Since its coalescence from high school friendships into a band in the early 90s, Creed’s professional passion and personal intent was to reach crowds before critics, and their steady dominance over nearly a decade on the charts and within worldwide arenas proves that became a reality, along with all the rifts and ravages that are part and parcel of the fame monster, and ultimately led to a seven-year split. Their 2009 resurgence, and indeed, “re-birth,” as described by front man and lyricist Scott Stapp, was more than most fans dreamed of, and even brought a long deserved measure of critical validation, as their Full Circle effort garnered praise and top-selling status for 2010. The renewed collaboration contained all the power of heavy riffs of the past, combined with more deeply infused messages of truth and accountability that only maturity can bring, and the two tours that followed only served to show the band and their industry that the fans had stood firm in their loyalty. Now, Creed is offering another gesture to honor that loyalty.
How often has any diehard fan of a band proclaimed either silently or shouting after a night of marathon listening, “I wish I could hear this whole album on stage!” Well, that’s just what Creed is fulfilling, starting April 13 in Chicago and wrapping up May 22 in Kansas City. Scott Stapp, guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist, Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips will perform My Own Prison (1997), the band’s debut album, one evening, and their second, RIAA Diamond-status album, Human Clay (1999) the next in most venues, peppered with songs from their third Weathered album, as well as others never played to live audiences. Scott Stapp elaborates that these performances “are just the way the albums were intended to be heard, from top to bottom.” “They are interconnected and about this journey we’re going through,” he relates, along with how glad he is to that his own life journey led him back to Creed and writing with Tremonti again, reiterating that their relationship spanning decades spawns a creativity “that can’t happen anywhere else, a writing from the heart and soul.” In an interview this week, an industry agent said many bands today tour excessively without making the experience special to fans. Creed has built all they are by giving lasting and special moments to the ones looking back from the dark.