Creed Concert Review – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
Posted on 8/25/2012
Scott Stapp of Creed in Concert - Nashville, TN
It was Sunday July 29th when Creed rolled in to Nashville, TN to thrill their fans once again. In the past they performed at our former large amphitheatre and our huge arena, but this time around they performed at the intimate Ryman Auditorium. They moved from 18,000 seat venues to a 2,300 seat venue… and it wasn’t close to a sellout. The balcony was at 90% capacity with the floor about 60%. Mike Arnold and Tom Thompson were on hand for this night of hard rock music as Mike wrote the concert review… ENJOY!
Written by Mike Arnold
Tom Thompson and I were thrilled to receive the invitation to one of our favorite bands that came out of the 90s, Creed. With the work of publicists from all sides, we received our invitation about three hours before show time. The wait was well worth it because they granted us front row seats directly in front of lead guitarist Mark Tremonti. Mark put on a show for us, then gave us guitar picks at the end of the night.
Brian Marshall and Mark Trmonti of Creed in Concert - Nashville, TN
When the house lights went down at 9:15, intro music began playing through the PA speakers as bright white lights lit up the stage. The band members, Mark Tremonti, Brian Marshall, and Scott Phillips slowly took the stage, but then I noticed an extra member. Rhythm guitarist Eric Friedman began touring with Creed in 2009 and is touring with them once again in 2012. The band’s leader, guitarist Mark Tremonti led the band members into the night’s opener as lead singer/front man Scott Stapp walked out to command the stage and the audience with “Are You Ready?”. Scott showed his energetic stage presence, as he demanded the attention with his powerful voice, wild stage antics, and wild looking stares as if he would jump out in the crowd to fight everyone there… but then at times he would look at someone in the front area and give them a look and a smile as if he was their friend. The band led right into the next song, while Scott continued his madman stage antics as they went into a number from ‘My Own Prison’, “Torn”.
Scott Stapp of Creed in Concert - Nashville, TN
The band stopped long enough for the sweat drenched Scott Stapp to take a swig from his water bottle and greet the attendees. Scott said, “This next song seems to be the story of my life, but tonight it’s happening! It’s called “Wrong Way”.” Mark Tremonti began playing the soft melodic intro of the hard rocker, “What If”, followed by another song from the ‘Human Clay’ project, “Never Die”. Scott began walking in large circles on the stage and asked, “Can You Feel It? This song is called “Beautiful”.”
With most of the songs flowing back to back without much silence or talking, band leader Mark Tremonti took his time before starting the next one. He slowly walked over to remove the cap of his bottled water, took a drink, replaced the cap, and sat the bottle down before setting switches and tones on his guitar. He continued to take his time to get set for the next song as the other band members studied his moves for their queue to join in. Finally Mark began the intro to one of the biggest crowd pleasers of the night, “My Own Prison”. It was fun listening and singing along with the others… Loudly! Mark displayed his melodic guitar skills with this number, but he showed off his hard rock guitar leads with the next one, “Bullets”. Mark really tore it up at the end of the song in the amazement of everyone there.
Scott Phillips of Creed in Concert - Nashville, TN
Scott went back to his crazed-eyed stares as he worked the stage from one side to the other with two more from ‘Human Clay’, “Say I” and “Faceless Man”. The band stopped long enough to take another drink of water and for Scott to introduce the only song they performed from ‘Full Circle’ as he said, “Hope you’re having a good time tonight! This song is called, “A Thousand Faces”.” Scott followed by saying, “The only way… is “One”.” After “One” Scott talked about this generation of young people displaying hatred with shootings before performing the song, “What’s This Life For?”. Scott said a few words before Mark began the popular melodic intro of another crowd favorite and hit, “With Arms Wide Open” and then continued with another sing-along hit, “Higher”, to close out their set. Of course the crowd yelled for more and within a few minutes they got more. When they returned to the stage the band clapped for the audience before they thrilled us with more hits to take our excitement up another level with the first encore song, “One Last Breath”, as the crowd sang along with Scott. Scott Stapp then began singing a portion of the last song of the night a cappella before Mark Tremonti displayed his melodic guitar skills again with the intro to their hit, “My Sacrifice”.
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Scott Stapp of Creed in Concert - Nashville, TN
The band members clapped again for those in attendance and then gave out guitar picks and drumsticks while Scott autographed the various set lists on the stage and handed them out to various fans up against the stage. Scott waved, bowed, and then left the stage while the others were still waving and bowing one last time before leaving to close out the show.
I thoroughly enjoyed the concert and I’m more than glad we went. I had never been that close to the stage at the Ryman before, but the vocals couldn’t be heard well at all being that close to the front. The stage was lined with speakers, but the vocals didn’t come through very loud. However, I will gladly take being that close to the band members over louder vocals! I recommend all rock fans, especially fans of Creed’s music, to see them while they are still touring together. With the band members having various side projects and the lack of them drawing arena size crowds, I wonder how much longer Creed will still tour. The band is still top notch, but Scott Stapp’s vocals were more powerful than I’ve ever heard him perform before. Mark Tremonti shined as the supreme guitarist and he proved it throughout the night with his soft melodic and heavy leads. On the Concert Blast Scale, I will give Creed a 9.7 (out of 10). Special Thanks to publicists Lena Wilson and Kendall Maffett of National Shows 2 for working out the details so we could enjoy this night of Hard Rock Fun!
Written by Mike Arnold
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Tags: Brian Marshall, concert blast, concertblast, Creed concert review, Eric Friedman, Kendall Maffett, Lena Wilson, Mark Tremonti, Mike Arnold, Nashville, National Shows 2, Ryman Auditorium, Scott Phillips, Scott Stapp, TN
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