Stone Temple Pilots @ ICC Sydney Theatre: Live Review

1990s rockers Stone Temple Pilots returned to Australia to celebrate the 30th anniversary of arguably their greatest album, Purple. The group’s multi-platinum masterpiece was released on 7 June 1994 and was the highly anticipated follow-up to the Grammy Award-winning debut, Core.

The hard-hitting Core was an outstanding album that got people’s attention and Purple only cemented them as one of the greatest acts of the 1990s. Mixing grunge with psychedelic rock and blues, the album debuted at #1 in the USA and sold over six million copies and remains a firm fan-favourite today.

To honour its 30th anniversary, Stone Temple Pilots hit up ICC Sydney Theatre on 28 February 2025 to perform the album in its entirety. But before they hit the stage, Sydney’s very own Wolfmother warmed up the crowd in support.

Wolfmother have been going strong for over two decades and first took the world by storm with their 1970s-inspired 2005 self-titled debut album. The album was an absolute corker and it’s no surprise to see it feature prominently in their setlist. Kicking off with one of their oldest songs, ‘Dimension’, they also belted out other highlights from the album including ‘Woman’, ‘Apple Tree’, ‘White Unicorn’, ‘Vagabond’ and finished the set with their biggest hit, ‘Joker & The Thief’, to rounds of applause.

While Wolfmother’s vocalist Andrew Stockdale remains as their only remaining original member, Stone Temple Pilots founding members – guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz – are without theirs after the sad passing of Scott Weiland back in 2015. Jeff Gutt has been fronting the band since 2017 and brings a similar energy to the flamboyant former frontman.

With the crowd warmed up after Wolfmother’s rocking set, Stone Temple Pilots hit the stage to the delight of waiting fans. They got straight to business kicking off with the classic ‘Meatplow’ before one of the album’s big singles, ‘Vasoline’ got the audience amped up in preparation for what was to follow.

Highlights included ‘Big Empty’ (the album’s first single that also appeared on the The Crow soundtrack), ‘Silvergun Superman’ (one of the album’s hidden gems) and of course ‘Interstate Love Song’ which was one of the band’s biggest hits and had the crowd singing along in unison.

The foursome put on a high energy show with vocalist Jeff Gutt bouncing around the stage in a similar way to Scott Weiland and totally nailing the vocal duties. In a tribute to Weiland, he even dedicated ‘Still Remains’ to him which was nice to see.

But the night wasn’t just a celebration of Purple. At the conclusion of ‘Kitchenware & Candybars’, the band then launched into five standouts from the Core album. Kicking off with the popular ‘Wicked Garden’, they then belted out fan-favourite ‘Plush’ which got one of the biggest cheers of the night. The crowd got right into it singing along to every word before they closed the show with belters – ‘Dead & Bloated’ and ‘Sex Type Thing’ – ensuring the night would end on an absolute high.

Stone Temple Pilots put on an incredible show and gave fans a memorable night where they got to relive some of the greatest music of the 1990s. The band truly captivated the audience and reminded everyone of just how great they were…and still are in 2025.

FULL SETLIST

‘Purple’ album in full:
Meatplow
Vasoline
Lounge Fly
Interstate Love Song
Still Remains
Pretty Penny
Silvergun Superman
Big Empty
Unglued
Army Ants
Kitchenware & Candybars

Bonus tracks from ‘Core’:
Wicked Garden
Plush
Crackerman
Dead & Bloated
Sex Type Thing