Creed Rocks, Understands Loud And Soft

Charleston Gazette August 31 2002

There may be hope yet for rock 'n' roll shows at Charleston's Civic Center, which has had better luck with country acts the past couple of years.

While not quite a sellout, a respectable crowd turned out Wednesday night for a concert by introspective spiritual rockers Creed. Now on their third CD, the Florida-based group put on an enthusiastic and LOUD show.

Fans waited patiently for the foursome, who didn't take the stage until 9:15 p.m., following sets by 12 Stones and Jerry Cantrell.

On the upside, Creed are one of those rare acts in rock music who understand the use of dynamics, meaning they know when to be quiet and when to really rock the house. On the downside, vocalist and front man Scott Stapp spent much of the evening singing slightly off pitch. The vocal wavering could have been the product of end-of- tour fatigue (Creed have been touring since spring) or a quirk of Civic Center acoustics; Cantrell experienced similar difficulties.

Fortunately, Stapp was dead-on for most of "Arms Wide Open," a ballad written for Stapp's son and one of the evening's strongest performances. Other crowd favorites like "My Own Prison" and "Higher" (performed during the encore) were handled at least adequately, and few in the crowd seemed to notice the missed notes.

Stapp showed his legendary temper only once, when the battery failed in his wireless microphone toward the end of the show and he flung the offending object to the floor in disgust. The moment soon passed, however, and a calmer Stapp tossed the microphone into an appreciative audience.

.Rusty Marks