Creed - Bradley Center (Milwaukee) September 1st

[If you're in a hurry, here's a summary of this post: Creed rocked.

If you're killing time at work and Solitaire is passe, settle in for a spell.]

I did wind up taking my Godson/nephew to the show, but I was wrong about it being his first concert. Jonah's seen the Warp tour and been to the Rave several times, so this was old hat for him.




I asked my Dad if he could drive us to and from the venue in exchange for Jonah's ticket, since I literally didn't have the $20 for parking. He agreed. We were angling to avoid Hoobastank, so we told him to be at my house at 7:30, the start time on the tickets. Being my father, he was nearly twenty minutes late, then drove 25 mph the whole way to the Bradley Center. I didn't get angry - a gift horse and all- but we didn't arrive until well after eight.

We arrived in time to hear the opening act finish, then waited and watched a ball game in the lobby for fifteen minutes until the lights dimmed. Whew. Things had worked out after all.

And then Hoobastank took the stage. Dang nabbit.



Creed had once again given another small band some much needed face time, which is cool, but I'm really not a fan of having two opening acts. Plus I felt that the Fates were giggling, and had made damn sure that Hoobastank and I collided.

But, they were pretty damn good. They were MUCH harder than what I expected (granted, my whole knowledge of their catalog was "The Reason") and had a ton of energy on stage. The singer has a filthy mouth, uttering F bombs and whatnot in every sentence, so I felt right at home, but he had an annoying habit of thanking the crowd after every song, and there were A LOT of songs. All told, they racked up a forty-plus minute set.

Cool trivia: among their many songs were "Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd, which was the band on Jonah's shirt, and the theme from "Ghostbusters."



During the wait for Creed to start, I surveyed the crowd. It wasn't a great turnout for an arena of that size. It was an awkward sized group: too many people to comfortably use a smaller venue, but small enough to make the Bradley Center seem conspicuously half-full. It was largely male, although there were a fair share of wives, girlfriends and groupie wannabees.

Jonah was probably the only person there under 21, and I'd estimate most of the crowd was between 30 and 45, with the majority of that group in their early thirties. In other words, the people who would have been in college or grad school when Creed hit the scene. After a six year layoff and no new material on the shelves, I wouldn't have expected to see many youngin's there.

I should mention that we were on the floor, stage left, maybe 120-150 feet from the action, and had a great line of sight. Thanks again Ashley!

Creed came on loud and hard with "Bullets", complete with pyrotechics and shooting flames. Egads, a modern rock band with a great guitarist, memorable lyrics, a first rate frontman, and solid hooks.




Welcome back fellas, I've missed ya.




A few songs in a security guard came up to us. He'd been gradually letting various Hot Chicks into the standing room area that was fenced off directly in front of the stage. I must have looked especially sizzling, because he gestured for me to join them. Nice!

For the rest of the concert we were around forty feet from the stage, and could have gotten a good ten feet closer if we'd bothered.







But from where we stood not only did we have a clean shot of the stage, we were much closer to the secondary stage where Stapp would venture out to do his thing.









[Outside of their new single Overcome, which fit seamlessly into the rest of their catalog, the concert was all material from their heyday. Was the concert just about nostalgia? Well, if you define that as a band playing their hits, the crowd singing along to every word, and everyone having a blast, then yeah, it was. Who cares? But I think they were priming the pump, getting the old fans back into the groove. I imagine they'll tour again after the October release of their album, and hope to add in a new generation of fans at that time.]





One thing I've always loved about Creed is that they don't try to F with their songs on stage. What you hear live is by and large what you hear on the record, and I'm MORE than ok with that. However, on the sentimental crowd favorite "With Arms Wide Open", a song written "eleven years ago now", Stapp did a nice little tweak to the vocals. I hope someone out there will youtube that video, as I think its worth another listen.






"With Arms Wide Open" really got the crowd involved, and the band followed it by finishing the set with "My Sacrifice". There was obviously going to be an encore, but for me this was the high point of the show. I was singing along with the entire crowd, arms in the air, head banging, 150% in the moment.





Cue the usual wait for the encore, and still pumped up, I was screaming and chanting with the rest of the crowd. Creed came back on and did three more songs, the first of which was "One".



"One" is a song I don't like very much at all, and yet perversely I find myslef jamming to it and reciting the words whenever I hear it. And yes, I had my arms in the air, index finger raised. I'm a dork.

The concert closed with "Higher", which again had the crowd in a frenzy.









And that was that. I asked Jonah if he'd enjoyed it and he said he had. In his opinion Hoobastank put on a strong show, and he really seemed to enjoy Creed, singing along on several songs.

As for the band, I have more respect for guitarist Mark Tremonti's skills than I did in the past. Stapp was much toned down from the last time I saw him, but his voice and stage presence were still right up there, and throughout the show he seemed genuinely happy.

One neat aside: with the cameras and spotlight off him Stapp crouched down on the secondary stage, took a deep breath, wiped his brow, and shook his head at the audience with a look that said "man, this is harder than I remember." It was a great, very human moment.



It was a great show, and quality time with my nephew. As for Creed, like I said before: Welcome back fellas. Welcome Back.