“Unbelievable. Nine songs of texting. (laughs from crowd) Yes, I’m here to shame you for that because… (laughs) No seriously, I’m here to validate. We are here to validate you… Thank you for coming out tonight, supporting our little soirée. With our brothers from Stone Temple Pilots and Bush. You want some more? This one’s fun. I’m pretty amped up actually. Pretty rare for me. It’s the altitude. Must be the altitude. There you go, standing up, getting out of your seats… What’s happening? Spontaneous… It’s a spontaneous audience participation. We’re connecting as one. As one group. As one harmonic ecosystem, together. It’s fucking unbelievable. It’s fucking unbelievable!” Ian Astbury of The Cult, with a bit of a stream of consciousness revelation between songs during their set, fixed in the center of the triple headlining tour featuring STP, The Cult, and Bush called “Revolution 3 Tour”. Sometimes multiple headlining shows aren’t quite that, but in this case, after each artist, I wondered how the next could measure up. And I don’t personally follow any of the three bands. Yet somehow, I came away feeling this was the best concert yet as the Ironstone Amphitheatre Summer Concert Series nears it’s end, with just one show left to go. It was three top performances with this concert on Friday night.

What: Revolution 3 Tour
Who: Stone Temple Pilots
Who: The Cult
Who: Bush
Supporting: Suburban Paradise
Venue: Ironstone Amphitheatre at Ironstone Vineyards
Where: Murphys, California
Promoter: Richter Entertainment Group
When: August 31, 2018
Seating: (house photographer)

The show Friday night was the second to the last for Richter Entertainment Group’s Summer Concert Season at Ironstone Amphitheatre in Murphys.

Artists featured in 2018 include Toby Keith, Little Big Town, The Isley Brothers, The Commodores, The Family Stone, Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss, Counting Crows, Live, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, America, Foreigner, Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening, Queensrÿche, Culture Club, The B-52s, Tom Bailey from Thompson Twins, and more!

Richter Entertainment Group assembles an eclectic mix of musical artists, styles and genres every year, all benefiting from the state-of-the-art concert facility with top quality sound and lighting to placed each artist in the spotlight to showcase their music.

The amphitheater features traditional assigned seating in the section directly in front of the stage, with a vast area behind that is designated general admission and allows patrons to bring their own lawn chairs and blankets with an opportunity to find the best spot from which to enjoy the show.

The greater setting of Ironstone Vineyards is stunning a beautiful – one of the rare concert venues where you can show up hours early and just take in the scenery, do some wine tasting, as well as have a stellar meal.

Learn all the details about this year’s concert line-up and where to buy tickets on the official REG website at www.richtergroup.net.

In addition to the Revolution 3 Tour with Stone Temple Pilots, The Cult, and Bush, this event was also used to promote the upcoming Mayan Mayhem Music & Tattoo Festival in Cancun, and celebrity tattoo artists Ryan Ashley, Roman Abrego, Arlo and Nikki Simpson were in person at the concert Friday night, and contest winner received free tattoos.

With this Revolution 3 Tour concert, I went into it without having followed really any of the three bands, but I really loved each of their sets. It was a fantastic concert, and I was impressed with the entire production, from the performances and music to the lighting and sound. And all three bands really brought earnest enthusiasm and fun to the stage.

Suburban Paradise

Members:

Matt Grattan (vocals, guitar)
Paul Gratten (drums)
Jacob Ramirez (bass)

Suburban Paradise is a young local pop-punk band that was a supporting act special to Ironstone Amphitheatre. They put on an energetic show that had a bit of a “young Green Day” sort of vibe.

Below are some photos of Suburban Paradise performing on stage (scroll downward and photos will begin to appear – click any image to open a virtual lightroom with higher resolution versions of each photo):

Bush

Members:

Gavin Rossdale (vocals, rhythm guitar)
Robin Goodridge (drums)
Chris Traynor (lead guitar)
Corey Britz (bass)

Bush was formed in London in 1992, and already had their debut album, Sixteen Stone, out in 1994. They were one of the most successful bands in the 90s, as part of the movement of artists that really changed the sound of popular music coming out of the 80s.

