Creed plays Pine Knob for first metro Detroit show in 12 years: 4 takeaways

A resurgent Creed, riding a wave of rock nostalgia and newfound appreciation, rolled into a sold-out Pine Knob Music Theatre on Wednesday for an early stop on its first tour in 12 years.

“It’s good to be back in rock city,” front man Scott Stapp told an amped-up crowd of 15,000-plus as the Summer of ’99 Tour brought the Florida-founded band to southeast Michigan for the first time since a Fillmore Detroit show in May 2012.

It was a homecoming night for Grosse Pointe-bred guitarist Mark Tremonti, who hit the stage in a Detroit-emblazoned shirt from the guitar-culture shop Fret12.

Fellow post-grunge hitmakers 3 Doors Down and Finger Eleven opened the festivities.

A rundown of Creed’s night at Pine Knob:

1. The Creed set list was a turn-of-the-millennium jubilee

From show opener “Bullets” with its hail of pyro and strobing lights, Creed was off to the races with a 16-song set drawn almost entirely from three albums released during the band’s prolific 1997-2001 stretch. Only “Overcome,” with its low-slung wiriness, was plucked from 2009’s “Full Circle.”

Thicker numbers such as “Torn” gave way to the more spacious sounds of “Never Die” and atmospheric slow build of “Faceless Man,” along with perhaps the poppiest of all Creed songs, “One.”

“It’s so rare that an artist gets one song that connects with a generation of people,” Stapp said late in the show as the band served up the meat-and-potatoes of its hit repertoire with “What’s This Life For,” “With Arms Wide Open” and “Higher.”

2. Creed is a punching bag no more

Much like Nickelback, another go-to nemesis for the rock cognoscenti in the 2000s, Stapp and company have come to embrace their mixed reputation with part defiance, part good humor. Those old haters, after all, came from “the cool guy club, who liked bands that didn't sell a lot of records,” as Stapp recently told Consequence magazine.

Buoyed by Gen X and millennial nostalgia, a boost from young fans on TikTok and a quiet reevaluation of the band’s contributions, Creed finds itself in a good spot as it ventures back onto the road — a winner through endurance if nothing else. And anyway, given the anemic state of mainstream modern rock in 2024, the band might as well be the Rolling Stones at this point.

3. Scott Stapp's vocals were solid

Just a few dates into the tour, the band sounded tight and familiar on an evening of distinctive baritone vocals, grunge-inspired drop tunings and dense but melodic tunes. Joining the core quartet onstage was rhythm guitarist Eric Friedman, who had also toured with the band in the early 2010s.

Stapp, a decade removed from a self-described psychotic break caused by substance abuse, looked fit and healthy, drenching his tank-top in sweat on a sweltering summer evening as he ran through his signature crouched poses and emotive gestures.

At 50, an age when many rock vocalists must start reckoning with the toll of time, Stapp benefits from having stuck to a limited range early in life — and thus sounded no worse for wear Wednesday.

Tremonti was reliably deft on guitar with the slicing riffs and squealing runs that drive the Creed sound, while Brian Marshall was the not-so-secret weapon on his five-string bass.

4. Michigan remains a Creed hot spot

When Creed’s sophomore album, “Human Clay,” debuted atop the Billboard album chart in 1999, many in the music industry were caught off guard, not realizing the band had secured such a devoted following across the American heartland through extensive touring. Rock-hungry Michigan was a crucial part of that rise, with the Detroit area in particular emerging as one of the group’s top markets out of the gate.

That was certainly back on display Wednesday night at a packed Pine Knob — a venue the band played four times in the summer of 2000 — for a fervent crowd that was in full voice for the duration.

And Creed’s Motor City power will be reaffirmed in less than four months, when the band returns for a Nov. 20 show at Little Caesars Arena.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Creed plays Pine Knob for first Detroit show in 12 years: 4 takeaways