Wow! One word to describe the amazing performance put on by the newly reunited Creed. For anyone thinking this tour is just a quick money grab think again. What I saw was a statement and that statement is WE’RE BACK! Not only are the back, they are bigger and better than ever.
Kicking off the August 20th show, labeled The Summer of ’99 Tour, at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Gilford, NH were Finger Eleven (which I unfortunately did not get a chance to see). They were followed by LA natives Tonic who did a great job pumping up the packed amphitheater crowd belting out their 90’s hits from their platinum selling Lemon Parade including the top played rock radio song of 1997 “If You Could Only See” wrapping up their 12 song set with my favorite Tonic hit “Casual Affair”. Great way to whip up the crowd before the much anticipated Creed hit the stage.
After the set change was completed, the lights went down with only one word visible on the backdrop screen – CREED. It was at this point the crowd kicked into overdrive as the intro music blared over the crowd noise. As the lights started flaring all over the outdoor venue touring guitarist Eric Freidman, drummer Scott Phillips, bassist Brian Marshall, lead vocalist Scott Stapp and lead guitarist Mark Tremonti took to the stage with the lead track “Bullets” off of their third album Weathered. From there it was the lead track off of their debut album My Own Prison, “Torn”. Next on their 15 song setlist was “Are You Ready?”. Sticking with their Billboard number one diamond selling album Human Clay with the track “Never Die”.
The highlight of the evening (if you could identify one as the entire night was a highlight) would have to be “With Arms Wide Open” as the crowd took over as Stapp and company stood back with ear to ear smiles while their lyrics were vocalized back to them at extreme decibels, you had to be there as it sounded amazing. Rounding out the evening were encores “One Last Breath” and of course “My Sacrifice”. It was an absolutely outstanding evening packed with hits. For this being their first tour in over a decade they sounded like a well-oiled, happy, healthy machine. I’ve seen Creed on past tours, I would honestly have to say this was probably the best I’ve seen them at. Let’s just hope they do not go back into hibernation for another decade. Some new music and more tours squeezed in between Tremonti’s solo work (with his latest album The End Will Show Us How set to hit the shelves in January of 2025 which I highly recommend) and Alter Bridge (Tremonti, Marshall and Phillips primary band over the past two decades lead by Myles Kennedy – another that I highly recommend) would be great. Either way I cannot recommend this tour enough, if you haven’t been able to secure tickets to this sold-out tour I suggest you figure out how to or you’ll miss out on what has to be on of the top tours of 2024. All I can say is thank you Brian, Scott P., Scott S. and Mark it’s great to have you back!
