================================================ Subject: My long-ass review of Auburn Hills From: "]\\[][G}{T§TÖ®]v[" To: Date: Tue 12 Feb 2002 16:31:40 -0500 ================================================ Cross posted to several lists... if you got it more than once... well, tough shit ;) ***VIRGOS*** I was impressed by the power of their music... unfortunately, they seem trapped in the unfortunate position of opening opening act, and have the challenge of playing before an almost-empty house of people that just aren't psyched yet about the show. It's like they are killed before they even set foot on the stage. ***TANTRIC*** Tantric is a great band (Jen, pass note to your cousin... the band name is TANTRIC) that is lucky to have several singles getting radio play on the radio at the moment. This made it a little easier for the crowd to get into their music. The energy was still lacking in the stands, but the floor was truly enjoying the show. Unfortunately, Hugo comes across as a bit of an ego-monger and that sort of lowers my outlook on them slightly. His hip-thrusts and (IMO) apparent attempts to pull off a Scott Stapp look made it harder for me to enjoy his act, but I still managed to sit through most of their set (I used the Tantric performance to get a drink refill and use the bathroom). One of the unimpressive qualities that showed during this show that wasn't present in the GR show was Hugo's choice of vocabulary. AT the GR show, his language was totally clean, but for Auburn Hills, he chose some more obscene words to use during the show. Plus his obsession with calling Detroit "D-town". I'm sure V or Kelly will have some comments regarding that. They seemed somewhat annoyed by it back at the room. ***CREED*** One of the longest build-ups I've seen in a while for a set... they were playing the long-running opening notes to Bullets (the background music) for a good 15 minutes before the show started... several times the crowd would start cheering and screaming, only to find out seconds later it was only a sound tech crossing the stage. Although it was very hard to understand the opening speaking for Bullets (his mike was up to loud or he was trying to eat it or something), but in a blast of pyrotechnics and noise, the show was on. Becoming very predictable in their set-lists, Creed went strait from "Bullets" into their next Weathered power-song, "Freedom Fighter". Closing FF, Scott began his rambles about how nice it is to be back in Detroit (Mark's hometown) and how much they enjoy playing there, and all that stuff. Next, blast into "What If". Finishing off What If, we got to hear a bit about Creed in retrospect, from a van pulling a trailer 7 years prior to where they are now, and how it's the fans that put them there. Next was My Own Prison, going strait into Torn (right down to Mark and Brett sharing notes less than a foot away from eachother). Scott did something at the end of Torn that showed his influences. On the closing notes, he walks backwards, both arms extended over his head, both hands showing the peace sign... very Jim Morrison. Seconds later, they're flashing images across the backdrop, and fading into chanting (almost 4 minutes later)... cue "Who's Got My Back". Next up was "One Last Breath", bringing an amazing rise from the crowd, as it would be one of the less-well known songs by Creed so far. After OLB, Scott went into another monologue explaining how the next song is where he sees the band standing now, after the seven years since they really got started. "Weathered"... fading right into "Hide". With the closing of Hide, Scott asked the crowd to quieten down a little so he could be heard. At this point, he explained that the next song means a lot more to them over the past few weeks. Some of the people behind us notice at this point that Scott has something hanging around his neck. Cue the shock as they realize that it's a guitar, and that he means to play it. Enter "Stand". For this one, the crowd went absolutely wild, covering the chorus for Scott, and at several points, totally overpowering his own singing with theirs. As the crowd calmed themselves from Stand, Scott began to explain how the next song is what really broke them through the barrier into the fans they have now. With Arms Wide Open (right down to the people swaying slowly, lighters burning in extended hands). AT several spots, one could almost swear that Scott had tears in his eyes as he sang. He followed up by stating that their next song has taken on a whole new meaning since the events of September 11th, and the energy of the song now shows the U.S. unity that he feels as he sings it. Of course, by this point, only the slowest of Creed fans would not know that "One" was up next, so he never even told us. A single extended finger to the sky said it all. At the closing of One, all the lights in the entire place were killed, except for a single spotlight on Mark. it was kind of funny to hear the people with no clue what song he was playing, but it was soon obvious, as he struck the opening chords to "What's This Life For"... at which point the crowd went absolutely ballistic (btw, it was the Blue Collar version of WTLF that he was playing, for those that were confused, as apparently some that were in the pit with Lee and V and Jen were... not that those 3 were confused, as I doubt they had problems recognizing the guitar work). With the end of WTLF, the place began clearing out quickly... it was amazing how fast people were heading for the doors. At this point, I should bring up the encore that about 5000 people missed because of that anxiousness to get home. To explain the entire encore performance in one statement, I'll just use the word "building". They started strong with "Don't Stop Dancing" (minus his sister, of course... the song just doesn't sound right that way)... oddly enough, following that song, they went into "Lullaby", which, although is a wonderful song, I feel it has no place in that part of the concert. I kept thinking "they pulled Faceless Man for this?". Blast into Higher. *sigh*. As much as Higher belongs in a power concert to get the crowd going, I found it upsetting that this song got the loudest reaction the entire night. Next, of course, was "My Sacrifice". No surprise there. They didn't even miss a beat between the two songs, so the crowd just kept right on rocking right through to then end when Brett decided to try a new move of spinning his bass over his shoulder on the strap to hang from his back... unfortunately for Brett, the strap had other ideas, and decided to disconnect itself from the bass, causing Brett to fumble it to the floor. Those up front claim that Mark found this to be very humorous, but I'm sure no one was laughing about it near as much as V. With that brought the end of the show, the gathering of list members, and the consumption of beer. But, well, that's a different story that would be best left to Lee or Jen to tell. =P All in all, as always I was impressed by the concert in general, but I was disappointed to find this concert to be an exact replica of the Grand Raids show, and the set list matching their other shows exactly... plus I will admit that I have seen better shows in the past... but Creed still manages to hold my attention by lyrics and musical quality alone, regardless of whether the stage-show is impressive or not. And, oddly enough, at this show the Higher-chick to real-fan ratio was amazingly low... I could only see one or two from where I was. To forewarn those with upcoming shows, Scott's voice is on it's way out. He was having troubles hitting the high notes to Lullaby, but he had no problems with them a week ago. I'm predicting a break coming up soon... he just doesn't have the staying power to last the entire tour if he's already having problems on the higher notes a month into it. But, at least I got my two shows this week, so anything that happens after this point will just be what is expected. Finally closing my review (I really fucking hate writing reviews), ]\[][G}{T§TÖ®]v[ To unsubscribe or change your preferences for the Creed-Discuss list, visit: http://www.winduplist.com/ls/discuss/form.asp