Creed - Live
Performance
Production
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Creed - Live
Performance
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Creed came together in 1994 when former Florida high school classmates Scott Stapp and Mark Tremonti recruited Brian Marshall and Scott Phillips to round out their new band. They released their debut album, My Own Prison, in 1997, and it went on to reach 6x-platinum status. Their first three albums have gone on to sell an estimated 35 million records worldwide - 26 million of those in the United States alone. During the decade following their debut, Creed were about all you would hear on American rock radio, but although the radio stations and their fans certainly loved them, the critics didn't. In 2000, bassist Brian Marshall was dismissed from the band and guitarist Mark Tremonti took over bass duties for Creed's third album, Weathered. After the release of Weathered, the band began to further unravel, due mostly to singer Scott Stapp's addiction and personality issues. In June of 2004, Creed officially announced their break-up. Later that very same year, Tremonti, Phillips and Marshall formed the band Alter Bridge, with singer/guitarist Myles Kennedy, making you think that it may have already been in the works for some time. In 2009 Alter Bridge released the excellent concert DVD, Live From Amsterdam. Also in 2009, Creed's website announced that the original line-up would be reuniting for a new album and tour. The band has since delivered on that promise with a successful U.S. tour, the new album, Full Circle, and their first ever concert DVD, simply titled, Creed Live. Although I am not the biggest Creed fan in the world, I do not disparage them like many music critics have done for the last decade and a half. There is no denying that Creed have concocted some killer songs over the course of their career, I just find it difficult to get through an entire album of theirs. They tend to lose me when they try to be too heavy, as if trying to prove themselves to all of the metalheads out there. They should just stick to what they do best - melodic rock & roll, that even your girlfriend will like. Creed Live was recorded on September 25th, 2009, at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in Houston, Texas, and it is the band's first concert DVD. The concert was produced and directed by veteran concert DVD producer Daniel E. Catullo using 239 high definition cameras, which set a Guinness World Record for the most amount of cameras used to film a concert. This also meant that they could do those Matrix-style "Big Freeze" affects and other cool stuff. Too bad you don't get to see any of it on this release. The 17-song setlist features all of the band's biggest hits as well as two songs, "Overcome," and "A Thousand Faces," from the new album. The DVD begins with the cameras scanning the excited crowd as the pavilion lights have just been turned off to signal the start of the show. Soon the opening strains of "Bullets" fills the air as ominous lights flood the stage. Just a Scott Stapp screams the line "I think they shoot cause they want it!," the stage explodes in a glorious display of fire, strobes, and intensely colored lights. So far, so good. That is until Stapp opens his mouth again. I'm not sure about the rest of the tour, but this night Stapp's vocals sound terribly strained and out of tune, and it nearly made the DVD unwatchable. For comparison purposes, I looked at several older live Creed videos on You Tube, and although Stapp has never really been a great live vocalist, I cannot imagine that he has ever sounded this bad. It may just be attributed to him not being in shape for this tour, after being away for so long, but it was one of the most cringe-inducing performances I have seen since Chris Cornell's performance on the Audioslave Live In Cuba DVD. Stapp was also profusely sweating an almost comical amount throughout the show, which could have also exacerbated his fatigue. I actually would have preferred it if they had completely redone and overdubbed all of the vocals in the studio prior to releasing this monstrosity. One of the best quotes I came across on the Amazon.com reviews for this DVD was that Stapp "sounds like Sylvester Stallone trying to sing Creed songs". The rest of the band, including Eric Friedman, who supplements on rhythm guitar, sounded great, and the concert featured about as much lighting and pyrotechnics as you could possibly squeeze onto a stage without jeopardizing the life of the band. Most of the performances were pretty much straight run-throughs of the songs, with one of the few exceptions being on "What If," when Tremonti and Friedman traded some cool leads back and forth and the band just jammed for a few minutes. I could have used more moments like this instead of just by-the-book renditions of the hits. The overall production quality was a disappointment for me as well. Having Daniel E. Catullo onboard to produce and direct, and with Andy Johns onboard to mix the audio tracks (DTS and Dolby 5.1 Surround and Stereo), this should have been one of the best produced concert DVDs of the year. Instead we get your average, quick-cut, camera work, some mediocre audio mixes, and even a few audio/video synch problems, such as during Stapp's monologue before "Are You Ready." The bonus features include a 45-minute behind-the-scenes documentary, a photo gallery, the music video for "Overcome," and the promo video for the 3-DVD, Deluxe Edition, boxed-set that will be coming out later this year. You will need to get this deluxe edition to see any of “Big Freeze” technology that has been touted during this world record setting camera shoot. As the DVD credits roll and the excellent new song, "Overcome," is played in the background, you are reminded of just how much better this thing could have been had Stapp been able to keep up with his bandmates this night. Hopefully he will redeem himself on their world tour this year. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - February 2010 |
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Running Time: 105 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - December 2009 |