by Sean Reiter
Shoreline Amphitheatre concertgoers were treated to an exceptional night of music that saw all three bands giving their all and connecting with the audience throughout the night. Dorothy, Stone Temple Pilots and Godsmack all seemed to be truly enjoying themselves and all made a point to be overly-thankful and to genuineluy praise the Mountain View audience for being one of or the best on the tour. The night saw all three deliver powerful and memorable sets.
It was my first time seeing Dorothy in concert – even though the band has existed for over a decade. Fronted by lead singer and founder Dororthy Martin with drummer Jake Hayden, guitarist Nick Perri and bassist Brian Weaver, the band brought big song energy for entirety of their incredibly tight 40-minute set.
Lead singer Dorothy was a resurrection of the Rock Goddess – her voice combined the power of Heart’s Ann Wilson, the edginess of early Melissa Etheridge and a stage presence and elegance that brought Stevie Nicks. Dorothy’s incredible stage presence and fantastic voice combined with the band’s 100% traditional hard rock approach was refreshing in a time where so much of the genre seems to lead more into screams and growls.
The band’s energy and their stage presence connected solidly with Shoreline’s early arrivers. “This is probably the best welcome of the tour. Wow!” Dorothy exclaimed before encouraging the female audience to rise and dance with their final song. “This is called “Elevate.” Ladies – elevate your butts out of your f#$king seats!”
All in all, Dorothy had the most energetic and polished opening set I’ve seen in quite some time. On a three band bill, Dorothy firmly planted their flag with the crowd and set a high bar for those who followed.
The last time I saw Stone Temple Pilots at Shoreline Amphitheatre was at Live 105’s BFD Concert all the way back in 2000. STP reigned supreme that day with a lineup that could sell out a four-day festival even now: STP, Limp Bizkit, Third Eye Blind, Slipknot, The Offspring, Incubus, Papa Roach, Everclear, Cypress Hill, Powerman 5000, Moby and – ironically – their colleagues for Saturday’s show Godsmack. YES, that was a one-day concert (albeit with two stages) where diversity ruled and tickets cost about $35 :).
So with more than a quarter century since I last saw them take the stage in Mountain View, I was not sure what to expect from a band that still includes three original members – brothers Dean and Robert DeLeo (guitar and bass, respectively) and drummer Eric Kretz. To say that lead vocalist Jeff Gutt -who joined STP in 2017 – had big shoes to fill in replacing original lead singer Scott Weiland is an understatement. Weiland – a native to San Jose- was a mercurial, one of a kind frontman whose triumphs and troubles before his accidental overdose death in 2017 were well-documented.
As they took the stage to start their 60-minute set with “Dead & Bloated”, Gutt took the stage with the ownership of a man comfortable in his talents and his band for now nearly a decade. While there was no way to hear so many of the band’s deep catalog and not be reminded of Weiland, Gutt owned every minute of a performance that seemed to have as much or more of the power and anthemic qualities the band had at BFD so long ago.
“Wicked Garden” and “Vasoline” followed, before Gutt said “We are going to send this out to Mr. Scott Weiland – wherever he may be,” as Dean DeLeo played the iconic slide guitar intro to “Big Empty.” The set was a rapid-fire colleciton of hits with “Plush” and “Interstate Love Song” following right up after.
The band seemed to be having a blast the entire night. Kretz was all smiles behind the kit. Dean DeLeo came forward frequently to be close to the audience while Robert DeLeo struck power bass poses and frequently joined Gutt in the middle of the stage. Gutt has the vocal range to pull off the STP hits as he journeyed from the sweet and pleading to a howling anger. This band was far, far away from so many of the sourdough starter bands that tour with only one founding (or nearly founding) member. This was a band with a swagger and energy and as they wrapped up with “Sex Type Thing”, I was left me wanting new music and the chance to see them again soon.
Godsmack had heard the other bands talking about and with the crowd all night and met the roar of the crowd with equal parts energy and appreciation. Lead singer and co-founder Sully Erna called it out early on, telling the Shoreline audience early in the night “They said wait until you get up to Northern California. They aren’t like L.A. And you have already whipped their ass!”
Erna frequently addressed the audience in an earnest manner, “I have no script. I’m just speaking with you from the heart. The difference between our band and some of the new school is that we are four dudes who play their own instruments without computers or clicks. So, you are gonna’ hears some God awful mistakes. But that’s how it goes..”
Later, Erna held up a well-worn guitar covered in stickers.”I bought this guitar at a pawn shop and this guitar player our whole first album” and with that he took the band back to the first album with Awake and a few songs later “Keep Away” off their debut self-titled album.When the band went into “Voodoo” the occult graphics and rhythms set a cool and eerie vibe across Shoreline.
The drum battle that followed Voodoo – referred to as “Batalla de los tambores” was equal parts John Bonham and Grateful Dead as a second kit came out front for Erna to play across from accomplished drummer Mike Mangini, who has previously played with Dream Theater, Extreme and others. Godsmack could win a prize for the most joyous hard rock band out there and the drum battle saw wide smiles from Erna and Mangini throughout, as well as guitarist Sam Koltun and founding bassist Robbie Merrill as they looked on.
Before going into “Whatever”, Erna asked for phones to be put away and for the audience to be present. He dind’t wail against technology, but rather challenged its place. “No matter how good technology gets, you are never going to be able to replicate the energy of a live show through a machine.”
True to the spirit of the night, Godsmack finished their set with a high octane version of Joe Walsh’s “Rocky Mountain Way” before a three song encore that included an acoustic “Under Your Scars”, “Bulletproof” and a closing “I Stand Alone”. It brought to close a memorable and thoroughly impressive concert from all three bands of “The Rise of Rock World Tour 2026” on one of the year’s last Summer nights.
