2026 Tour Update:

A San Diego Homecoming – Stone Temple Pilots return to San Diego, a city they once called home, on Sept. 15 for The Rise of Rock World Tour San Diego.

Decades after they first lived and performed locally, Stone Temple Pilots are returning to their original stomping grounds! On Sept. 15, frontman Jeff Gutt, the DeLeo brothers, and Eric Kretz will take the stage at the North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre in Chula Vista for The Rise of Rock World Tour San Diego.

Co-headlining with their longtime tour mates Godsmack (and opener Dorothy), the show may feel like something of a homecoming. Many people mistakenly think of STP as an L.A. band, forgetting or not knowing that they got their start in San Diego.

Read my original, updated post below in which the band talks about their connection with San Diego, including references to Torrey Pines, Coronado, Point Loma, The Casbah and other places that are part of STP’s origin story.

Swing back to 1989.

A glam band by the name of Mighty Joe Young that calls San Diego home is playing local spots like the Casbah and SOMA.

But glam is on its way out and grunge on its way in.

And so, in 1992, Mighty Joe Young rebrand themselves as Stone Temple Pilots, or STP, a quasi-grunge band fronted by the mercurial and talented Scott Weiland, and are signed by Atlantic Records.

STP would go on to become one of the most successful bands of the 1990s, selling more than 18 million albums in the U.S. and 35 million worldwide. “Interstate Love Song” is regarded by many as one of the best songs of the 1990s; in 2009, VHI ranked it 58th on its list of all-time best hard rock songs.

Decades after releasing these tracks, the band is still playing them live on the Stone Temple Pilots San Diego 2026 tour stop. This is good San Diego news! Did you know San Diego plays a starring role in STP’s origin story? And yet, mainstream San Diego news largely ignored them. Although none of the members of the band were born or raised in San Diego, their connection to the city is unmistakable. References in the San Diego news media include a San Diego Reader story noting that Weiland and guitarist Dean DeLeo were living in Point Loma.

Writing upon Weiland’s death, the UT’s George Varga referred to Weiland as a “former Coronado resident” who lived “almost incognito in Coronado.” In a conversation with San Diego DJ Chris Cantore, DeLeo spoke of his time in San Diego: “I really dug being outdoors…amazing hikes around Torrey Pines and the cliffs.”

Left their heart in San Diego

What is clear is that Mighty Joe Young/STP identified with San Diego and spent a good amount of time living and performing here before they bolted for Los Angeles around 1992. In an interview on FM 105.3, STP drummer Scott Kretz recalls when the band was splitting its time between San Diego and Los Angeles, noting how different it was playing in San Diego:

“Down in San Diego it was a way more friendly, musician-loving vibe where, not only do a lot of people show up, but the club owners would actually pay us and feed us and give us beer. Hollywood is really tough because even with the pay-to-play thing.” The band had a good following here and they felt appreciated. Even when Kretz lived in L.A., he identified as a San Diegan.

Weiland was fired by the band in 2013 and replaced by Linkin Park’s frontman Chester Bennington until 2015, the same year that Weiland, only 48, died of a drug overdose. Bennington, only 41, died of suicide in 2017, the same year that Jeff Gutt would be named STP’s new singer, which he remains to this day.

The band has had its share of critics too. Some regarded them as a grunge rip-off. Others claimed they were bad for the San Diego music scene. The thinking was that, because of all the attention STP received, they were essentially stealing the limelight from other, more worthy bands. The rock music intelligentsia took some pride in knocking and mocking the band, especially Weiland, unjustifiably so, I would argue.

And yet ten years after Weiland’s death, STP continues to tour around the world and sell out concerts. And while some bands blow off San Diego for L.A., STP always comes home to play in front of their once-adopted home of San Diego. They last played here in 2023 at North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre.  

Here’s their official video for the song “Wicked Garden,” the live portions of which were filmed at SOMA in downtown San Diego, back in the day.

STP concert Chula Vista details are HERE – STP tour setlist HERE.

Editor’s Note: Check out “Tom Waits Serenades San Diego.”

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