Advertisement

'This is like a childhood dream, man': Collective Soul, Stone Temple Pilots get the Packers party started early at Lambeau

Kendra Meinert, Green Bay Press-Gazette
·4 min read

GREEN BAY - It didn’t take a coin toss in the middle of the field or an NFL referee to see it was the right call to have Collective Soul take the stage ahead of Stone Temple Pilots on Saturday.

The Green Bay Packers’ free Kickoff Weekend concert was officially a double bill, with each band playing a 75-minute set outside Lambeau Field, but Collective Soul and frontman Ed Roland’s musings were a better fit for the more mellow daytime energy at the 5 p.m. start before STP stepped on the gas after dark.

Whether people came to see one band or the other or both — or just happened to be in the neighborhood ahead of Sunday’s home opener against the New Orleans Saints — they certainly turned out. A sprawling crowd, some with lawn chairs, some with kids and nearly everyone with a beverage in hand, filled a huge chunk of the parking lot on the west side of the stadium on a perfect first day of autumn.

“I only see a sea of people,” said WIXX-FM on-air personality and emcee Huggie between acts.

Even STP, whose next gig is in Mexico, seemed impressed by the mighty river of people that flowed out before them, bordered on one side by the stadium and on the other by the lights of the Titletown District across Ridge Road.

“What do you think, Robert?” guitarist Dean DeLeo said to his younger brother, who plays bass in the band. “Lambeau Field, man. Wow. God bless America.

“This is like a childhood dream, man. Ever since that (expletive) Ice Bowl, man," he said. "It’s an honor to be here in front of all of you — truly, truly. Thanks for having us at your party.”

Ed Roland, lead singer of Collective Soul, performs during the Green Bay Packers' Kickoff Weekend concert on Saturday outside Lambeau Field. He ditched the hat and donned a Packers jersey later in the set.
Ed Roland, lead singer of Collective Soul, performs during the Green Bay Packers' Kickoff Weekend concert on Saturday outside Lambeau Field. He ditched the hat and donned a Packers jersey later in the set.

Collective Soul “Cut the Cord” off its 2022 album “Vibrating” to start the concert before giving fans their first ’90s fix with “Heavy” and “Shine."

While previous Kickoff Weekend performers like Jake Owen, Train and Big & Rich have embraced all the football festiveness of the occasion with everything from launching T-shirts into the crowd to silly cheese curd banter to “Margaritaville” sing-alongs, Collective Soul went with a more straight-forward approach. Less pep rally, more performance — although you could make the argument that Roland's trippy hat was far more fun than your standard foam cheese wedge.

The quintet was down one Roland brother; rhythm guitarist Dean Roland was absent. Ed Roland told a story about how the band recorded its forthcoming double album at Elvis Presley’s home in Palm Springs, California, before treating fans to two of the new songs. He talked of the band’s influences growing up in Georgia, from Little Richard to The Allman Brothers Band, and then slid in R.E.M.’s “The One I Love.”

It was all great stuff for diehard fans of the band but sometimes seemingly at the cost of momentum for the more casual crowd as a whole that was jonesing for the familiar alt-rock riffs of “December” and “The World I Know.”

The band is pulling double duty. They'll perform the national anthem Sunday for the game.

Dean DeLeo, left, and Jeff Gutt of Stone Temple Pilots lean into during the Green Bay Packers' Kickoff Weekend concert on Saturday night outside Lambeau Field.
Dean DeLeo, left, and Jeff Gutt of Stone Temple Pilots lean into during the Green Bay Packers' Kickoff Weekend concert on Saturday night outside Lambeau Field.

More home opener coverage: Lambeau Field things to know for 1st home game: First, update Green Bay Packers app on your phone

STP lead singer Jeff Gutt asked the crowd how many people were going to the game and figured it looked to be about half.

“Hey, I’m from Detroit and I’m going to the game tomorrow. Don’t hold it against me,” he said.

It was full throttle from STP the moment he came out wearing a No. 15 Bart Starr jersey and unleashed “Wicked Garden” and “Big Bang Baby,” firing up the crowd by learning over the stage for high fives and grabbing someone’s phone to shoot video. “Plush” and “Dead & Bloated” got big swells of grunge love from the crowd, but it was the sound of “Interstate Love Song” swirling around on a late September breeze outside Lambeau that best captured the eve of the home opener and "waiting on a Sunday afternoon."

SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM: Our subscribers make this coverage possible. Click to see the Green Bay Press Gazette's special offers at greenbaypressgazette.com/subscribe and download our app on the App Store or Google Play.

Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @KendraMeinert. 

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Stone Temple Pilots, Collective Soul get Packers party started early