into town on a picture-perfect weather weekend and the bikers were fueling up their bikes, I decided to join them at one of our local gas stations; not for fuel but for air for mine. I grabbed the air-pump and filled up my Trek bicycle and headed on down the boardwalk to the show.

As every local knows, this is set up in our downtown inlet parking lot which stages our Springfest in May and Sunfest the week after Bikefest. With all the food vendors, merchandise tents, beer gardens, and all the live outdoor music on the outdoor stage as well as the indoor stage, this was just a spectacular weekend.

When I walked through the main gate, I noticed this place was packed, the atmosphere was right and people were lined up at every booth that was available. I knew this was going to be a great night of rock n’ roll.

The band took the stage at 6:30 pm with Dan DeLeo on guitar, Robert DeLeo on bass guitar, Eric Kretz on drums and new lead singer Jeff Gutt handling the vocals. The band is on tour this year celebrating the 25th anniversary of their 1994 multi-platinum album Purple. Their 90-minute, 16-song set drew most of the songs from that Purple album and their debut album Core, with a few others thrown in. The band opened with "Silvergun Superman", "Wicked Garden", and my all-time favorite STP song "Vasoline". It was rockin' inside the entertainment tent now and everyone seemed to be singing the songs word for word and with that funny smell waffling through the ocean breeze air, it was a thumbs-up crowd rolling at 100 mph. Lead singer Gutt takes a little break to address the crowd by saying, "we are Stone Temple Pilots, let's get this party started." That said, the band went into "Crackerman", "Meatplow" and "Big Bang Baby", off of their third album Tiny Music...Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop which got a thunderous applause from the crowd as, once again, they sang along word for word. With Gutt running all over the stage and playing to the crowd, on the next song, "Glide", from their fourth album titled No. 4, Gutt hops down into the photo pit and roams side to side giving all fans in his way high-fives. As he makes his way back to the stage, lead guitarist Dan Deleo grabs the mic and says to the crowd, " You have a very cool place here", and he is looking out the tent at the beach as he adds, "You even have police officers on horseback on the beach; good evening officers". Next up is "Big Empty" and "Plush" before they play "Meadow"  from their latest and seventh studio album recorded with Jeff Gutt titled Stone Temple Pilots released on March 6, 2018. Gutt starts to sing another crowd favorite, "Interstate Love Song", and he decides to jump back into the photo pit. With help from band security, he’s over the barricade, walking through the crowd and once again high-fiving all in his path, all the way to the back of the tent. After making his way back to the stage, the band rounded out their first set with two mega-hits, "Dead and Bloated" and "Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart".

After a short break the band returns and opens with "Piece of Pie" and closes the night with "Sex Type Thing." Drummer Eric Kretz joins the other three band members at the front of the stage to give their bows and waves goodbye while throwing guitar picks and drumsticks before exiting the stage.

Sad to say they are not touring anywhere close by but you can keep checking for later dates at their website stonetemplepilots.com

­– Gary Crouthamel, concert photo journalist