The craving appetite from the general rock ‘n roll population for live performances from Creed was first evident for SWOMP this past summer at Bluewater Borderfest in Sarnia back in June.
On the summer kickoff bill was Scott Stapp, the lead vocalist for the Florida rockers.
During his solo performance at Centennial Park, the frontman focused on performing many tracks off his latest solo effort, Higher Power, which were well received by the audience and the musicianship was strong.
However, he closed the show with a trio of Creed classics. The transformation in the crowd was noticeable, the excitement was in the red and it was obvious this is what the crowd wanted to hear.
Fast forward to Wednesday, November 20, 2024 at Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit, where the 12,000-plus fans in the audience got a full two-hour dose of non-stop Creed.
“How we doing, Detroit?” Stapp asked the audience.
“Oh, it’s good to be here tonight. I can feel you already. Tonight, I want you all to come with us as we take you through a journey in music through the human experience. And as we live this experience on two planes, in the physical realm and the spiritual realm. Come with me now. Let’s lock in and let’s go on this ride.”
Uplifting journey through music
Throughout the performance, Stapp penned a story, woven through the music and lyrics of their late 90’s and early 2000’s tunes, providing uplifting anecdotes to the tracks with present-day ties and ultimately showcasing the relevancy and positivity carried on by Creed’s music.
“Before we play this next song, I want to set it up for you,” Stapp said, before the band performed ‘Never Die’.
“This song is about holding on to that childlike heart, that innocent spirit that we all had when we were kids. Before we got kicked around, been battered and beaten by this world and start giving up on our dreams and our hopes. Remember when we were little, we thought we could do anything. We had such a mind of a dreamer, a hoper, a lover, a creator, anything was possible. You can have that your whole life. It doesn’t have to die. You just have to learn to let things go and move forward. Don’t ever let that heart die, my friends. Never let it die.”
Before performing the title track from their 1997 debut album My Own Prison, Stapp told the Detroit audience a prison can be anything that holds you captive by in the world.
“It can be a circumstance, a toxic relationship, of a traitor, a struggle, adversity, finances, anything that weighs you down and robs you of your joy and your peace,” he told the crowd.
“Now, we all face challenges in life and I’ve found in my own experience, it’s all about how I began to frame those challenges and adversities. It’s all in how I looked at it. Once I accepted the situation and quit fighting it and shifted my perspective in trying to learn something through the experience, trying to grow through the experience, even if it’s not fair. That gave me just enough hope to keep pressing on, to keep fighting, to keep waking up another day and moving forward. Because it helped me find a purpose in the pain and when you have purpose, you are unstoppable, my friends, unstoppable.
Stapp added: “You are only stopped when you quit fighting, you only lose if you let the prison win, but if you find purpose in it and mine was to learn as much as I could through that situation so I can help somebody else out going through the same thing when I got to the other side. That gave me just enough fight to keep pressing on. So as we go down this road, of wallowing in that prison, just what this next song is about. Remember who we cry out to when times are a struggle. Sometimes we have to get put flat on our back to remind us where the answer is. C’mon let’s walk down this road, let’s open this chapter called my own prison.”
Noah, Noah
Around the midpoint of their set, Stapp invited his bandmate, guitarist Mark Tremonti, to the microphone.
“How you feeling, Detroit?” Tremonti said to the crowd.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life. I was born right here, I’m one of you guys. I was born 30 minutes from here. When you come from Detroit, you’re proud of Detroit. I love this city and I love everybody in this building and I can’t wait to give this guitar to one of you. I’m only gonna give it to the loudest, the wildest person in here. Who’s that gonna be, Detroit?”
After tearing through a number, Stapp pointed out and invited a young fan named Noah on stage, who was “rocking out, rocking his heart out since the first note.”
After chants of “Noah, Noah” filled the air inside Little Caesars Arena, the young fan was gifted with a trademark guitar from Tremonti.
After the touching moment, Stapp brought the crowd back on track with the musical novel he was narrating.
“Alright, Detroit lock in with me here. Lock back in with me. Are you with me over here?” he said.
“Now we’ve come to the chapter in the story where we enter the spiritual realm. It may not be how you expect at this time, at this moment, but I think it’s a good entry point because it’s an entry point on why we live in the world we live in today. The song was inspired by what some like to call the original sin, the moment where man chose himself over God. The moment when we as human beings decided our way was better than God’s way. So if you can imagine in your mind as we paint pictures with words and music, that you were alone in the middle of a desert. nothing for thousands of miles. And you have no soul, no guide, nowhere to turn to and you are there because of your choice. And that’s where the realization begins. You have to know the absence of God to appreciate the presence of God. This song is called ‘Say I’ Detroit, come with me.”