I personally did not follow them, but as their set unfolded on Friday night, I realized I knew at least half of the songs by virtue of living in LA in the mid-90s and hearing their music on KROQ.

They had huge success in the U.S. with massive record sales, which funny enough I didn’t even know that they were an English band, and I guess they were much more successful in America anyway.

I read in preparation for the show that Gavin and Nigel were both Pixies fans, which makes sense that I do enjoy Bush’s music, as I’m a huge Pixies fan myself and maybe I’m subconsciously picking up on the mutual appreciation coming through in their music.

Like most bands that have been around for decades, they had parted ways at one point and them came back together for touring and new music.

Their most recent studio album was Black and White Rainbows last year.

In any event, I really enjoyed their set and it inspired me to go back and listen to some of their music.

Set List:

Machinehead
This Is War
Everything Zen
The People That We Love
Swallowed
The Sound of Winter
Come Together (The Beatles cover)
Glycerine
Little Things
Comedown

Below are some photos of Bush performing on stage (scroll downward and photos will begin to appear – click any image to open a virtual lightroom with higher resolution versions of each photo):

The Cult

Members:

Ian Astbury (vocals, guitar)
Billy Duffy (lead guitar)
John Tempesta (drums, percussion)
Grant Fitzpatrick (bass, vocals)
Damon Fox (keyboards, vocals)

The Cult were formed in England in 1983 (so have about a decade on the other two headlining bands). The band have their own unique sort of sub genre to be sure, and that has propelled their success for all these years. The two constant players have been Ian Astbury on vocals and Billy Duffy on guitar.

In a recent interview, Duffy indicated that new music will be coming, though the format was not determined. Their last studio album was 2016’s Hidden City.

I was really impressed with their performance on Friday night and would definitely like to see them again in the future.

Set List:

Wild Flower
Rain
Dark Energy
Lil’ Devil
Sweet Soul Sister
Elemental Light
She Sells Sanctuary
The Phoenix
Fire Woman
Love Removal Machine

Below are some photos of The Cult performing on stage (scroll downward and photos will begin to appear – click any image to open a virtual lightroom with higher resolution versions of each photo):

Stone Temple Pilots

Members:

Jeff Gutt (vocals)
Dean DeLeo (guitar)
Robert DeLeo (bass, backing vocals)
Eric Kretz (drums)
Jeff Gutt

I really came into this show not knowing much of anything about STP. I did remember upon reading about them about the death of their original singer (Scott Weiland) as well as their second singer (Chester Bennington, also of Linkin Park). So I give a lot of credit to the band for their perseverance.

Originally founded as Mighty Joe Young in San Diego in 1989, it would seem that the band has been solid apart from the role of singer.

STP found success with their very first album, Core, in 1992. Of course, this was right at the epicenter of when grunge became the next big thing in music. The band was quite prolific in the 90s, releasing five studio albums through 2001, and then they broke up in 2002.

The band found the current singer, Jeff Gutt, via an online audition process in 2017. Jeff Gutt was a Season 3 runner-up on the television series X Factor.

They released their seventh studio album (the first with Jeff Gutt on vocals) earlier this year, and it was their second self-titled album.

I didn’t know the backstory of the band going into the show, and the fact that I was so impressed with their set really illustrates that their new front man was a great choice for them.

Set List:

Wicked Garden
Vasoline
Big Bang Baby
Down
Big Empty
Plush
Meadow
Interstate Love Song
Roll Me Under
Dead & Bloated
Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart
Sex Type Thing

Below are some photos of Stone Temple Pilots performing on stage (scroll downward and photos will begin to appear – click any image to open a virtual lightroom with higher resolution versions of each photo):

Jason DeBord