The Stone Temple Pilots played for nearly two hours at a secret show at the House of Blues in Las Vegas on Thursday night.

The gig marked the third surprise club appearance this year for STP. In March, the band reconvened for a special show at the Viper Room in Los Angeles for the first time in almost two years. And in July, the four members played seven songs during a last-minute performance at the Dragonfly club in Hollywood.

A much rumored performance at Woodstock never did materialize, and appearances at the Save Tibet concert in Atlanta and at the subsequently canceled overseas version of Ozzfest were also nixed. Most of a summer tour was canceled following singer Scott Weiland's arrest on drug charges (see [article id="1434666"]"Scott Weiland Arrested In Heroin Bust"[/article]).

The Las Vegas concert was the first of three surprise "Blind Date" shows open only to contest winners; the other two are scheduled for Chicago in September and Dublin on New

Years Eve. The 800 winners are only told they'll be seeing a major artist in a small venue. Organizers attempt to maintain a veil of secrecy until the curtain goes up the night of the show.

As for STP, the group recently completed mixing its upcoming album (see [article id="1434655"]"Stone Temple Pilots Finish Work On 'No. 4'"[/article]).