After performing ‘Unforgiven’ and ‘Don’t Stop Dancing’, Stapp told the crowd he had goosebumps all over his body
“I felt that on a different level,” he said.
“That’s not of this realm, you know? When that happens to you when you’re by yourself, especially when you’re listening to music, music is a gateway to the spirit, if it’s the right kind of music. Be careful what you consume, it can pollute your heart and your mind.”
Stapp added: “I want to encourage us all tonight, Detroit. This world has become so divided, especially over the last four or five years, or 10 years, I can’t even count anymore. It just seems like they want us separate, they want us separated. They want us all to focus on everything we don’t like about each other, what we disagree about each other, but in reality, 90% of what we think and feel we can look at the person next to us and we would agree. Why do we let the five, 10% separate us? Let’s face the facts. We all just want love, peace, prosperity, good health, friends, family and freedom. Why do we fight and argue? We all agree on that. Tonight, Detroit, let’s show the world how we unite in rock city. Let’s show the world how we unite in Detroit.Let’s show the world how we heal as a people, as we heal as a country and come together as one, in one voice.”
Finding our way
Nearing the end of their show, chants of “U.S.A., U.S.A.” filled the arena.
“We’ve got to rediscover what that means, because we’ve lost our way and I hope we find it,” Stapp said, before he addressed a fan near the front of the stage, who appeared to disagree with him.
“Yeah, we have, brother, we have. We’re finding it.”
Stapp proceeded to share some glaring statistics about how suicide is impacting the United States, specifically veterans
“You know, 22 veterans a day kill themselves,” Stapp said.
“We have a suicide epidemic going on in our country. They are willing to die for this country and they come home and they are torn and they’re ending their life and we gotta do something about it. Suicide and mental health has become a huge issue in this country. We can’t be afraid to ask for help and reach out. We can’t suffer in silence. Remember, you’re not alone. and you don’t have to do this alone. Life is not meant to be lived alone. Come out of the shadows, come together. I promise you you will make it through. I promise you, just hold on for one more day and you will find what this life is for.”
The Creed frontman took to his Detroit pulpit to give kudos to the two opening bands as well, Three Doors Down and Mammoth (SWOMP’s stories, here and here.)
“Two incredible bands,” he said.
“Let’s thank them for the music that they gift us with. We love having them out on tour. Incredible guys, incredible human beings and incredible musicians.”
Adding to the top-notch production displayed throughout the show, Little Caesars Arena got a bit brighter before the band left the stage, as Stapp encouraged the audience to shine their cell phone lights.
“Now while you’re lifting it up, look around this room. Let these lights symbolize that we are gonna leave the lights on for the next generation so they will know and have a pathway to get home, with arms wide open,” Stapp added.
Here is the full setlist from Creed’s Detroit performance:
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- Bullets
- Freedom Fighter
- Torn
- Are You Ready?
- Never Die
- My Own Prison
- What If
- Say I
- Unforgiven (tour debut)
- Don’t Stop Dancing
- One
- What’s This Life For
- With Arms Wide Open
- Higher
- Encore: One Last Breath
- My Sacrifice
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- Hot off the press and due to fan demand, Creed has extended their sold-out The Summer of ’99 Tour with 23 additional dates. Produced by Live Nation, the dates begin July 9 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, KY and wrap August 20 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, AB with support from 3 Doors Down, Daughtry, Mammoth WVH and Big Wreck.
When it kicked off in 2024, The Summer of ’99 Tour quickly became “one of the most anticipated tours of the summer” (USA Today) and “one of the hottest rock tickets of the year” (Billboard) for a return that “may be something this industry has never seen” (Pollstar). To date, Creed’s Scott Stapp, Mark Tremonti, Brian Marshall, and Scott Phillips have performed over 60 sold-out concerts throughout North America, selling over 800,000 tickets and breaking venue records in multiple markets.
“Thirty years in, it’s been a blessing to pick up right where we left off with longtime fans and to meet the next generation for the first time. It’s been an incredible ride, and we aren’t done, so here’s to a ‘Summer’ that never ends. We’ll see you on the road,” stated Stapp, in a media release.
Creed will close out 2024 with shows in Las Vegas, NV (Dec. 30 & Dec. 31) and their newly announced dates in 2025 will follow their already sold-out Summer of ’99 and Beyond cruise sailing April 9 – April 13 from Miami to Nassau with Sevendust, Hoobastank, Lit, Hinder, Fuel and more. Also in April, the band – whose audience has included fans of mainstream, rock, and country for over 25 years – will perform at Stagecoach.
Stay up to date with the band at https://creed.com/.