Thursday night in Pittsburgh, Creed came alive for the very first time since… the previous evening, when the band played a full-production rehearsal concert for 50 contest winners. But Thursday’s show was the first official Creed gig since the Weathered tour ended in January 2003, days after frontman Scott Stapp’s infamous drunken meltdown in Chicago.
Six years later, the group was back to launch the Full Circle tour, which shares a name with the band’s upcoming new album. (It’s due in October.) Full Circle’s lead-off single, “Overcome,” was the only new material present in Creed’s public rebirth. The 17-song best-of set featured 11 of 13 songs from the band’s double-platinum 2004 Greatest Hits album. Other favorites from the band’s three previous records — which, combined, have moved 25 million copies in the U.S. alone — reminded the crowd that Creed were once kings of arena rock.
Read our backstage interview with Scott Stapp here.
Opening night drew a capacity crowd close to 15,000 of diehards from the band’s first run, longtime followers seeing them for the first time, teens with emo hair, parents with grade-school kids in tow, classic-rock lifers wearing new Van Halen tour shirts, and rock fans collectively clad in boatloads of Steelers and Penguins merchandise.
The tour reunites the original lineup for the first time since 2000, when bassist Brian Marshall left. They’re playing as a quintet, with touring rhythm guitarist Eric Friedman. It’s Creed’s biggest production ever. Stapp showered the crowd with constant thanks, but didn’t make any big speeches. The band let their sweat do the talking.
Playing in front of three giant video screens, Creed opened with “Ode,” Stapp shaking his shaved head like he still had a lion’s mane, grinning ear-to-ear as he leaned on guitarist Mark Tremonti. As the song ended...
Article Source: Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily