Scott Weiland made the rock 'n' roll blooper reel earlier this week when he tripped off the stage in Cincinnati during the opening song "Crackerman."

Somehow, he didn't break anything, and somehow the vocals didn't miss a beat, prompting speculation that the Stone Temple Pilots frontman was fakin' it.

On Saturday at the First Niagara Pavilion the singer was sure-footed and ready to talk about it.

After the lead song, he put down the megaphone and said, "Quickly I would like to dispel a rumor that has spun its way around the interwebs that I am not singing the songs. There has never been a time," he said slowly and emphatically, "in the 25-plus years that I've been singing with these guys and others that I haven't not sung."

The assertion was a "travesty," he said and added, "We are a rock 'n' roll band... that performs LIVE."

That out of the way, the reunited Stone Temple Pilots went about the business of trying to keep a rowdy bunch of fans entertained with a set of 15-year hits and a new album that only a fraction of the people cared about.

It was a mixed success, partly because STP songs tend to stick to a rigid hard-rock formula -- at least the ones on this set list -- and partly because Mr. Weiland probably could have used an electronic trick or two to help on those vocals. He either didn't have the force he had in the early '90s or he wasn't high enough in the mix. At one point, a fan in the pavilion shouted, "Turn your mike on!" His face was turning red, and the veins in his neck were bulging, so he was certainly trying. (E-mails from folks on the lawn indicate they could barely hear the vocals at all).

The DeLeo brothers-- guitarist Dean and bassist Robert -- and drummer Eric Kretz had no problem cranking out the Zeppelinesque sound of STP on faves like "Wicked Garden," "Vasoline" and "Big Empty." Just as good was the grinding new single, "Between the Lines," that had Mr. Weiland chanting a chorus of "Remember when we used to take, remember when we used to take ... drugs?" (There were a number of people on hand who only had to remember the parking lot. That's a joke. Kind of.)

After a strong start, somewhere in the middle of the set, the energy sagged, under the weight of a handful of newer songs and a lackluster cover of Zep's "Dancing Days." The band also made the mistake of noodling around between songs in what proved to be momentum-crushing breaks. As for Mr. Weiland, decked out in skinny black clothes, he'll never be confused with Mr. Warmth.

"[Expletive] awful quiet tonight ... What's going on, man?" he asked late in the set.

What was going on was that STP wasn't bringing it as hard as the fans wanted it (the jury is out on whether it was technical or physical).

The band's low-key exist after "Sex Type Thing" -- before returning for the encore of "Dead and Bloated" and "Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart" -- sent too far many people to the gates.

If Stone Temple Pilots, who struggled for respect early on, are going to stake a claim as classic-rock headliners, they need to get their act together.

Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.