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I went into last night expecting to be completely disgusted by the performance of Creed and most importantly Scott Stapp.  I’ve felt, I’m sure like many people out there have as well, that as Creed’s professional career progressed they just kept loosing credibility with every release after their debut album.  In fact only 7 years into their career, in 2002 at a gig in Chicago, Scott Stapp was so drunk that he couldn’t preform which I believed was the final nail in the coffin as their 90′s style of rock was also dying in the main stream music scene.  All of that being stated I was really expecting to see a complete train wreck on stage but was actually pleasantly surprised.

The band preformed their sophomore release, Human Clay, in it’s entirety and from the beginning of their set the crowd in front of the stage was on their feet.  Last night the concert goers consisted mainly of women with arms raised, screaming for Scott to notice them.  To be truthful he hasn’t changed in appearance much and sounded just like he did in 1995, heavy with vibrato and theatrics noted on his face by pointing and gazing into the crowd.  The other thing I quickly remembered is that Mark Tremonti really is a great guitar player.  Just as Scott was playing off the crowd Mark would approach the front of the stage to jam out on his signature dropped D riff chunking melodies sprinkled with scales that carry the vocal harmonies from verse to chorus.  I forgot that the reason so many people are attracted to this band is because their style of writing is catchy heavy rock songs that kind of just stick in your head after one listen, that is why they were so successful amongst modern rock radio formats.

I only stayed for the first three songs but left not being disappointed like I assumed I would be.  I think Creed has something in their back pocket that a lot of bands from the 1990′s are experiencing; music can be categorized as autobiographical if you really think about it which can be comforting as you get older.  John Cusack’s character refers to this in High Fidelity when he is reorganizing his record collection and mentions doing it autobiographically where he has to remember the specific time in his life that he purchased a record or was introduced to a particular artist or song.  I think with all of us 90′s kids growing up, Creed has this advatage.  In fact my first girlfriend got me My Own Prison, Creed’s debut release, for Christmas when it was released in 1995.  It was the first and last Creed record I have ever owned but when I think of High School I will always remember Creed because of that exact occurance.

So rock on Scott Stapp, keep serving up those radio rock hits smothered in heavy baritone and over the top theatrics because that’s what your band does best.  There are always people out their that will buy that stick, as for me, I will be jamming My Own Prison anytime I need to party like it’s 1995.